Volunteer with us through

mentoringworkplace visitsmasterclasses

We work with employers to empower young people through workplace opportunities and support.

Transforming young lives has never been so straightforward.

find out more

Volunteer with us through

Volunteering with Career Ready

mentoringworkplace visitsmasterclasses

Joining our network of volunteers is an inspiring and time flexible way of making a lasting difference to a young person’s life as well as enhancing your own professional skill set.

find out more
find out more

Ready to get involved?

Register with us as a volunteer today…

Why volunteer?

The power of volunteering

The power of volunteering

As a volunteer you can make a transformational difference to a young person’s future. Using your experience, skills, and knowledge, you can give them the support they need to achieve their true potential.

Volunteering is also a fantastic way to develop your own professional skillset, enjoy a rewarding experience, and enhance your CV.

find out more

All we’ve got to do is source colleagues and Career Ready gives them a structured and meaningful volunteering opportunity. Career Ready’s role is also a catalyst because they understand both the private sector and the school reality.

Wojciech Ilowski, Industry Operations Leader, Marsh

As a volunteer you can make a transformational difference to a young person’s future. Using your experience, skills, and knowledge, you can give them the support they need to achieve their true potential.

Volunteering is also a fantastic way to develop your own professional skillset, enjoy a rewarding experience, and enhance your CV.

The power of volunteering

As well as making a lasting difference to a young person’s life, volunteering is a fantastic way to develop your own professional skill set, pass on your experience, and enhance your CV – it can even count towards many organisations’ CPD schemes.

find out more

The power of volunteering

As a volunteer you can make a transformational difference to a young person’s future. Using your experience, skills, and knowledge, you can give them the support they need to achieve their true potential.

Volunteering is also a fantastic way to develop your own professional skillset, enjoy a rewarding experience, and enhance your CV.

find out more

Our simple process

How to get involved as a volunteer

We have a range of inspiring opportunities that fit around a busy schedule while still having a life-changing impact.

1.

Register to volunteer

2.

Apply for a role

3.

Complete onboarding

4.

Get involved

I started volunteering to help a young person fulfil their potential. Not only am I witnessing that impact, but it’s enriching my own sense of purpose.

Jenny Pelling

Jenny Pelling, Kaplan Financial, Kaplan Financial

How to get involved as a volunteer

We have a range of inspiring opportunities that fit around a busy schedule while still having a life-changing impact.

1.

Register with us

2.

Apply for a role

3.

Complete onboarding

4.

Get involved

All we’ve got to do is source colleagues and Career Ready gives them a structured and meaningful volunteering opportunity. Career Ready’s role is also a catalyst because they understand both the private sector and the school reality.

Wojciech Ilowski, Industry Operations Leader, Marsh

Volunteering opportunities

From mentoring, to skills masterclasses and workplace visits, we have a variety of ways you can volunteer to support young talent.

We have a range of inspiring opportunities that fit around a busy schedule while still having a life-changing impact. Find out more about where we work.

We ask that each mentoring relationship comes with a paid internship.

In Scotland, volunteering is only available through a employer supporter partnership.

FAQs

View our frequently asked questions at the bottom of this page to learn more about our volunteering opportunities.

Find out more

From mentoring, to skills masterclasses and workplace visits, we have a variety of ways you can volunteer to support young talent.

We have a range of inspiring opportunities that fit around a busy schedule while still having a life-changing impact. You can find out more about where we work here.

In Scotland, volunteering is only available through a employer supporter partnership.

Mentoring is a great volunteering opportunity for your team to provide life-changing support and insight to young people at a key stage of their education/employment journey.

Find out more

Masterclasses are a fun and engaging way to broaden the horizons of young people and get them interested in your business or industry.

Find out more

Our facilitated workplace visits and enterprise activities are a great way to broaden the workplace knowledge of young people and inspire them about different job sectors and roles.

Find out more

Research shows that our facilitated paid internships are an effective way for employers to boost social mobility, connect with young talent, and future-proof their business.

Find out more

FAQs

View our frequently asked questions at the bottom of this page to learn more about our volunteering opportunities.

Find out more

Mentoring

Skills masterclasses

Mentoring is a great volunteering opportunity for your team to provide life-changing support and insight to young people at a key stage of their education/employment journey.

Find out more

Masterclasses are a fun and engaging way to broaden the horizons of young people and get them interested in your business or industry.

Find out more

Workplace visits

Host paid internship

Our facilitated workplace visits and enterprise activities are a great way to broaden the workplace knowledge of young people and inspire them about different job sectors and roles.

Find out more

Research shows that our facilitated paid internships are an effective way for employers to boost social mobility, connect with young talent, and future-proof their business.

Find out more

Mentoring

Skills masterclasses

Workplace visits

Host paid internship

Mentoring is a great volunteering opportunity for your team to provide life-changing support and insight to young people at a key stage of their education/employment journey.

Find out more

Masterclasses are a fun and engaging way to broaden the horizons of young people and get them interested in your business or industry.

Find out more

Our facilitated workplace visits and enterprise activities are a great way to broaden the workplace knowledge of young people and inspire them about different job sectors and roles.

Find out more

Research shows that our facilitated paid internships are an effective way for employers to boost social mobility, connect with young talent, and future-proof their business.

Find out more

What we look for in our volunteers

We welcome volunteers from all backgrounds

We welcome volunteers from all backgrounds

We welcome volunteers from all backgrounds. We believe in the power of your shared experiences, whether you are one year or ten years into your career. And we are keen to receive applications from volunteers who represent the diversity of our students.

We ask that our volunteers are currently in employment, as this allows the potential to offer students more opportunities.

In Scotland, you must work with one of our employer partners and be nominated by them to volunteer.

Please note, our aim is to provide a paid internship to all of our young people on the Career Ready Programme, as such, we do have to prioritise mentoring places to volunteers who are able to provide an internship and/or come through one of our funding partners. However, we do still welcome applications from all volunteers, as we may still have some places available for those who cannot provide an internship.

Our volunteer sign-up page will also advise if there are any regions no longer recruiting for due to volunteer numbers being met for our 2025-26 programme cohort.

You don’t need any specific qualifications or experience to volunteer, but we do look for the following qualities and behaviours:

Reliable

Inspiring

Caring

Empathetic

Patient

Open-minded

Outgoing

Out

How we support our volunteers

We provide a variety of support to our volunteers so they have everything they need to support young talent and boost social mobility.

Onboarding

We provide a range of onboarding and ongoing support, including training, mentor briefings and handbooks. All hosted in our volunteer portal for easy, secure access.

Regional manager support

We also have a team of Regional Managers and a Volunteer Operations Manager who are on hand to support you ahead of any masterclasses or workplace visits you may have, as well as handle any questions or issues you may have throughout your volunteering journey.

Onboarding and training

For volunteers who wish to be mentors, this includes mentor briefing sessions that introduce the mentoring programme and provide helpful guidance and information before the first meeting.

Mentors will also be asked complete a training module on safeguarding.

Throughout the mentoring programme we offer ongoing support including additional, optional training events, resources, and group mentor meetups with Career Ready.

If you choose to host a workplace visit or deliver a masterclass, we offer full training and support from both the volunteering team and your Regional Manager, helping you feel prepared and confident to do so.

We provide a variety of support to our volunteers so they have everything they need to support young talent and boost social mobility.

Onboarding

We provide a range of onboarding and ongoing support, including training, briefing calls and handbooks. All hosted in our volunteer portal for easy, secure access.

Regional manager support

We also have a team of Regional Managers and an Operations Team who are on hand to support you ahead of any masterclasses or workplace visits you may have, as well as handle any questions or issues you may have throughout your volunteering journey.

Onboarding/Training

We support all of our volunteers with a variety of training, both live and self-led.

For volunteers who wish to be mentors, this includes live mentor briefing sessions that introduce the mentoring programme and provide helpful guidance and information before the first meeting.

Mentors will also be asked complete 3 individual training modules online:

• Induction
• Safeguarding
• Mentoring

Throughout the mentoring programme we offer ongoing support including additional, optional training events, resources, and group mentor meetups with your Career Ready regional teams.

If you choose to host a workplace visit or deliver a masterclass, we offer full training and support from both the volunteering team and your Regional Manager, helping you feel prepared and confident to do so.

Let's get started

FAQs

We welcome volunteers from all backgrounds. We believe in the power of your shared experiences, whether you are one year or ten years into your career. And we are keen to receive applications from volunteers who represent the diversity of our students.

We ask that our volunteers are currently in employment, as this allows the potential to offer students more opportunities.

In Scotland, you must work with one of our employer partners and be nominated by them to volunteer.

You don’t need any specific qualifications or experience to volunteer, but we do look for the following qualities and behaviours:

  • Reliable
  • Caring
  • Inspiring
  • Empathetic
  • Patient
  • Outgoing
  • Open-minded

Please note, our aim is to provide a paid internship to all of our young people on the Career Ready Programme, as such, we do have to prioritise mentoring places to volunteers who are able to provide an internship and/or come through one of our funding partners. However, we do still welcome applications from all volunteers, as we may still have some places available for those who cannot provide an internship.

Our volunteer sign-up page will also advise if there are any regions no longer recruiting for due to volunteer numbers being met for our 2025-26 programme cohort.

We offer different volunteer opportunities you can mentoring a young person, deliver a masterclass and offer a summer paid internship Check the details of our roles.

Yes, you carry out more than one volunteering role. For example, you can host an internship, deliver a masterclass or provide a workplace, plus mentor a young person at the same time. What you wish to do will depend on the time you have available.

Our volunteer roles are perfect if you work while volunteering, as it can be accommodated to your timetable.

How much of your time you need to give will vary depending on your volunteer role.

A mentor is expected to meet their mentee once a month from January to December and meetings are approximately one hour, so it would be about 12 hours per year. You will also need to factor in time to complete our mentor training, which is approximately two hours for a new volunteer. You can complete this online and at a time to suit you.

If you choose to deliver a masterclass this might be a one-off session and our Masterclasses run for one hour and we suggest you allow an hour for preparation time. All Masterclass presentations are pre-written and provided in advance to our volunteers.

Depending on the volunteer role you choose, you may need a DBS check.

All our mentors must have an Enhanced DBS check, either through Career Ready, or with another organisation if you belong to the DBS update services so we can check it. An Enhanced DBS is required as mentors are meeting one-to-one with a young person.

We will invite you to complete a DBS check when applying to become a mentor. This process is free of charge for our volunteers.

If you are volunteering to host an internship, deliver a masterclass or workplace visit you do not need to have a DBS, as you will not be alone with a young person.

We operate in a variety of areas across the UK in England and Scotland. Please see our map of where we work for further information.

We work in a variety of locations within the UK, where possible we will try to match you to a centre close to your workplace or home depending on what your preference is.

You will need to meet your mentee in person for the majority of your meetings. We strongly encourage or mentors to hold their sessions in the workplace as this provides our young people with the experience of a professional environment, however if this is not possible you can meet in a public place such as a coffee shop or at your mentee’s school or college.

Here are our locations.

We offer a variety of training and support to our volunteers.

If you are mentoring with us, we will ask you to attend a live mentor briefing and complete two training modules online including Safeguarding.

You will also have the support of your own regional manager and the volunteering team. We also provide a host of resources to also ensure you feel confident and prepared for your mentoring role.

If you are delivering a masterclass for us, we provide the full presentation with presenter’s notes. We also offer the option of an online live training session with a member of the Career Ready team before your delivery or a recording of this to help you feel prepared. You will also have a Career Ready member of staff available to answer any questions about the event and location.

We do our best to match you where you have specified but this is not always possible. We prioritise our matches based on the address you have provided to ensure you and your mentee are in reasonable reach of one another.

If you or a young person are at risk to themselves or in immediate danger, phone 999.

If you are concerned about the safety or welfare of one of our young people and it is not an emergency requiring 999, your first contact should be made to the young person’s school or college, if you are unable to contact the school or college by phone, you should CC in your Career Ready Regional Manager to any emails sent to the school or college coordinator, they may also be able to help.

If you have a Safeguarding concern but there is no immediate danger or risk to the young person or yourself and if you are unable to contact the student’s school or college co-ordinator, you can contact Career Ready’s Designated Safeguarding Officer (DSO): Sian Robertson, Director of Programme & Operations: 07525 754 829, sian.robertson@careerready.org.uk

You will need to have a UK address to be able to mentor, as you will be asked to complete an Enhanced DBS check with Career Ready before you will be able to mentor a young person one to one. All our volunteering opportunities are also in-person, so you will need to be able to volunteer in-person within one of our regions we support.

Volunteers from the EU

The UK is no longer a member of the European Union. But EU nationals can still volunteer in the UK if:

  • They have settled or pre-settled status
  • They have a visa that allows them to volunteer
  • They’re volunteering with an EU-funded programme like Erasmus + or the European Solidarity Corps

You can also see this guidance from the NCVO.

Volunteers from outside of the EU

Please see government advice and personal visas for details or restrictions.

Depending on the role you undertake, we may ask you to commit to up to a year, this would be for our mentoring opportunities.

However, we do understand that personal circumstances can change which could affect your ability to volunteer. You can always contact us if you need to talk to us about your situation.

If you cannot commit to 12 months as a mentor, you can always volunteer for one of our other roles such as delivering a masterclass, which can be just one session or hosting a four-week paid internship during the summer.

Volunteers are covered by the Career Ready insurance policy while engaged in any volunteering on behalf of Career Ready. If you require further information, please contact info@careerready.org.uk

Please contact your Career Ready Regional Manager or you can contact info@careerready.org.uk if your circumstances have changed so we can support you with this.

Career Ready does not reimburse volunteers’ expenses.

Ready to get involved?

Register with us as a volunteer today…

Ready to get involved?

Register with us as a volunteer today…

Let's get started