A series of events and resources for students and alumni from all disciplines.
Discover, connect and explore the sector - wherever you are in your career planning.
Follow us for information, advice and inspiration:
Wednesday January 24,17:00-18:00: Careers in Policy Panel, Virtual |
Interested in a career in government and policy? Want to find out more? Wondering what the next best steps are for you? Our speakers will share their stories with you and answer your questions! The list of speakers is attached to the event. The session will be recorded and shared on our YouTube channel afterwards |
Tuesday January 30, 15:30-16:30: Speculative Applications Workshop, In-person (Student Services Centre) |
If you’re interested in a career in international organisations and charities, conventional internships can be harder to find. Applying speculatively to organisations- approaching them to ask what's available- is a common entry path. A lot of people have questions about the best way to do this. |
Tuesday February 6, 17:00-18:00, Careers in International Development & Organisations Panel, Virtual |
Interested in a career in international development? Want to find out more? Wondering what the next best steps are for you? Our speakers will share their stories with you and answer your questions. |
Thursday February 8, 18:00-19:30: Networking Speed Meet, In-person (Student Services Centre) |
Come to this in-person event to meet alumni and employers from policy, charity and development-related organisations and other employers with a social impact focus. We will give you a chance to speak to each person in a small group, ringing a bell to move people along- like speed dating. After you've had a chance to meet everyone, there will be a chance to network more organically. |
Tuesday February 13, 17:00:18:00: Careers in Charities Panel, Virtual |
Interested in a career in charities? Want to find out more? Wondering what the next best steps are for you? Our speakers will share their stories with you and answer your questions. We are intending to hold this event in person, with four of our speakers joining remotely by Zoom and two of them coming to join us in person. As well as the chance to ask your questions 'live' we hope you'll also get to talk to fellow students with an interest in charity work! |
Janina’s story: from MML to international development: 5 tips for current students and graduates
Olivia's story: Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) Health Policy Fast Track Scheme
Naomi’s story: Internship with Connected Development
Peter’s story: Internship with at the Permanent Observer Mission of the Holy See to the United Nations
You can read more blogs on politics, charities & international development
Contact us to share your career story.
The International Development and charities festival provided a wealth of tips and advice from Cambridge alumni and others working in the development and charities sector. We've gathered some highlights for you to learn more.
Getting Work Experience
A common question our students wanted answered was how to get meaningful work experience in a sector where formal structured internships can be difficult to find. Our speakers’ answers covered a range of different types of experience they have had themselves or have seen when they're recruiting for roles.
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Volunteering
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Short courses/online learning
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Informal research, perhaps from networking or following social media
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Formal research (e.g. a dissertation) for good
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Related internships/paid work- including opportunities at university to get involved in research projects as an assistant or in widening participation and outreach
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Internships/paid work outside of the charity and development sector. That could be casual work building your administrative skills in an office or interacting with members of the public in a shop or bar. It could also be something more typically considered ‘professional' work, perhaps an internship in the private sector
There was also an interesting discussion around unpaid opportunities and what to look out for.
Skills
This patchwork effect of different experiences makes it even more important that you're able to give a coherent narrative about the skills and qualities that you have developed over time and how you will be able to apply them too work in the third sector. The second highlights video as examples of people talking about the skills that they see as having been crucial to their career. There's such a wide variety of different roles within the sector that it's impossible to give the definitive list of essential skills. However, listening to people talking about what's been important for them should give you some ideas of what might form part of your own skills to develop and find evidence for.
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Working in diverse teams and communities
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Data gathering, analysis and communication
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Languages
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Project management
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Flexibility
Networking
people sometimes think of networking as a fairly corporate endeavour but in the sometimes niche world of charting development, it can also play an important part. Perhaps you want to learn more about the skills that are vital in a particular role or charity that you want to target, perhaps you want to find opportunities to gain work experience, perhaps you've got more questions that haven't been answered here and you want to get answers straight from the horse’s mouth! This last video offer some examples and suggestions of how you could go about it including
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Reaching out to people you don't know, also called the ‘speculative’ approach
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Expanding your network through referrals and friends of friends
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Getting your foot in the door with volunteering or early-career jobs
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Social media, including LinkedIn
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Events, including those run by the careers service.
Watch our Careers in Charities and Non-Profits playlist, Careers in Government, Policy and the public sector and International Organisations Playlist - subscribe to us on YouTube to get more as they are published.
Read our Sector Guides on careers in Charities and International Development. You'll also find many more Sector Guides, covering everything from Political Risk to Scientific Research.
Voluntary experience is an almost essential pre-requisite in the sector - read our guide to find out more.
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