How Has Skilled Volunteering Impacted Me?

A Volunteer’s Perspective – Imogen

With all the extra time of lockdown and furlough, I wanted to do something worthwhile, but wasn’t feeling confident being out and about front-line volunteering during the coronavirus pandemic. Luckily I found a way to volunteer from home, in the most flexible and rewarding way. 

Having worked in digital marketing for about 10 years, Link UP London contacted me about completing a website and user experience review for their own site and I’m so glad they did. 

I helped Link UP understand who is visiting the website currently and how the site is performing. I looked at the site from the perspectives of different visitor types to understand how easy the site is to use. Based on this analysis, I provided Link UP with a list of recommended activities to make sure the website provides everyone with the information they need. 

From the instant I started chatting to the Link UP team, it never felt like work. Every meeting was twice as long as I expected because there was so much to discuss and so many ideas flying around. I felt like a consultant, but also a colleague, part of the team. It’s so wonderful and rewarding to see how much the team enjoy and believe in what they are doing, the enthusiasm is completely infectious. 

It was great to look at a business so different from the ones I usually work with. It was challenging not to fall into the traps that I would usually be recommending when working for companies with big budgets, but I am a stronger professional for being able to make more well-rounded and affordable recommendations as well. If I needed help or support the team was only a phone call away and it was simply a joy to work with them.

I would recommend volunteering with Link UP to anyone. The project we agreed was a perfect fit for my skills and I’m ending my project feeling proud of what I’ve achieved, excited to see how my recommendations will work and ready for the next project.