May’s winner of the Volunteer of the Month prize is Julien Jarmoszko, Senior Research Manager at S&P Global Market Intelligence. Julien was nominated for acting above and beyond as the lead volunteer for an employability event at Avenue Primary School in Manor Park. He recruited and trained all 12 volunteers for the session. Julien also insisted on ordering lunch for the group and personally arranged this, with a local deli, whilst on leave. Finally, he was very keen to influence the workshop exercises used, because he knew what would be useful for the beneficiaries and therefore designed an activity that helped the beneficiaries create comprehensive examples to use in competency based interview questions.

Why did you volunteer? 
I have been volunteering for a number of causes outside work in the past few years – I simply noticed that the more I gave, the more I received in return. When I saw that S&P Global was actively encouraging staff to volunteer, I jumped at the opportunity to be involved. This project talked to me because I had either lost my job or tried to find a better one in the past. A lot of people are struggling because of mental blocks they impose on themselves. This project will help them discover that they have a unique set of achievements that can help them find better prospects.

Why do you think volunteering is important?
Volunteering helps in many ways: you can develop new skills, make new connections / friends and also get a perspective on your own issues: that train delay is insignificant compared to someone living on the street for instance.

Would you recommend volunteering to a colleague and if so why?
I recommend volunteering to colleagues for the reasons mentioned above. Our firm is offering a great platform to start volunteering such as taking a few hours of working time a year for projects, cash and communication support… I am thankful that S&P Global takes its corporate responsibility very seriously and encourage us to act.