Hi Lynda
Are you able to devote some time to volunteering? I volunteer as a primary school governor, and was recruited by the governing body specifically for my HR knowledge. I've been able to put it to good use over the past three years - chairing a complicated pay grievance hearing, discussing restructuring and redundancy, devising a job share policy and practical approach, chairing the pay committee, carrying out a staff survey, and I've also learned quite a bit about finances, IT and health and safety as the committee I sit on also covers those areas. It's enabled me to keep my generalist skills up to date while I worked in some specialist roles and certainly enhanced my CV.

As well (and yes, I am incapable of saying no!) I've been a volunteer Regional Trainer for the NCT, which has helped me develop my training skills and keep them up to date, which again has helped my CV look more attractive.

Hope that helps to give you some ideas.

Jackie

In reply to Jacqueline:

Thank you Jackie, that actually might be a possibility for me in the near future. Can I ask how you found places to volunteer your services?

Lynda

In reply to Lynda:

Hi Lynda
I was actually approached by the Chair of Governors of my local school who lives on the same street as me. However I know our local council holds lists of people who have expressed an interest in being a school governor, so I'd recommend contacting them or try this website:
www.sgoss.org.uk/volunteers.html. For more general volunteering opportunities, there's also https://do-it.org/.

Hope that helps

Jackie

I started replying yesterday but got called away on another matter.

I'd just like to add to Jacqueline's excellent suggestion that you are probably surrounded by small, local charities without the funds to have good HR but who nevertheless have employees and who would really benefit from a volunteer able to review and update their policies, check over their recruitment and onboarding procedures, perhaps get them up to speed on GDPR and give them some strategic advice on how to align their people and their mission.

Just give them a call or drop them an email. Be clear about your own aspirations and what you're trying to achieve by offering your voluntary services, but if you can find a charity that also aligns with your personal convictions, that's very helpful.

In reply to Jacqueline:

Thank you so much, I’m definitely going to have a look into this further and should be able to start this early next year.

Really appreciate your advice!

Lynda

In reply to Robey:

Thank you - I’d never even considered charities but that makes perfect sense! I’ll look into some local ones to me and see if this is something that they require or would be interested in.

Thank you for your guidance!

Lynda

Its good to hear that someone else is in the same position that I am in, it can be very disheartening when you are really determined to gain exposure but you are not able to get any. Good luck Lynda hopefully we will both gain advisory exposure soon!