I’m in a quandary and would welcome your opinions.

As you know, following ideas from you, I became a volunteer Generalist Advisor at Citizen’s Advice Bureau.  

When I applied I explained that I could only help for half a day per week and my interviewer said this was fine.  I found the work really rewarding, but also exhausting - even on half a day per week. Having worked in the morning I was often too tired to go to the cycling time trial in the evening. 

I had completed all the training sessions assigned to me and I was on my way. The satisfaction gained from helping people sort out their issues was immense, and that made it worthwhile.

A few weeks ago I was asked in for a regular review, as is done with all volunteers. My work had been discussed between the supervisors. Aside from a few minor issues for me to work on, I was pulled up on two issues: I was only doing 3-4 hours per week, when most volunteers did 6-7 hours, and I had loads more online training to do, which I hadn’t worked on for a few months. I explained that I had been accepted on the proviso that I could only manage a half day per week, and that I had not been told of any of this additional training. Hmmm, the reviewer said, let me look into this.

I was away from home the following week, which gave me plenty of time to consider my situation. I also talked with an old and very wise friend. She had volunteered at CAB for a while and found it really relaxing, but that was because she was a trained social worker. The notion that I was exhausted was quite surprising to her.

At my next session I asked my reviewer for a meeting. She said that it was entirely their fault not telling me about the additional training that was required, and that my original interviewer hadn’t passed on my working time limits. I told her that I’d considered everything and that I had decided to leave as the volunteering was having a large impact on my other activities due to the exhaustion.She entirely understood and we parted on very good terms.

This morning I have received an email from my original interviewer saying that they were really keen to retain my skills and offering me some different roles.

I must admit that I feel a great sense of relief in leaving. I already volunteer regularly at sporting events.

So… should I go back to volunteering at CAB?

Susannah

A Moodscope member