"I started my role at Little Village after deciding to start searching for a volunteer organisation in order to gain more experience in Human Resources and Organisational Psychology. After doing my placement year as a support worker at a mental health charity, I realised the traditional mental health route was not what I wanted to pursue anymore. I had the opportunity to be responsible for a big part of the student recruitment process dealing with conducting interviews and deciding which students are going to continue with a placement year at the charity I worked for. This is how I realised I enjoyed the HR and recruitment side of the work, which is how I found the opportunity to volunteer as a Data Base Administrator at Little Village.  

What stood out to me about Little Village is the warmth and openness I experienced when joining their volunteering team. I felt welcomed and appreciated for the way I wanted to contribute to the organisation. Helen was my first point of contact, and she was very inviting and kind when providing details about my role and how I could start the HR volunteering. I then got in contact with Lola, the People and Finance Coordinator, and my supervisor alongside my volunteering. Lola has been a wonderful mentor and a strong sense of support in my volunteering learning journey. 

As most of my work experience has been in mental health, volunteering in HR was a new concept for me and many parts of the work felt unknown. My supervisor supported me from the beginning and made sure I understood how to use the software and that I felt accommodated to the tasks I was responsible for. She was always available to answer any questions I had and to check my work and provide feedback when necessary. I felt like I was a part of the team and felt connected to the people at Little Village from the start. As a third-year Psychology student, flexibility has also been an important factor and Little Village has made sure to accommodate this aspect during my volunteering hours. If University assignments or lectures happened at the same time, I have been able to switch my hours around with no issues.  

A highlight during my volunteering has been discussing about my learning journey and experience with the People team. We discussed about my interest of improving employee wellbeing in an organisation and I was encouraged to get more involved in this area when I could. The open learning environment felt very refreshing and showed me how Little Village as an organisation is interested in listening to everyone involved and are striving to improve their current work. This aligned with my interest in Organisational Psychology and my desire to improve working environments. I personally experienced an open and inviting work environment and felt the great impact this made on my wellbeing while volunteering at Little Village.  

Although I am still at the beginning of my HR volunteering role, Little Village has made a big impact in providing me with an inspirational and positive work environment where learning is encouraged, and people’s wellbeing is prioritised. I have improved my knowledge in various HR admin tasks and have learned about the documents and files required by the HR department. I am looking forward to expanding my learning journey at Little Village and get further involved in my HR volunteering role."

Little Village supports families with babies and children under five living in poverty across London. They run a baby-bank network, collecting, sorting and passing on pre-loved clothes and equipment to those in need. They have several hubs across London, in Camden, Wandsworth, Brent, Hackney and Hounslow. Since launching in 2016, Little Village has supporting more than 24,000 children under 5. You can become a Baby Bank volunteer by applying through our website by clicking here.