14th April 2011, 03:22 AM
edwardajames Wrote:I am trying to volunteer at weekends, but the fact is not that much happens at weekends, and the area I want to work in - conservation planning and historic buildings - work, like everyone else, during the week.
Try finding work in local government doing something near building conservation e.g. in the planning department, even if it's just being the admin clerk. Once you're there, try arranging some work experience on one afternoon a week with the building conservation crew and try to fit in your 5 days a week's paid hours in 4.5 days.
Another paid way into conservation planning is a tour of duty in development control- a decent knowledge of how the GPDO and UCO works combined with a practical understanding of policy, planning enforcement and writing conditions is always handy in this field, and the experience will carry over. Plus, development control planning jobs are usually easier to find compared to the conservation officer roles...