Features: Online volunteering: What’s on offer

Finding time to do work experience can be difficult when studying, working part time and trying to sustain a social life. But now you can gain valuable experience from the comfort of your own home

It doesn't matter what type of experience you wish to gain, with a bit of research there is sure to be an organisation online looking for volunteers. Whether you have a couple of hours a month to spare or a couple of days, volunteering from home is a flexible way to fit essential work experience around other commitments.

What are the benefits of online volunteering?

The range of opportunities available to online volunteers is extensive, as organisations seek to engage with a wider community and benefit from collaborating with more people than those they employ.

By working with people passionate about volunteering, organisations benefit from new ideas, ways of thinking and expertise while students and graduates nurture talents and develop new skills to help get a head start when entering a difficult job market.

Opportunities to volunteer

Aspiring editors could benefit from volunteer scheme Project Gutenberg , which seeks to digitise books that are considered to be in the public domain (e.g. the copyright has expired). As a volunteer you can contribute to the digital library in a number of ways, including: proofreading scanned texts; project managing a book through the proofreading process and helping to maintain and improve the website itself.

Proofreading is an essential skill for those looking to enter an editorial career and the more experience you have the better prepared you will be when starting your first graduate role.

Volunteering for Project Gutenberg will help to improve your attention to detail (which comes with practice) without you having to commit major amounts of time to the scheme. Everyone signed up to be part of the Distributed Proofreaders team proofs one page at a time and you can proof as many pages as you want, as often as you want.

Volunteer and help developing countries

The United Nations runs an Online Volunteering Service  which connects volunteers with organisations working for sustainable human development. You can 'change the world' and boost your CV and employability skills at the same time.

To find a volunteering opportunity that suits, search through tasks, topics or regions. Tasks aim to match your skills to the help that is needed and range from translation and design to research and IT development.

Alternatively, choose a specific development topic to focus on such as education, gender, crisis prevention and recovery or governance and human rights. If you have a preference for the part of the world you would like to help, search opportunities by region. The ways to help are endless, with organisations requiring all sorts of support.

Volunteering opportunities are varied and include:

• creating short fact sheets to support actors who are running training workshops on gender-based violence;
• providing administrative support for an organisation which helps communities in developing countries gain access to healthcare, clean water and nutritious food;
• developing a blog for a community information and development project;
• rebuilding a charity's website;
• acting as an online facilitator for a charity by updating the organisation's Facebook page, aiding discussions and developing online campaigns.

Gain work experience and beat bullying

If social work or teaching appeals to you, gaining work experience is often essential in order to gain a place on a postgraduate course. It helps to show your commitment to, and knowledge of, the profession you hope to enter.

One way to make a difference to the lives of young people while gaining work experience is to become a CyberMentor. Beatbullying works with young people in the UK to stop bullying. Its programme CyberMentors allows young people to support one another online.

Volunteers must live in the UK and be aged between 11 and 25. Training days are held throughout the country to equip volunteers with the skills needed to help young people affected by bullying. Senior CyberMentors (aged 18-25) also exist to provide help and support to younger CyberMentors.