Meet the organisations
Below are the organisations that attended Work Experience Festival in 2023. We had over 40 volunteering organisations plus part-time employers and our placements and enterprise teams. Stay tuned for the list of 2024 attendees.
A
The Army Reserve is part of the UK Defence supporting the Regular Army on deployment on operations and also on humanitarian missions as part of Military Aid to the Civilian Administration(MACA). Portsmouth has 5 army reserve units covering a range of skills from combat, engineering, logistics & medical as well as first-class military training we provide opportunities for adventure training & sport. If you are looking for a challenge, that will test you, has flexible spare time arrangements and will pay you.
What they offer:
- Part-time jobs
Aspex is a contemporary art gallery based at Gunwharf Quays, Portsmouth. Aspex works to support emerging contemporary artists and encourage people of all ages to engage with and explore contemporary art through its exhibitions, artist support programme and participation programme.
What they offer:
- Volunteering opportunities
Historically people with Learning disabilities do not have the same social or educational access/experience as others. In specialist schools, puberty is one of the few topics covered under RSE and little else. Sleepovers and days out where you discuss who snogged who or who has fallen out with whom do not routinely happen, and so understanding friendships and relationships can be significantly overshadowed by care needs. You then have a group of people entering the adult world with very little knowledge of staying safe, meeting others, sex and much more. That was a huge gap for us to fill, and bit by bit, we are supporting more and more people to have fulfilling social opportunities and extend their social network beyond paid carers.
What the offer:
- Volunteering opportunities
B
BH Live is a leading operator of leisure and event venues; a charitable social enterprise that designs and builds engaging experiences to inspire people and enrich lives. We are at the heart of our community and the UK’s growing social economy committed to improving people’s lives. It’s about having a vision. We’re driven to improve the quality of people’s lives and promote health and wellbeing to the whole community. The surplus we make is re-invested into our community
What they offer:
- Part-time jobs
C
Circles of Support and Accountability is committed to encouraging and promoting the rehabilitation, treatment, education and care of persons who have committed sexual offences, with the goal of reducing re-offending. Circles are also invested in the protection of and care of victims and others affected by offending behaviour.
What they offer:
- Volunteering opportunities
Arun & Chichester Citizens Advice is an independent charity (Registration number: 1099640) and a member of the National Association of Citizens Advice. We provide information and advice to solve your problems in regards to the following:
- Debt
- Housing
- Legal
- Healthcare
- Family
- Energy
- Consumer
- Employment
What they offer:
- Volunteering opportunities
D
Decathlon is a French sporting goods retailer. With 1,817 stores in 79 countries and regions, it is the largest sporting goods retailer in the world.
What they offer:
- Part-time jobs
E
Enable Ability work in partnership with disabled children and adults, their families and carers, to provide a range of high-quality, inclusive, professional and confidential services.
What they offer:
- Volunteering opportunities
F
We are a registered charity working with local communities and businesses to highlight the impact of plastic pollution on our environment and to try to minimise the amount of plastic entering our local seas and wider oceans. We work with many different types of business on sustainability and to help them find ethical and sustainable alternatives to single-use plastic in their activities. We have a very busy school outreach programme and have reached thousands of children in the Solent area through assemblies and workshops. We work with community groups, giving talks and running activities and encouraging people to avoid single-use plastic and how to best dispose of it if they do need to use it. We also run regular beach and community clean-ups.
What they offer:
- Volunteering opportunities
H
Hampshire & Isle of Wight Wildlife Trust, alongside nine other influential organisations, aim to restore seagrass meadows, oyster reefs, saltmarsh and seabird nesting habitat across the region. This effort includes working with landowners and regulators to improve the protection and management of existing Solent habitats, to monitor the benefits of seascape scale restoration scientifically and to ensure that local people and sea-users co-design the project, thereby becoming more connected and engaged with their own marine environment.
What they offer:
- Volunteering Opportunities
Visit the Hamshire & Isle of Wight Wildlife Trust website
Student Watch volunteers are a point of contact for students with safety concerns, and they are supported by the University Police Liaison Officer - a police officer dedicated to safety on and around campus.
What they offer:
- Volunteering Opportunities
Visit the Hampshire Constabulary Website
Every day of every week you can find us playing our part, broadening our horizons and getting stuck into the great outdoors. We have more than 15,600 adult volunteers and young people between 6 and 25 years of age enjoying fun and adventure while learning the skills they need for whatever life throws at them.
What they offer:
- Volunteering Opportunities
We provide support to people with brain injury and other forms of acquired brain injury, their family members, carers, and interested professionals.
We support those affected by brain injury to understand, adapt and accept the changes brain injury brings to their lives enabling them to achieve maximum independence within their own community.
What they offer
- Volunteering opportunities
Home Start is a local community network of trained volunteers and expert support helping families with young children through their challenging times. We are there for parents when they need us the most because childhood can’t wait.
What they offer:
- Volunteering Opportunities
K
A dedicated telephone befriending service committed to providing support to individuals grappling with loneliness and often experiencing poor mental health. Our volunteers are exclusively health and social care students.
Originating from the initiative of a mental health nursing student during the national COVID-19 lockdown, our services have since evolved into a registered charity, extending our reach to hundreds of clients across our local district.
What they offer:
- Volunteering Opportunities
M
Magical Maths is an after-school maths programme for primary aged children. The children participate in after-school sessions that will leave them ‘wowed’ and amazed whilst practising their curriculum maths. Magical Maths sessions are quite the spectacle; we’ve got a genius professor, world class detectives, mind reading magicians and eccentric athletes, all dedicated to making maths fun for primary school children.
What they offer:
- Part-time Jobs
Mental Health Innovations (MHI) is a charity delivering scalable, innovative, digital services and insights to transform the mental health of the nation. It was founded in 2017 with the support of the Royal Foundation of The Prince and Princess of Wales.
What they offer:
- Volunteering opportunities
P
PHL Group are an innovative healthcare service provider, delivering exceptional services to the NHS and independent partners.
What they offer:
- Part-time jobs
PARCS is an organisation based in Portsmouth which works with people who have been sexually violated at any time and/or experienced domestic abuse. PARCS provides free specialist counselling and psychotherapy to all genders, aged 5 and above.
What they offer:
- Volunteering opportunities
Get your skates on this festive season, when Portsmouth's Guildhall Square is transformed into a winter wonderland. Portsmouth On Ice will see a real, 646sq m ice rink installed in Guildhall Square - big enough for 200 skaters per session. We will have a bar onsite.
What they offer
- Part-time jobs
Primark is an international fashion retailer employing more than 80,000 colleagues across 17 countries in Europe and the US. Founded in Ireland in 1969 under the Penneys brand, Primark aims to provide affordable choices for everyone, from great quality everyday essentials to stand-out style across women’s, men’s and kids, as well as beauty, homeware and accessories.
What they offer
- Part-time jobs
We have been providing expert educational, sports, and leisure services to the public since 2012. Our aim is to give individuals of all age groups and backgrounds the opportunity to achieve the best they can and make a positive impact on themselves and their community. The primary focus of our services is to educate and upskill the next generation and improve the physical and mental well-being of all ages. Our desire is to give everyone the opportunity to achieve their personal best, whatever their age, background, or circumstances.
What they offer:
- Part-time work
R
We are a diverse and highly motivated Company within 103 Battalion of the Royal Electrical Mechanical Engineers. We are, looking for people to fulfil part time positions in Engineering, Logistics, Catering and Administration. Our Reserve Soldiers enjoy access to sport, adventurous training, professional development as well as making lifelong friendships.
What they offer
- Part-time jobs
Visit the REME Army Reserve Unit website
We are an organisation with a reputation for developing innovative responses to people who are struggling to improve their family’s difficult circumstances whether from homelessness or family breakdown. We work with families, children, young people and vulnerable adults.
What we offer
- Volunteering opportunities
Visit the Roberts Centre website
S
Share (Portsmouth) was formed with the aim to make it easier for people to reduce carbon, waste and raw material use through sharing, repairing and re-use, through our two projects. Repair Café Portsmouth allows repairers to share their skills with people who have broken objects that generally aren’t able to be repaired on the high street, and Portsmouth Library of Things helps people to borrow items that they infrequently use. Both projects help to reduce waste and carbon, as well as saving people money.
What they offer:
- Volunteering opportunities
Shout is the UK's first and only free, confidential, 24/7 text messaging service for anyone who is struggling to cope.
We have taken more than two million conversations with people who are sad, worried, lonely or suicidal and who need urgent, in-the-moment support.
As a digital service, Shout became vital during Covid-19, as one of the few mental health services able to operate as normal at this time. We have seen the need for our support remain high through the UK's cost of living crisis.
What they offer
- Volunteering opportunities
Summerley Recruitment are a specialist Hospitality & Catering agency based in Chichester that provides temporary work to students for events like Weddings, Music Festivals, Sporting Events, and Christmas parties, as well as hotels and restaurants. We supply the following types of staff: bartenders, waiting staff, baristas, till staff, kitchen porters.
What they offer:
- Part-time work
T
Toucan Diversity Training was set up in 2013, as a Social Enterprise. We deliver Equality and Diversity Training, with a focus on Disability. All our trainers have direct experience of the issues they discuss. Our sessions are interactive, using different training methods such as group discussions and questionnaires.
The training aims to raise awareness of the obstacles that people face, to achieve better inclusion of the most disadvantaged groups in our society.
What they offer:
- Volunteering opportunities
V
Vespasian Security was formed in February 2006.Our diverse portfolio of regular clients including national monuments, large business facilities, live events, film locations, licensed venues, private individuals as well as local government in UK and abroad, is a testament to the trust gained by the Vespasian team.
What they offer
- Part-time jobs
Y
Our vision is for everyone to have the tools and resources they need for their journey towards the life they want.
What they offer:
- Volunteering opportunities
MyCareer
You don't have to wait for Work Experience Fest! Start browsing the work experience and part-time opportunities today through your MyCareer account.
Benefits of work experience
If you want to leave university with the best chances of a successful future, you have to go beyond the lecture theatre!
Landing a part-time job
It's no secret that the cost of living crisis has made securing a part-time job high in everyone's priorities. We've got some tips and advice to help you stand out from the crowd.
