Could you, like David, join our team?

‘Have you thought about volunteering for Maldon Citizens Advice?’ my wife suggested. It was a brilliant suggestion and led me in an unexpected but highly rewarding direction. After comprehensive and thorough training, it was time to go live of the phone.

Talking to clients seems initially daunting, but you have the support and incredible knowledge base of the supervisors and specialists. Your role is to put the client at ease, obtain all the facts and ask  the right questions. Phone down, now comes the research and picking of the brains of those more experienced. Then with the shape of your advice formed, you can go back to the client.  Suddenly it is not daunting, but instead there is a great feeling of helping someone out in their moment of need. As your knowledge and experience grows instead of being daunted you have feelings of anticipation and interest.

Being an advisor is a privileged position where you gain the trust and confidence of clients who let you into their lives in order that you can seek to help them by providing guidance and advice. Going to work is energising as you never quite know what you are going to encounter when picking up the phone or when in a face to face meeting. The variety of cases even within one day can be extraordinary. Some cases can be straight forward but there those that are harrowing but even here offering comfort and advice can improve a client’s position and outlook. At the end of the day you can leave with a skip in your step, given a sense of having made a difference and contributed to making the world a better place, albeit in a very small way.

A further reason for enjoying going to the office is the diverse and interesting team of fellow advisors at Citizens Advice. There is time for a chat and the out of office activities are good fun.

So my wife’s suggestion has helped to provide me with a greater sense of purpose, the ability to help people in need, a sense of being valued, wider interaction with society and a colligate and fun work environment. I cannot thank her enough!