Organisation profile:
The National Trust for Scotland is one of Scotland’s leading conservation charities, looking after both natural heritage (mountains, coasts, islands, estates – with all their plant, animal, and bird-life) and cultural heritage (castles, mansions, museums, cottages – with all their art and artefacts, and the stories they can tell us). Carrying out our work is complex and we have a large workforce. Our People Department supports this workforce through making sure we have the right policies and procedures in place to be compliant with employment law, but also to give “best practice” guidance on how to get the best out of people, and for people to give their best and enjoy their work. This internship sits within our People Department.
Website: www.nts.org.uk (and in particular www.nts.org.uk/our-work)
Internship overview
The Intern will assist the Workplace Equity and Inclusion Lead with delivering activities which improve the equality of opportunity for colleagues to deliver their roles. This will include supporting the Volunteering Lead, developing a EDI reporting matrix from the VMS. One of the key activities the intern will help deliver includes a new support mechanism for our disabled colleagues and volunteers, to request reasonable adjustments. It will involve practical and administrative tasks required to deliver the support needed for our teams.
The intern will gain experience of being in a small, specialist team of staff, working in a large, multi-faceted organisation, engaging with colleagues from a variety of backgrounds and in a wide breadth of roles. They will gain knowledge of equality, diversity and inclusion practices in human resources and how volunteering is organised in a large charity. The intern will also gain knowledge and experience of designing support programmes for people in the workplace, developing training resources and monitoring and evaluation as part of a project life-cycle.
We will work with the successful candidate to identify and implement reasonable adjustments to support them throughout recruitment, onboarding and employment.
Main duties and tasks
- To support the Workplace Equity and Inclusion team in planning and delivering a new support process for colleagues asking for reasonable adjustments. This will include elements of market research, planning, designing, consultation and evaluation of the effectiveness of delivery.
- To assist with admin tasks for delivering training – including learning how to use HR systems for recording learning and developing and moderating content.
- Communicate with Trust colleagues through a variety of formats, including: direct emailing, writing broad communications for the staff intranet, and participating in and supporting online and in person meetings.
- To support the integration of EDI data on the volunteer management system.
- To create a EDI reporting matrix on the volunteer management system in line with current management reports for employees.
- Analyse the current volunteering demographic across the Trust and make suggestions on how to increase engagement and participation among under-represented groups.
- Maintain a work diary to show how time has been spent and activities have been delivered.
- Follow policies and procedures for the organisation, including Health and Safety, Equality, Equity, Diversity and Inclusion
- Participate in team meetings with the wider People Team Department.
- Undertake learning activities to improve knowledge and skills for the role through team-learning sessions, online training, one-to-one coaching and self-directed learning.
- Engage in sessions for support and supervision with the line manager.
- Undertake any other duties consistent with the purpose of the post and capabilities of the postholder by agreement with the line manager.
Person Specification
Essential
– Knowledge of, or interest in, disability, inequalities and lived experience led work and a willingness to learn about these in more detail.
– Awareness of the importance of accessibility and meeting the support needs of a diverse group of people, including those with short-term conditions and/or illnesses, Disabled people and people with long-term conditions.
– Ability to communicate effectively in writing and verbally, in a way that works for you (including using assistive technology where needed).
– Experience of using digital systems and software (for example Microsoft office packages) for creating documents and emailing, and willingness to develop these skills.
– Be willing to adapt approaches to meet the needs of different teams, colleagues, and locations.
– Ability to handle confidential and sensitive information with a non-judgemental and compassionate approach.
– A commitment to following our 5 values of: “Caring”, “Brave”, “Vibrant”, “Curious” and “Inclusive”.
Desirable
– Knowledge or interest in worker’s rights, disability activism, volunteering, the charity sector and supporting people from marginalised backgrounds.
– Experience of designing messaging and communications explaining new processes to people.
– Experience of providing support to others in any context or through working or volunteering with people with lived experience of any form of inequality, discrimination or disadvantage.
Reasonable Adjustments
We are committed to making the recruitment process accessible. Please let us know if you need any reasonable adjustments to take part in the application or interview process, or to help you perform well if selected.
We will do our best to support you and we welcome any questions you may have before applying.
Additional Information
Accessibility Information: Greenbank House and Balnain House are both historic buildings. Greenbank House is accessed via a gravelled forecourt, threshold steps and internal stairs. Balnain House is accessed via a short flight of steps and has internal stairs. We encourage applicants to discuss any accessibility requirements with us and are committed to considering reasonable adjustments throughout the recruitment process and internship.
Contract: 20 hours per week, across 21 weeks
Location: Greenbank House, Glasgow, or Balnain House, Inverness. This is a hybrid role, with a minimum of 40% of working time spent at the contractual office base, agreed with the line manager. Working patterns and office attendance will be agreed with the successful candidate, taking into account both business and individual needs.
If you would like to discuss this opportunity with the employer prior to submitting your application, please contact: Cat Telford (they/them) via ctelford@nts.org.uk
Applications must be received by 12 p.m. on Monday 14 September 2026. If submitting your application by email, please send it to Ellis Moffat at interns@inclusionscotland.org by the same deadline.