5 Career Benefits of Volunteering
When faced with the decision of whether you’d like to selflessly contribute to the world by giving up your time, money or by spreading the word, which one do you choose?
Charities often look for volunteers to help out with a specific project, promote a worthy cause or simply assist in one of their shops or with events — naturally, free of charge, out of pure goodwill and sincere motivation. Applying to any of these opportunities will surely shape your personality, open your eyes, and generally make you feel like you are part of something bigger — but did you know that volunteering also has some great benefits to your career?
1. Helps you gain experience and learn practical skills. I’m sure you know how frustrating it is to be in a catch-22 type situation, where you just cannot get your hands on experience in your chosen career field. Well, volunteering is a great way to get your foot in the door — for starters, by being able to put down those skills and experience on your CV.
2. Demonstrates engagement. and makes you stand out from the crowd. Showing initiative and an interesting personality can be a deal-breaker at interviews — by mentioning that you volunteer in your spare time, you prove both, increasing your chances of landing the job of your dreams later on.
3. It shows you care about your community. And this often equals commitment, a sense of responsibility, and a mature mindset. Having your community in mind also means you will value your team and the organisation you’ll be working for, which once again shows character.
4. The selection of volunteer jobs available is amazingly varied. Volunteering doesn’t just happen in shops. You can get involved in teaching, social care, marketing and endless different forms of hands-on training. Without a doubt, there is something that piques your interest!
5. Soft skills are essential in any job — volunteering equips you with them. Teamwork, communication, empathy, handling difficult situations — just to name a few. Every single job will require you to possess all if not at least a couple of soft skills, and volunteering certainly prepares you for the real world by teaching you these, as well.
There are hundreds of thousands different charities recruiting out there, constantly looking. By working for one, which operates in an industry that is of interest to you, you’ll not only get the feel-good factor out of it, but back to point #1, it also offers insight and lets you learn invaluable lessons.
WHERE TO LOOK FOR VOLUNTEER OPPORTUNITIES?
Online databases like Do-It.org and CharityShop can be of major help when browsing for available roles. Your local charity organisations and shops may already have vacancies, and city councils also tend to be a good place to advise you on anything relevant going on in your area. If all else fails, tryyour local Volunteer Centre!
Thank you for reading! If you liked this post, don’t forget to visit my website Wanderess.org, where I share my musings on career, books and healthy living amongst else.
