Eleanor's Volunteering Story
Modern law firms have to face a number of issues in order to operate sustainably. However, sustainability is about more than just the environment: social factors play a key role in creating a sustainable culture. Volunteering is an important part of social sustainability and in recognition of this, we wanted to share the volunteering experiences of some members of the Vario team.
Who’s telling us their story?
Eleanor Cleveley is a member of our Legal Project Management team based out of Pinsent Masons’ Birmingham office. Her role sees her work across a range of corporate projects including mergers & acquisitions as well as property matters. Regardless of the subject area, her key focus is on organising projects for lawyers, so that they can turn their focus to high value legal work instead.
Why do you think volunteering is important?
"There are so many benefits! Volunteering is incredibly rewarding and can give you a sense of purpose and accomplishment. You contribute your time to supporting a cause that makes a positive impact within the community.
Volunteering events are also a great way to meet likeminded individuals and network with others you perhaps wouldn't usually interact with in your day-to-day role. These events provide an opportunity for people to try something different, perhaps learn a new skill and get out of their comfort zone. This also benefits individuals within the workplace because volunteering adds variety to your working role and in turn can encourage greater motivation and creativity in the workplace.
I would strongly encourage anyone at Pinsent Masons who is thinking about volunteering to do so. Whether you are interested in sports, working with school students, would like to volunteer ad-hoc or prefer something more regular, there will be something of interest for you to get involved in."
What volunteering have I been involved in?
"I first got involved in volunteering after I saw an email from the Community Investment Action Group promoting upcoming volunteering opportunities for my office, Birmingham. When I identified an event on the list I was interested in, I contacted the listed school partnership lead for more information and expressed my interest in participating in the event. We regularly receive emails from the Community Investment Action Group advising of future volunteering opportunities which is a great way to keep up to date with available opportunities.
I’ve recently taken part in a selection of mock-interview events hosted by our school partners. The purpose of the sessions is to imitate real-life interviews to help build students' confidence and social skills, in preparation for the next step in their careers and education. Taxis are arranged to take volunteers from the office to the hosting school and back again. At the event, volunteers are tasked with asking students a series of standard interview questions, before relaying feedback. Each volunteer interviewed approximately 8 students each.
Both events took place in the morning, allowing us to get back to the office for the afternoon. These sessions are ad-hoc, however there is usually at least one event per month during the course of the academic year. This provides flexibility to anyone who would like to get involved, however is unable to commit to a set time.
I have really enjoyed the volunteering events I have taken part in to date. It felt incredibly rewarding to be able to talk to students about their post-GCSE plans; listen to their future aspirations and provide any tips and advice on navigating the next step in starting their career journey, based on my own experience. Both the teachers and students were appreciative of our help and it was a really positive start to my day."
Stay up to date
If you’d like to read more volunteering stories from the Vario team, we have two more pieces coming out later this week. To stay up to date with this and other work we’re doing, you can follow us on LinkedIn, Instagram, or TikTok.