February 2018. A few weeks ago, I applied for the position of volunteering communications consultant for an association aiming at helping people with disabilities to get a job. The offer clearly said “must be a student in communications or in a similar major”. Mmh. The thing is, I’m not really even a student anymore, and my MSc covered a very different scope. I still get a call from the recruiter who’s surprised when I tell them about my experience:
How come you got to do all these projects? Did you change careers at some point?
The answer is a bit more unconventional than that: I acquired and practiced those skills through volunteering.
Do you have a dollar for Doctors without Borders?
I started volunteering at the age of 14, back when I was in a catholic high school which made it very important to give back to the community. We had a partnership with a school in Pondicherry, India, and we wanted to raise money so that they can do renovation works in their buildings. We co-hosted a concert evening with a friend; people would come and give whatever they wanted/could. She was singing, I was managing the sound booth. Throughout the years I also cooked for homeless people and played board games with people in retirement homes. Volunteering kind of became an addiction; I was homeless for the first two years of my life, so I guess this is why I wanted so bad to give back to people now that I was in a better place.
Why giving also means receiving
I knew nothing about sound mixing before that concert evening but the school engineer taught me the basics so I could manage the mixage console the whole night. Haven’t I had done this at that time, I’m not sure I would have gotten the chance of setting up the light and sound system of European’s oldest festival organized by students six years later. This is the event that led me to learn about light and sound engineering and throughout the years, I directed theater plays that I had co-written with elementary school students, I managed the light and sound of my college’s theatre company, and I joined an association organizing a festival where I learned everything I know about communication. As the communications officer of the festival I learned to use Adobe Photoshop, Illustrator and InDesign, how to create clear, simple and impactful posters. I practiced my speech with interviews and wrote press kits to advertise for the event. I negotiated displaying times with the town office. I learned to sell what I believed in. Five years of college didn’t teach me that. Volunteering did.
Beyond the skills you may learn from your volunteering experience, giving back goes beyond that — it’s an incredible human adventure. I believe there’s a lot to learn from people regardless of their age or wealth. I think happiness is made of times we spend gathering as a community, and volunteering does wonders for bringing people together.
A call for lending a hand
Volunteering is such a life-changing experience, I’ll make sure to pass it to my children should I have some one day. Whatever may your passions be, I can assure you that there’s a volunteering mission you could get involved in. Some of them don’t even require that much time, and there’s so much to receive in exchange. So why not give it a go?
PS: I got the job eventually. Together we created a restaurant where all employees are disabled people from the charity :)
