A - Your Personal Details

If you are presently away from your home address due to college or work commitments please be sure to indicate which address we should use when we follow through your application in the coming weeks. An e-mail address and mobile phone number will speed up communications as we arrange interviews and other matters.

B - Your Education Details

1/2.

Please provide the essential details of your main studies at school and university.

3.

If you are presently in employment, please show when you started this and the length of any notice you will have to give if you are accepted as a volunteer.

4.

Your longer term plans may or may not be clear in your mind at the moment. It would be helpful as we assess your application to know how you believe God might be leading you in the longer term.

C - Your Christian Activities

1.

For those away at College it might be difficult to say which is your 'home' church. However, we are keen to know whether you have links with a church near your home address as well as with one near your place of study/work. So, where appropriate, please give the details of two churches and indicate which one you feel to be the 'main' centre of your Christian activity at present.

2.

Please indicate whether you are presently involved in leading any groups, assisting in the running of activities, a member of particular organisations or committees.

3.

List any other camps or houseparties you have been involved in, showing any positions of responsibility you have held where appropriate. Please do include those ones you are planning to do before being available as a volunteer this next September.

4.

If you have attended any specific courses to train or prepare you for Christian work please give the details. This might include evening classes, day courses, weekends or longer training courses.

D - Your Practical Skills/Interests

1.

Some placements indicate that someone with musical gifts would be helpful. Please include any information here that might help us match you more precisely to a possible place and indicate whether or not you would plan to take a musical instrument with you as a volunteer.

2.

It would be helpful to know whether you are an active sports-person or if you are heavily into any hobby or other past-time that might just be useful in a particular situation.

3.

Drama and other creative talents can often be put to good use so please tell us about these and how you have used them already.

4.

Do add anything here that you feel might be relevant - it won't be held against you later if, for instance, a claimed skill in cooking proves debatable amongst your future colleagues!

5.

Some placements require a volunteer who can drive, although the younger the volunteer the more difficult it is to get the necessary insurance cover! A few other placements are in remote locations and we try to only place a volunteer in those if they have their own transport.

E - Your Health

Please do not feel intimidated by this section! We are keen to ensure that where there is something of importance in your medical history, we are aware of it and so can react in the best way as we consider your application. Careforce placements can be quite tough physically, emotionally and mentally, as well as spiritually, so please do be completely open with us.

A history of any illness or condition mentioned on the form will not automatically disqualify you from being a Careforce volunteer. We always talk and pray through every application we receive and seek specific Christian medical advice where necessary as we seek God's will for the applicant and for Careforce.

5.

Any strong dietary preferences are important for us to know about at this early stage, as some placements can handle these better than others.

9.

Careforce has its own medical advisors. They would be the ones who would approach your GP/doctor for more details, but only if they believe it to be absolutely essential. To help speed any such enquiry please be sure to sign and date this section of the form as well as at the end of the back page.

F - Other Information

1.

It is very helpful for us to know how you heard about Careforce in the first place, as it helps us with our recruiting.

2./3.

You may believe you would prefer a particular kind of placement in a particular part of the UK - please tell us if this is the case and realise that it is our normal practice to place you in a situation where we believe you will be able to use your present known skills whilst being stretched to discover presently unknown gifts.

4.

It would be helpful to know if you are definitely applying to any other group.

G - Child Protection Declaration

Most of our placements will involve work with children, young people or vulnerable adults. Recent legislation requires all those engaged in such activities to meet basic guidelines. This section on the form enables you to declare any history from your own background that will help us and any possible placement know how best to advise and guide you.

Once a placement has been agreed for you we will ask you to apply for an Enhanced Disclosure from the Criminal Records Bureau (CRB). As a registered body with the CRB we can process this with you with the minimum of delay. The obtaining of such a Disclosure is now essential for all our volunteers.

We do not wish to prevent people with past criminal convictions from joining Careforce. Only relevant convictions will be taken into account - that is, convictions that suggest a person might be a risk to the safety of children or young people.

All information shared with us will be treated in the strictest confidence.

H - Your Referees

If we invite you to come for interview, Careforce will always contact your referees first. Please warn those you name that they will be hearing from us for a written reference.

If you have worked with children and young people before then please ensure that you nominate one referee who worked with you in that situation.

We reserve the right to take up character references from any other individuals if that would help us make the best decision about your joining with us in Careforce. 

I Finally

These final sections enable you to tell us something about your faith and why you particularly wish to serve with Careforce. Your answers are very important as we only invite to interview those who are committed Christians and who demonstrate the reality of their faith through what they tell us.

Please do not forget to sign and date your form!

Important – closing date for applications

If you are living or studying in the UK we can accept applications right through until August 31st although we would encourage you to return your form as soon as possible so that we can begin the process quickly to discover where God might want you to serve for this next year.

If you are a non UK national and living outside the UK and are interested in coming to the UK to join our programme there are special procedures for you - please see International Volunteers