Career and Jobs Tips

1. Skill development – As a volunteer, there are fewer barriers to stepping outside of your current job description. An employer may balk at paying for training or at you using their time to learn a new skill that isn’t clearly defined as part of the niche you’re in for budgetary reasons. For the most part, non-profits who depend on volunteers to get the work done are happy to let people do the work they need to have done. As a volunteer, you have opportunities to stretch, to develop your skills and your career.

2. Industry familiarity – If you volunteer with a professional organization or a non-profit related to the change you want in your future, you will be immersed in that culture, the terminology and concepts that will carry you to the next step in your career. You will gain understanding of the industry or technology that you need so you will interview well for the kinds of positions you want to get. Every project will contribute to your education. This is your chance to put yourself in the right place at the right time.

3. Relevant contacts – Volunteering and participating in the efforts of relevant enterprises will put you in constant contact with people who do the hiring in the kinds of companies and agencies that you want to work for. You will have ongoing opportunities to show people how you work and how you are to work with. When the people you get to know are ready to hire someone, don’t you think that they will prefer to hire people they already know something about? They want to know that you can do the job and that they can get along with you.