So what are you? A charity worker, a development manager or a community worker? Perhaps you're a tunneller, a toy-maker or a tea-taster?
You could be any of these. But, according to a list of over 1,500 occupations used by insurance brokers, the one thing you're not is a volunteer manager.
Volunteer managers do not exist.
That's a damning indictment when you think about how many people volunteer each year. Possibly half the people you'll come into contact with today. And half the people tomorrow. And next week. And next month. And next year.
An enormous number of people who carry out a bewildering array of activities in every corner of our society. And yet the occupation that manages all that goes unrecognised. Ask the average person in the street what a finance manager does and they'll have a pretty good idea. Or a chief officer, or a fundraiser. But a volunteer manager? In fact, we speak to many volunteer managers whose line managers don't even understand.
Of course, maybe that's not so surprising when most of you reading this aren't called volunteer managers. 85% of people who manage volunteers aren't actually called volunteer manager or something similar. Even worse, nearly 40% of you won't even have a role description mentioning it.
That legitimacy of what we do remains one of the biggest stumbling blocks we face. If people don't understand or recognise the role we play then effective investment and accountability will remain a pipe-dream, as will developing our own career paths or having salaries commensurate with our role (the majority of volunteer managers are paid below the national average).
And ultimately it means we are failing the volunteers themselves, by not having the capacity to ensure they have a fulfilling, rewarding and satisfying volunteering experience.