Want a career in museums? Live in South London? Aged 18 – 25?
Join us at IWM London for our 3-month long Summer Volunteer Programme! Engage with museum visitors and gain valuable practical skills! Meet and learn from museum staff working in curation, archiving, events, visitor experience, senior leadership and more! We’ll equip you with the tools and knowledge you need to find direction and confidence as you embark on your museum career!
You’ll join our brilliant cohort of Front of House volunteers for the summer. Alongside your weekly or bi-weekly front of house shifts you will have access to a series of workshops and learning sessions run by staff members throughout the museum.
We want to give you the confidence to take the next step in your career whether that’s by boosting your confidence through public speaking, having a 1-1 with a supportive staff member or simply dispelling the mystery of what goes on in museums behind the scenes!
The IWM Summer Volunteer Programme will run from June – September 2024. Workshop sessions will run weekly but are not compulsory. We expect a commitment of at least one half-day Front of House shift per week however this can be amended based on each volunteers’ personal circumstances.
Ready to start your museum career this summer?
What is the IWM Summer Volunteer Programme?
We are recruiting for our first ever cohort of Summer Programme Volunteers. The 3-month long volunteering period (mid-June to early September) will be spent engaging with visitors about our exhibits alongside our wonderful team of Discover Volunteers. Our Discover Volunteers are the warm and welcoming face of the museum helping visitors in the discovery and orientation of the site. They are confident using their initiative, intuition and are proud of being IWM ambassadors.
These weekly or bi-weekly front of house shifts will be supplemented with a series of workshops and learning sessions run by staff members throughout the museum. These are designed specifically for young people (aged 18-25) looking to enter the museum and heritage sector, offering a taster of a wide range of museum roles and departments to help you decide where you’d like to take your career. We want to give you the confidence to take the next step in your career whether that’s by boosting your confidence through public speaking, having a 1-1 with a supportive staff member or simply dispelling the mystery of what goes on in museums behind the scenes!
Once the 3-month programme is complete, Summer Programme Volunteers will have the option to stay at the museum as a Discover Volunteer. There are a range of other volunteer roles which you can try out too!
Where will I be based?
Volunteers will be based within the galleries at Imperial War Museum London. This is a fantastic opportunity for volunteers to develop customer experience skills in a practical setting alongside the diverse team at IWM London. Volunteers are based at designated ‘hotspots’ across the site and rove around key areas as part of your volunteering day
Time commitment
The schedule of workshops and learning sessions will be provided at the beginning of the programme. They will occur on a range of different days to account for different availability. The sessions are optional.