Nikita Shah is an Assistant Manager at Deloitte, in her fourth year in the graduate position, and initially studied finance accounting and management at the University of Nottingham. Shah became associated with ICAEW via Nottingham’s Chartered Accountants Student Society (NCASS) in her second year as a member while she was still a student, then went on to join the committee and took the role of an ICAEW Student Council Representative, which she is running for her third year. To mark Volunteers’ Week, Shah told ICAEW Insights how volunteering has boosted her confidence, diverted stress and brought her happiness in lockdown.

ICAEW volunteering: organising events and supplying feedback

As an ICAEW Student Council Representative, Shah joins the regular meetings to hear key updates from ICAEW, CABA and fellow Student Council Representatives. For example, this year there have been new changes to the ICAEW exam software, learning materials, introduction of data analytics software within exams and a new ethics learning programme.

“I was privileged to get first-hand information in the demonstration of how those were going to be looked at,” Shah said. “I also help organise the events. Our two main events are the boat cruise and the annual balls and some other small events we have throughout the year. I'm currently helping prepare for the annual ball, which is going to take place in September. I'm speaking to different organisations to help get donations for our raffle prizes.”

Deloitte volunteering: the 5 million futures programme

Shah also volunteers for Deloitte’s 5 Million Futures programme. She works with the firm to help both charities and schools improve their futures. For example, they have held STEM sessions for girls developing CV writing skills, and interview sessions to prepare the children for their future when going to apply for jobs.

She explained: “We've also helped them during this lockdown by getting them laptops, which I thought was a really nice initiative by Deloitte. Especially because they deal with students that are disadvantaged and may not be able to afford a laptop. Being able to give them that resource or that opportunity brought a lot of pleasure to me, it’s something I really enjoyed working on.”

How has your volunteering experience been?

“I think my experience has been great. And my experience is something that I would want to share with people to convey how much I've enjoyed it through being able to help people. It has helped boost my confidence a lot as I used to be someone that was not very outspoken and so over the years it's definitely helped me improve this. I believe volunteering is definitely a skill.”

Shah continues to say that volunteering has given her peace of mind during lockdown, where she has been working from home and has not been able to see many people. “Being able to volunteer has helped me divert my mind away and given me so much peace and so much happiness by trying to do something for other people.” 

• For further information on how you can get involved with your local student society, please visit icaew.com/studentgroups
• Be part of the ICAEW Volunteering Community
• Volunteers’ Week is led in partnership by NCVO, Volunteer Scotland, Volunteer Now (Northern Ireland) and Wales Council for Voluntary Action and supported by organisations across the UK. It takes place between 1-7 June as a “Time to say thanks” to the volunteering community