Give it a go

Each week we explain how to look for work experience. This time, the NGO sector

Working for a nongovernmental organisation, or NGO, is challenging but rewarding. You could be helping to raise money for medicine needed in Sudan, supporting human-rights campaigners in Burma or highlighting injustices on behalf of Irish minorities, such as the Travelling community. So it is no surprise that NGOs are full of dedicated, enthusiastic people.

As the organisations grow increasingly professional, they are recruiting increasingly skilled staff. Many have some form of qualification in development studies. Others bring skills from other areas. The talents of a good salesman can be as useful for raising money, for example, as they are for shifting cars. Likewise, if you have a passion for communicating, you might be just right to help in a campaign. So marketing, communications, education and IT are all standard departments in the modern NGO.

Because most rely on volunteers to prop up their professional teams, getting work experience should be straightforward. Oxfam Ireland, for example, has more than 1,000 volunteers helping to run its network of shops. Not all NGOs will be in a position to take on TY students, though. Some only take on interns when they have a project that requires extra manpower. Others are just too small. Find out about the organisation before you apply.

"We regularly take on interns to work in our various departments," says Paul Dunphy of Oxfam. "You could end up working in fundraising, marketing, campaigns or advocacy and retail. Some interns apply off their own initiative; others come to us via schemes set up by their colleges. We tend to take on more third-level than second-level students, but we have had TY students help out in our retail department."

Concern offers a number of places in its marketing department, but demand is always greater than supply. "Students do all types of fundraising, marketing activities and help in the mailroom," says Joe Jennings of the charity. "There are also seasonal duties related to specific campaigns, like in the run-up to Christmas, and sometimes opportunities will arise where students assist us in our education work. If a student has computer skills we will certainly try to put them to use also."

Concern has forged good relations with a number of schools over the years, so it usually has a stream of interns available. That is not to say you shouldn't send in an application anyway. "We'll accept requests from any applicant on a first-come, first-served basis," says Jennings.

The same goes for Amnesty International. "We have info on our website about TY, and anyone interested just needs to send us in an application," says Sara Bennett of the charity. "Generally we take on one student per school. They normally work in our human-rights-education team, helping with our primary- and secondary-school campaigns, update the Bebo page and urgent action appeals. We try to have a good mix."

... John Holden