Glasgow Central CAB

Volunteer Receptionists

Volunteer General Adviser

At Glasgow Central CAB we have an excellent team of staff, both generalist and specialist advisers who are dedicated to providing advice and assistance to resolve issues for clients.

Advisers come from a wide age range and from diverse cultural, social and educational backgrounds. They bring many different talents, life skills and experiences to the benefit of clients.

What does it take to be an adviser?

All sorts of people volunteer as CAB advisers and provide free, confidential, independent and impartial advice. Here are some of the things CAB advisers have in common. CAB advisers:

• Are good listeners
• Work well in teams
• Can read and write English, and do basic arithmetic
• Are open-minded and don't judge people or their circumstances
• Enjoy helping all kinds of people
• Are prepared to commit 1 day each week
• Are willing to learn new skills
• Feel good about the difference they make

Before you can advise you have to complete a systematic and comprehensive training programme. Our basic requirement is that trainees have a reasonable level of numeracy, reading, writing and verbal skills.

Once you have completed your basic training and competences you can start to see clients on your own to provide generalist advice. After a period that is designed to develop your skills, you may wish to specialise. We will work together to develop your skills and abilities in a specific area, where possible.

During training we ask for a basic commitment of one day per week during the first 6 weeks. We then have tutor lead training sessions for a full week. On completion of the training week you would complete a series of competences and, when finished, qualify as a Generalist Adviser.

What does an adviser do?

The role of a CAB adviser is varied. Some of the things advisers do include:

• Interviewing clients - usually in person, but sometimes by phone or email
  
• Using Advisernet, the CAB Service's electronic information system, to give information to clients
  
• Explaining the choices faced by clients, and what they mean
  Offering practical help to clients by writing letters, making phone calls and helping fill in forms
  
• Making calculations (for example, to check if clients are entitled to certain kinds of benefits)
  
• Referring clients to other agencies if they are better placed to help
  
• Keeping confidential records of clients' cases
  
• Preventing future problems by identifying issues that affect a lot of clients. This information can then be used to try and change laws, regulations and business practices. This is called "social policy" work
  
• In some cases, advisers specialise and go on to represent clients at tribunals and other legal settings.

How to apply

Click the Application button above to download our Volunteer Application form.