‘Portfolio for Volunteering experiences – Based on the ProfilPASS’, a major output of the EUROVIP project, has been put to a first successful test in Scotland.

In summer 2017 EUROVIP project partner Volunteering Matters gathered a group of volunteers from their Full-time Volunteering programme in their Edinburgh offices. European projects coordinator Pieter Baeten and Volunteer Manager Jen Finnimore guided the participating volunteers through the comprehensive material of the ‘Portfolio for Volunteering experiences – Based on the ProfilPASS’ to help them recognise the skills and competencies acquired in their volunteering roles and how to use them in their professional career.

The ‘Portfolio for Volunteering experiences – Based on the ProfilPASS’ is a built on a three step structure. In the first step participants reflect on the tasks and activities of their volunteering role. Based on this reflection volunteers assess the qualities and skills specific to these activities in the second step. The last step involves translating these qualities and skills into competencies relevant in the professional recruitment process.

Prior to the training all volunteers present in the training indicated that they had never thought of using the skills and competencies from their volunteering roles in a professional context. However, in the feedback on ‘Portfolio for Volunteering experiences – Based on the ProfilPASS’ they unanimously emphasised the usefulness of such a course. Further feedback about the course material itself was attentively received by Pieter and Jen and fed back to the authors. These insights were incorporated into a second training session in September delivered by Volunteering Matters in London.