Work experience
Take the first steps into your Conservation Career with Yorkshire Wildlife Trust
Here at Yorkshire Wildlife Trust, we know that the future of our amazing county lies in YOUR hands!
Whether you already have some conservation experience through work, volunteering or outside interests and you would like to take it further, or maybe you are a school or college student curious about the sector and wondering whether it's the career for you, we offer a range of development and learning opportunities throughout the year.
Voluntary Placements
Every year we have a number of structured Voluntary Placements available, each based in one of our teams here at the Trust. Typically between 3 and 6 months long, with a flexible time commitment of 2-3 days per week, every placement is designed to deliver a combination of hands-on experience alongside a team of knowledgeable staff, and opportunities for you to grow your knowledge and skills through training or spending time with a variety of teams.
Each placement is different, but recent roles have included areas such as Rivers & Wetlands, Surveying at Spurn Point and Conservation Grazing. We aim for our placements to be genuinely valuable for the volunteer, and often there will be the opportunity to take accredited training whilst on your placement. Placements could be focussed on one or more of our sites, but you will usually have a base at one of our regional offices (York, Doncaster, Huddersfield or Spurn Point). Along with reasonable travel expenses and fully funded training opportunities, volunteers on a placement with us also have access to our fantastic free volunteer training programme.
Of the volunteers who have spent time with YWT in similar roles, 80% went on to either secure their first paid job in the conservation, or to further or higher education courses linked to conservation.
Work Experience for school and college students
There are no work experience placements currently available.
Voluntary Placements
Please see below for our latest Voluntary Placement opportunity
River & Wetlands Voluntary Placement - 6 months
Yorkshire Wildlife Trust (YWT)’s mission is to create a Yorkshire rich in wildlife for the benefit of everyone – more wildlife, more wild places and more people having a strong connection to nature. Within our Northern region we manage 36 nature reserves, as well as a number of exciting projects. Enabling nature’s recovery takes time and effort and the North Team benefits from the help and support of volunteers to make our vision a reality, whilst providing a first-rate learning and development opportunity for people wanting to focus on a career in nature conservation.
The role of the River and Wetlands Voluntary Placement is for the volunteer to support and be involved in the management of conservation projects in North Yorkshire. Working alongside a team of knowledgeable staff, you will help in planning, development, and the practical delivery of this work. This role will allow you to get an in-depth understanding of working in the conservation sector - you will gain experience in developing river restoration and wetland projects on a local scale whilst working alongside landowners on private land. You will have an opportunity to be directly involved in projects which help to reduce sediment inputs into the watercourse, increase biodiversity and encourage natural flood management.
What will you be doing?
On this Voluntary Placement you will gain experience working on river restoration and wetland creation projects in North Yorkshire. You will be based in YWT’s York office with field work largely carried out near Northallerton, Whitby and York. You will primarily assist our Project Officers in undertaking work on third party land, however there will also be the opportunity to work with other members of the team to enhance your development. You have the opportunity to gain experience in the following areas:
• Riparian ecology and restoration (habitats located on the edge of rivers, streams, lakes and other water bodies).
• Land management techniques to improve water quality
• Wetland habitat creation
• Riparian surveys to identify sedimentation issues and other Water Framework Directive failures (WFD is a directive for the protection of all waterbodies).
• Assist in overseeing contractors undertaking practical conservation work (familiarisation with contracts etc.)
• Undertaking practical tasks such as tree planting, surveys, pond work & habitat creation
• Gain familiarisation with budgets and project management tools• Mapping and GIS work using QGIS
• Publicising project work via traditional communications and social media
• Coordinating volunteers for survey work and events
• Engaging with farmers, landowners and other stakeholders
What's in it for you?
• A full induction to the role
• Regular one-to-one with your line manager
• Ongoing personal development, allowing you to develop nature conservation skills and valuable experience towards a career in this highly competitive sector.
• A training budget to include a level 1 certificate in River Restoration with the River Restoration Centre (RRC)
• A programme of in-house training courses will be available throughout your traineeship.
• Access to our free varied internal volunteer training programme
• Branded uniform
• Reasonable travel expenses
• An intensive and high-quality experience that will stand out on any CV, as a team member of one of the UK’s most vibrant and varied conservation organisations.
80% of volunteers on longer term voluntary placements with YWT have successfully found employment within the sector, or gone on to relevant further studies.
Recruitment Information
For more information and to apply please download the full role description below and send in a completed application to volunteering@ywt.org.uk by the closing deadline, 9am Monday 4th August. Interviews are anticipated to take place at our York Office on Wednesday 13th August 2025.
The opportunity to get involved with lambing was a definite highlight of the year - (c) Savannah Witham
Savannah's Story
Savannah spent a year with our South Nature Reserves team gaining a huge ranges of new skills and experiences whilst she has been studying at university.