Advisor Volunteer

Advisor Volunteer - Role Description 

About the Refugee and Migrant Centre  

• RMC vision: A society where newcomers feel welcome, valued and live dignified lives. 
• RMC mission: We will act with humanity and compassion – knowing that with the right support and a chance to rebuild their lives, people can go on to thrive and be equal citizens.

To fulfil our mission and vision, RMC offers advice and guidance in the areas of housing and destitution, training, employment, health and immigration. RMC provides a free drop-in service with face-to-face, holistic advice, support and guidance to clients. 

We provide advice to clients who drop in during the mornings and book appointments for more complex cases during the afternoons. We are closed to the public all day Wednesdays. 

Volunteering with RMC 

You will be based at our office in Birmingham in a busy environment with a friendly, supportive staff and volunteer team. We are looking for volunteers who are enthusiastic and committed and are able to commit to at least one day per week.  

• You will be offered regular support and supervision with an assigned mentor 
• You will gain new skills with new arrival communities 
• An opportunity to give something back to your local community 
• Build experience and key employment skills for your CV as well as an RMC reference to help with future employment. 

Role Description 

The role of our Volunteer Advisor is vital to the success of RMC in advising our clients. The role is face-to-face and involves: 

• Shadowing senior trained advisers/caseworkers (IAA) who give advice to our clients 
• Supporting clients to complete forms, documents and applications 
• Supporting clients with housing, education, health, and other issues 
• Providing translating/interpreting support for clients on an individual level 
• Writing letters 
• Updating records on our client database system – done in line with GDPR, due to the sensitive nature of the information – relating to the care of children and vulnerable adults 
• Signposting clients to other agencies 
• General office administration/support with reception, booking in clients that arrive to the drop-in service 

Skills required 

We provide a comprehensive induction, on-going training and support to all our volunteers but there are some skills we require you to have before you begin with us, these include: 

• A friendly and approachable personality 
• Enthusiastic and passionate about working with refugees, migrants and asylum seekers 
• Willingness to work as part of a team 
• An understanding and acceptance of equal opportunities 
• Basic computer skills 
• A good level of English speaking, reading and writing  

Having a basic understanding of the immigration system and issues asylum seekers, refugees and migrants face, is ideal; however, immigration-related advice can only be offered by IAA supervised or qualified caseworkers.  

Speaking a language or languages, in addition to English, is desirable, but not essential. However, we are actively recruiting volunteers who can speak Russian, Ukrainian, Romanian, Dari, Farsi, Pashto, Arabic, Amharic, Tigrinya, French, Spanish, Punjabi, Urdu, Bengali, Italian. 

Other information 

Disabled access: Yes 

Insurance: Yes 

Travel Expenses: Yes 

Induction: Yes 

Training: Yes 

Health and Safety Policy: Yes 

Equal Opportunities Policy: Yes 

Application process 

The application process will involve the completion of an application form (link below), an informal face-to-face meeting, reference checks and a DBS.  

If you would like more information on the role, you can find out more and complete your application on our website.