Sharing Skills: Ian Howard, J P Morgan

It was just an average lunchtime for me, enjoying a quick run in Finsbury Circus, until I was literally stopped in my tracks by a member of City Action on their way to a business meeting. Unbeknown to me, she was on the look out for corporate volunteers to get involved in sports based projects. Hence, I looked like the perfect candidate!

We talked briefly and I agreed to meet to find out more about volunteering. I’m very glad that I did! We decided to look at volunteering for sports projects another time and in the meanwhile, City Action quickly paired me with the East London Advanced Technology Training Centre (ELATT).

I spent a day with students sharing tips on how and where to find IT jobs and followed this up with a CV workshop and mock interviews. At the start of the day, I was apprehensive. Stepping into a room of thirty people I had never met was a new challenge, particularly young people, who I did not normally have much contact with. By the end of the day, I didn’t want to leave!

Like most people, I always wanted to give something back, but never knew how to go about it. I never quite had the time to do the research, call people up and plan the meetings etc. City Action took the pain out of volunteering by doing all the research and organisation. They allowed me to maximise the time I spent working on actual projects and to organise it around a busy work schedule. They have lots of practical advice and a list as long as your arm of projects that need help. I’ve since returned to ELATT and now plan to offer IT training to young parents at Coram's Family. I hope to inspire some of the students to realise their potential. I can definitely say that talking to them has helped me to explore mine.

City Action took the pain out of volunteering by doing all the research and organisation. They have a list as long as their arm of projects that need help Ian Howard