Volt wants to change politics, empower people, and unite Europe. We believe that only Europeans that act together can solve our shared challenges. A Pan-European movement with over 130 elected officials in five different countries, Volt Europa is a young, international and dynamic organisation that works with thousands of professionals and volunteers from all corners of Europe.
Volt Europa offers the chance to experience European politics firsthand. Apply and become a part of our community We are an ambitious organisation who want to see the European Union change for the better.
The Traineeship
You will be working as a Trainee for the General Secretary's Office of Volt Europa (GSO). You will work closely with the General Secretaries on a daily basis, and will be responsible and involved in a large range of tasks.
What you will do
:
The focus of your work depends on your own interests, as well as the specific projects of your supervisor. This means that your specific tasks will be determined together with your internship supervisor. There is also room to work on projects occasionally with other General Secretaries, depending on your interests.
Some examples of tasks at the General Secretary's Office are:
Event Planning
:
Organise a variety of events (webinars, meetings, panel discussions, etc.) involving high-level stakeholders. Responsibilities included managing invitations, identifying and coordinating speakers, and overseeing the overall organisation and logistics of each event.
General Assembly Organisation:
Support the organisation of the biggest event of the year: our General Assembly. This involves reviewing contracts, sending invites, creating a stage plan, and requires a lot of meticulous planning and attention.
Europarty Coordination
: Support our aim to becoming a Europarty, by coordinating outreach, supporting governance research and drafting board presentations.
Integrity Support
: Support the Integrity Bodies with organisational matters by identifying the needs of different teams and proposing concrete actions to address existing issues. Ensure regular, clear, and effective communication between the Integrity Bodies and the GSO.
Human Resources: Support the recruitment of full-time staff and volunteers by drafting vacancy announcements, participating in the recruitment process, and onboarding volunteers through structured follow-up and support.
Chapters Relations Office:
Support projects aimed at strengthening communication, coordination and alignment between our chapters and Volt Europa, with a focus on certain chapters that need support e.g. with elections. This also includes working with the Country Council, the body composed of representatives of all chapters.
Elected Officials Office: Support projects aimed at strengthening communication, coordination, and alignment between elected officials and the party.
Fundraising Support: Help drafting newsletters to increase our crowdfunding goal, support the partnerships team with external outreach and support organising events for our major donor (Spinoza Circle).
All tasks will involve a lot of:
Communication
: For example, you will contribute to internal communications on the Haiilo platform by defining topics and drafting concise posts on a range of subjects to encourage platform engagement. Also, support internal communications during key events, particularly the General Assembly.
Volunteer Engagement
: Strengthen volunteer engagement by maintaining consistent communication between the GSO and volunteers, with close attention to their needs, concerns, and feedback.
Project management
: ensuring the coordination of various projects, organising, preparing, and facilitating project meetings, tracking action points and following up with volunteers, ensuring coordination between teams.
Administration and corporate housekeeping
: This is the core of a lot of our activities. You will thus also be responsible for planning and taking minutes of meetings, ensuring the Haiilo Hubs are up-to-date, processing and organising requests, publishing and promoting open positions, etc.
... And more
: at Volt, there is always room to engage in various projects. If a particular subject or project interests you, there is room for you to dedicate time towards that. Please indicate in your application which tasks and roles you are mainly interested in.
What you will get out of it:
This is the "Swiss Army knife" of Volt Europa Internships. Through it, you will learn a wide variety of different skills, including, but not limited to:
Working in a unique, dynamic, and fast moving environment
Working with both fulltimers and volunteers, all from a variety of cultural backgrounds
(Event) planning and recruitment skills
Organisational and Administration skills
Stakeholder management skills
Content creation skills
Email writing and public speaking skills
Time management, prioritisation and self-organisation skills
Need to have
A passion for Volt's vision, mission, and policies
Fluency in written and spoken English
Communication skills: at Volt Europa you will deal with professionals and volunteers from all backgrounds and all corners of Europe. Good communications skills are therefore required as well as cultural sensitivity.
Working independently and self-motivated: we provide a large amount of freedom. This means you are in charge of your own schedule and will have to plan accordingly.
Characteristics that suit a candidate for this traineeship:
Trustworthy and reliable.
Independent, proactive, curious and positive attitude.
Argumentative and social skills.
Eager to learn, engage, and make mistakes.
Volt is primarily a volunteer organisation, which means we do not have fixed working hours. We aim for trainees to work 38 hours per week, so working in the evening gives the opportunity to take the morning off, but being flexible is important.
Able to work with deadlines
We are looking for undergraduates in the last phase of their studies and masters students
Practical Details
Start date: mid/end February preferably.
Duration: max. 6 months.
Allowance: we offer an internship allowance of €550 gross p/m for a full-time contract. Please note that, due to our payroll set-up, at the moment we can only pay a salary to trainees living in the Netherlands or France.
Location: remote working, you can work from your location of choice. Depending on where that is you will also be able to work in a Volt office (e.g. located in The Hague) from time to time. Travel could be part of the internship, depending on needs.
Holidays: ca. 2 days of time off per month.