CILIP relies on our amazing volunteers. We have around 500 volunteers at any given time and we call them our CILIP Champions. Our volunteers are involved in every level of our organisation. They give their time to support the profession whether they’re mentors, board members or are part of our professional communities throughout the UK.

If you’ve never thought about volunteering for CILIP, it can be an amazing opportunity to develop new skills, boost your own CPD and Chartership portfolio, expand your professional and social networks and share and expand your own knowledge. Here are just a few examples of how volunteering with us helps you give back to the profession while benefitting your own career.

CPD

During the pandemic it’s been hard to to focus on life responsibilities, never mind your CPD, by being part of a CILIP community you can use this experience to boost your Chartership and revalidation portfolio. So by volunteering with us you can help make yourself more employable.

"I’m learning what I can do and this helps you feel like you belong in your profession. In terms of CPD and progressing through my own work, I’ve been able to get promotions because it gives me extra experience to talk about at interview."
Victoria Hunter

NEW SKILLS

Volunteering with CILIP is a great way to develop new skills. You can learn the skills to manage; conferences and events and understand finances. You can learn to run social media campaigns, writing skills for newsletters and journals or developing online content for your community. These translate into real opportunities for personal and career growth.

"It’s something I’m so glad I got involved in. It’s opened up a whole lot of opportunities for me. I’ve got to organise events and present at Conference, I don’t think I’d have had the confidence to do that if I hadn’t had experience of organising with my network first."
Mike Jones

NETWORKS

It’s also a fantastic opportunity to build your professional networks, working in one of our communities give you access to a team of committed professionals who share an interest. This often opens up access to wider networks that may be particularly valuable, especially if you are a solo worker in your organisation.

"It’s been great to meet people across the profession, because I worked in a workplace library, which was quite small, I really benefited from those interactions form people in different sectors of the profession."
Jo Wood

SHARE YOUR KNOWLEDGE

No matter where you are in your career, you have valuable skills and knowledge that CILIP needs.

"It can be quite intimidating when you start out, you may believe you have to be an industry leader to sit on a committee.., but quite often it’s people in similar roles to you. Everyone has an area of expertise or an interest they can share."
Luke Fowler

Volunteering with CILIP isn’t just about giving back to your community, there can be great benefits for you socially and professionally too. With over 30 communities across the UK, you’re bound to find an opportunity to give back to your profession while learning new skills. So, what are you waiting for?

To find out more about volunteering opportunities with CILIP’s communities go to volunteering opportunities on Information Professional Jobs, check out your chosen professional or local communities on social media or visit CILIP's Community page.

.