Volunteering and its Surprising Benefits
By Leanne Styles from Jobulo
Volunteering in your spare time can be a rewarding and enjoyable experience. But that’s not the only way it can benefit you; by offering just a few hours of you time every week to your chosen organisation, you can learn skills and gain experience which may help you advance in your chosen career and enhance your CV.
Below are three points which demonstrate why volunteering can help you achieve your dream job.
#1 Volunteering can help you get your foot in the door
The job market is tough nowadays, and competition for vacancies is stiffer than ever. This means that it can be incredibly difficult to get into your chosen career through the usual routes. Of course, one of the best ways you can stand out against the crowd is to gain any relevant qualification and put forward a concise and professional CV. But another great way to get onto the first rung of the ladder is to take up a volunteer or work experience position. By volunteering, even just one day a week, in the organisation or company you want to work for, or a similar company, you can gain vital experience which can help you progress on to a paid role. Volunteering for the organisation you want to work for is a great way to demonstrate your skills and show the prospective employers how suitable you would be for a paid role in their organisation. Plus, hiring people in-house always appeals to employers as they know they can trust the candidate and that they already have a good working knowledge of the company.
#2 Volunteering can help you gain vital skills and experience for you chosen career
Volunteering is a great way to get to grips with your chosen profession. Not only can it help you gain skills and experience in your chosen field, it can also enhance your social skills, help you gain confidence in the work place, and give you valuable insights into what it might be like to work full-time in a similar position. Another benefit of volunteering your time, instead of jumping straight into paid work, is that it can help you decide whether you would enjoy working in that particular field. And lastly, it can help you gain confidence that you can transfer to a paid role – helping to ease those first day jitters!
#3 Volunteering is a great way to improve your CV
As well as helping you gain experience and advance in your chosen career, volunteering looks great on your CV. Prospective employers like to see that you are willing to give up your spare time to help others and enhance your job prospects. It also demonstrates that you are serious about your career and willing to pay your dues in order to progress.
These three points are just a few of the ways volunteering can improve your job prospects and life in general. Not only can it help you land your dream job, but it’s also very rewarding can give your confidence a real boost, and get you out of a rut – especially if you have been struggling to find employment or figure out which career and life direction to head in.
Top tip: for information on volunteer roles available in your area, check out volunteering.org.uk
