Volunteer work is a fulfilling job that allows people to help others in their community. Volunteering also offers a lot of benefits to the volunteer. It helps people make new friends, strengthen bonds with the community, and expand networks.
Volunteering also allows a person to increase his self-confidence and enhances his physical and mental help. In addition to these benefits, volunteering can also help a person in his future career. Here are the ways people can boost their careers by volunteering.
Enhances the Resume
When a person performs volunteer work, a prospective employer sees someone willing to help people in need. It also shows the commitment of a person to something he believes in. This commitment can be beneficial for a company that the volunteer finds worthwhile to work in.
It is also possible that the volunteer has the leadership skills that companies look for in their employees. These are the types of employees that companies want to invest in, especially if they are looking for someone to fill a management post in the company.
With this, people who have volunteer work in the background can include the volunteer position, job description, volunteer activities, role in the work, and length of time while volunteering on their resume. It’ll likely attract the attention of recruiters and managers of many companies.
Develops and Practices Skills
People who volunteer have the opportunity to learn new skills and practice the ones they already have. For instance, a new graduate of a web development course volunteers to help a nonprofit in setting up its website. This allows the person to practice his course in a real-world environment.
A volunteer of a nonprofit may even get the chance to enhance a skill. For instance, a nonprofit that has a partnership with a driving school can enroll a volunteer in an easy defensive driving course so that he can drive one of the vehicles of the organization. With this, the volunteer will add to his driving skills and allow him to have confidence while on the road.
Manning the office of a nonprofit, also allows a volunteer to practice or develop interpersonal skills. These skills are useful when a person starts working for a company, especially in the sales department. It also shows companies that the person is dependable and can deliver whenever necessary. They can also become good team players and have a positive attitude when working.
Gain Experience
Volunteering in a nonprofit also gives people the opportunity to gain the experience they need when they apply for work. For instance, new business course graduates can help nonprofits look for sponsors in their projects. This type of work is ideal for lead generation and sales activities in a company. When a company sees that the volunteer was successful in getting the sponsors for the nonprofit, it will be interested in the promotional and negotiation skills of the person. Additionally, the company may also groom the person for a managerial position in the future, depending on the person’s tasks while performing volunteer work.
Expands the Network
While volunteering, a person may get to meet a lot of people from different walks of life. These people can include the beneficiaries of the nonprofit and the donors to the projects of the organization. With this, the volunteer can expand his network, which gives him many opportunities when he starts looking for a job in the future.
The volunteer can also connect with suppliers, which is useful if the volunteer plans to start a business. He can also meet the heads of companies where a nonprofit gets its donations or sponsorships. This is useful when the volunteer applies for a job in any of these companies.
Builds Confidence
Since the volunteer works with different people and may take on tasks that he has no background in, he can gradually build his confidence in the things he does. This is particularly true if the project is successful. This confidence is useful when the person starts to look for work.
Companies typically look for people who are confident in the things they are doing. With the confidence a person builds while performing volunteer work, he will likely attract the attention of these companies. It may reach a point where the person has several options since many companies are interested in hiring him. In this instance, the volunteer can choose the company that offers many benefits while allowing him to do what he loves.
Aside from being able to help others, volunteering also helps people when they start to look for a job in the corporate world.
