Meet our People - Jennie Pearson

Jennie Pearson is a project officer with CSV Employee Volunteering in the West Midlands...

"Hi, I'm Jennie. I'm in my late 20’s, I'm married, and have a 2 year old daughter. I work 24 hours a week which suits my family life perfectly.  I joined CSV in August 2008.

I previously worked for a large corporate in the Community Affairs Team organising team volunteer days, managing an international water well programme as well as various input with educational volunteering and community investment reporting.

I had experience of the corporate field since leaving college and was looking to work for the not for profit sector when I found this role on the Guardian website. Reading the job description it matched perfectly everything that I was looking for. I really enjoy my role with CSV as I can make such a difference.

I work with some large corporate clients to match up their requests with community groups that need some help. I receive requests through the project manager and then research and find two suitable options for the company to choose from. Once they have chosen a project I manage the relationship for that day and conduct a meeting with the client and the community group to ensure all of the plans are in place for the volunteer day. Once the day has taken place I gather feedback and evaluate the day.

My role is very flexible and fits around many things; I am based from home most of the time so have access to emails and my phone when I need to. I normally start between 8 – 9 am, but it depends on child care, and then work my 24 hrs over 3 days, sometimes I do longer days than others, sometimes I work a couple of hours on a forth day it depends how the week goes, the main thing is that you can be adaptable to different challenges and be motivated to complete tasks without constant contact with a manager.

I love working with a variety of community organisations, charities, schools and corporate organisations to really make a difference in the local communities I work with. It is an amazing feeling to be able to make things happen with so many benefits for all involved.

I think if you have a positive attitude towards your work then everything else comes with it. When I meet various people from charities and corporates I always am friendly and ensure that the processes run smoothly. The good thing about CSV is there is a process for nearly everything to ensure we offer a consistent national approach. This can be very helpful when you start a new role as you know you are inline with colleagues.

You need to be adaptable, love a challenge, have patience and understanding, have good IT skills and most of all have an ability to talk to a wide range of community organisations as they all have different needs and requirements as do corporate organisations looking to volunteer. Juggling skills can be very useful : )"