What is Recognition?
The Volunteering & Internship Recognition Scheme (VIRS) formally recognises the contribution that volunteers and interns make to Northumbria Sport. The purpose of VIRS is:
- To ensure you have the appropriate skills and knowledge to complete your role safely and effectively
- To incentivise and promote continuous personal development
- To reflect on your skills, knowledge and experience and developing your employability skills
There are three stages for you to work though, each providing different opportunities and rewards.
- Embed Safe Practice
- Enrich and Enhance
- Kickstart Your Career
All volunteers and interns will be required to complete the first stage “Embed Safe Practice”, and we would encourage you to take advantage of the benefits to be found in “Enrich and Enhance” and “Kickstart Your Career”.
Embed Safe Practice
- Once you have been offered your volunteering or internship position, we will check that you have the appropriate skills and qualifications that we deem to be relevant to your role.
- If you do not currently hold some of these qualifications, we will offer these to you free of charge.
- Once you have completed the qualification(s), upload them to our Volunteer Kinetic portal.
What's in it for me?
- Certificate of completion of Embed Safe Practice VIRS, proving your commitment to safe practice
- Free sports kit
- Access to the Sport Development Bursary which provides you up to £300 towards additional qualifications and training opportunities to help you stand out to future employers
Enrich and Enhance
Boost your knowledge by attending free personal and professional development training.
What does it involve?
- You will be provided with a selection of free courses in topics such as mental health awareness, sudden cardiac arrest, LGBTQ+ and inclusive practice.
- You are required to complete a minimum of 2 courses. There is no limit of the number of courses that you can attend.
- Once you have completed the course(s), upload your certificates of completion to Volunteer Kinetic.
- Upload a written statement to Blackboard to evidence how the CPD that you have attended has influenced, modified or changed your practice.
What's in it for me?
- Get ahead of the competition by gaining qualifications and attending training
- Certificate of completition of Enrich and Enhance VIRS, proving your commitment to engaging with continuous personal and professional development
- Gain free access to qualifications
- Free UK Coaching Membership
- Rewards for high levels of engagement in CPD such as vouchers, social media recognition to build your brand, and tickets for our Sports Ball.
Kickstart Your Career
Reflect on your experience and develop your employability skills.
What does it involve?
- Attend a "Northumbria Sport Employability Training" workshop led by Careers Advisors at Graduate Futures, to provide training in how to communicate your experiences in job applications and interviews
- Submit a personal statement to evidence how you meet the essentials skills that employers are looking for in graduates (such as communication, teamwork, negociations, problem solving, leadership, organisation, resilience, ability to work under pressure and confidence)
- Finally, take part in a mock job interview to showcase your talents and promote the skills and knowledge that you have gained over volunteering or internships and recieve feedback
What's in it for me?
- Get ahead of the competition by kickstarting your employability journey
- Certificate of completition of Kickstart Your Career VIRS, proving your commitment to enhancing your employability skills and knowledge
- Gain access to free employability and education
- Personalised LinkedIn reccomendation from Northumbria Sport to evidence your commitment to personal and professional development
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