Volunteering has many professional and personal advantages, even though it may feel like you don’t have the time for it while you’re looking for work or even after.
Even better, volunteering can improve your CV regardless of the type of job seeker you are or the positions you’re seeking for.
How Volunteering Can Help Your Career
You’re probably aware of the altruistic benefits of volunteering. However, volunteering might also help you professionally.
Gains experience that is relevant to a job
You can develop the skill sets that many employers demand by volunteering. Nonprofits, for instance, frequently require assistance with accounting, marketing, event organizing, and other tasks.
If you aren’t sure you want to change careers, volunteering is a terrific option for you to try out new employment. Although you may not be exposed to the complete spectrum of job responsibilities, you do get a glimpse of your potential future profession.
Maintains Current Resume
Volunteering is an excellent method to stay current on trends and developments in the workplace if you are between jobs but know you want to stay in your present sector. Even though you might not be as knowledgeable about certain developments in your business, you will be able to maintain some broad skills that will be useful in your new position.
You might be able to keep up with social media trends, for instance. You may even pick up some fresh spreadsheet or accounting software tricks. Even if nothing else, volunteering is a great way to pass the time and keeps your skills from rusting.
You Can Increase Network Size
You can lose contact with some of your connections when you leave a job. While you can retain business relationships on social media, you might discover that those relationships aren’t able to benefit your career. Or perhaps you’re trying to get into a brand-new industry but you don’t know anyone.
Regaining lost ties and creating new ones can be challenging. By volunteering, you might have access to a new network of fresh connections who could be able to assist you in your current field or help you break into a whole new one.
Making new personal contacts is another benefit of volunteering. Working together on the same project or for the same organization and cause can bring like-minded individuals together. You might be able to widen your social circle through your volunteer work.
Where to Find Opportunities to Volunteer
Finding a nonprofit with which you click is the next step if volunteering is something you’d like to undertake. Fortunately, it’s simpler than ever to choose a cause you care deeply about.
For instance, VolunteerMatch.org has volunteer opportunities. Look for volunteer opportunities in your line of work as you can search for both on-site and online options and specific locations.
Also available is Idealist.org. Alongside paid job postings, volunteer and internship opportunities are also listed. By selecting by cause, you can look for local and remote job opportunities and find only those that fit your interests.
You can look up volunteer opportunities by location using All for Good. Additionally, you can search your results by the filter.
