Case Study – Lorraine Wright 

I was looking for something new to take on as I didn’t feel I was being challenged enough at work. I worked in admin for 15 years and was pretty good at being a PA, now I wanted to do something new. I wrote down my skills and wrote down the things I liked to do and working with people, organising and being out and about was top of the list.

I realised that to change jobs I needed to develop new skills, do new things and meet new business people. My current employer supported a number of charities and this is where my charity work started. I became a member of the charity team organising events for fund raising, visiting local businesses and meeting different charities.

I quickly started developing selling skills and organising fashion shows and charity dinners enhanced my organisation skills and gave me event management experience. I also started realising that actually I was pretty creative, I had always been so serious in my role but now I was thinking totally out of the box.

I just loved being part of a team, I met new people and had lots of fun. Meeting new businesses also gave me insight into other jobs I could do and gave me new contacts. I am now a Wedding Co-ordinator which is my dream job, I got this job because on my CV I made the charity work the most prominent. It’s what I talked about at interview, highlighting all my experienced and successes.

I have continued to do charity work and recommend it if you are looking develop new skills and meet new people.