In terms of career progression, people tend to focus on methods such as networking, improving their skills or changing their employers. But there is a great and often underestimated weapon that can reshape one’s career in numerous aspects: volunteering. Volunteering has its rewards, apart from simply helping those around you, it can help advance your prospects. Here’s how focusing your efforts towards good work can prove beneficial to your career.
1. Enhance Your Skills
Volunteering is also a great way to gain experience in certain areas of expertise that you might not find opportunities for in your present place of employment. Whether it is leading, managing a project, or even technical aspects, there are usually some aspects that many nonprofits and community-based organizations will need assistance with. For instance, if you volunteer to help in organizing an event for a local charity, for one, you will improve your planning, organization and leadership skills. These skills, in turn, help you to be more employable and competitive within your present job.
2. Expand Your Professional Network
One of the most remarkable career benefits of undertaking volunteer work is the prospect of meeting new people. When you provide charitable service, you perform your duties with individuals coming from diverse professions and cultures. This is likely to create the right circumstances for initiating business relationships which perhaps would have been impossible to achieve in any other way. Network is so important that in many surveys, even one conducted by LinkedIn, around 85 percent of the job vacancies are filled using such techniques. Such activities give you a healthy and natural way of working without making you feel that you are within an office environment tasked with work. One of the other volunteers may even prove to be a significant contact or possibly a recommender for other vacancies.
3. Gain Relevant Work Experience
When one is inexperienced in a profession or when there is a desire to change the profession, there is always volunteering that can be done to gain certain experience. For example, if the individual changes their profession to digital marketing, they can gain experience by volunteering for the social media manager position of an agency’s social media pages. Recruiters often value such candidates who seek to get experience, even if it comes without any payment because it shows the level of interest and a certain level of understanding of the work.
4. Boost Your Resume and Stand Out to Employers
Adding volunteer history on the CV might give additional advantage to a candidate in comparison to the others. A number of employers this is especially true because it demonstrates that the individual is well rounded, and self-driven. In a study carried out by Deloitte, it was found that 82% of the hiring managers were more likely to consider candidates who had engaged in some form of volunteer work. There is nothing wrong with engaging in volunteer activities due to the fact their freedom of belief is exercised but additionally, it enhances one’s resume and depicts the readiness of the individual and the concern towards the society by the employer.
5. Build Confidence and Discover New Strengths
Frequently, you will find yourself volunteering in situations and performing tasks which are completely new to you as well as out of your comfort zone. It can be public speaking to a group of staff or participants, planning a fundraising event, or managing a group of people; through these activities, you can find out your untapped potential and develop faith in your own abilities. Going beyond the limitation, or what is referred to as a comfort zone makes an individual tougher and more adaptable and those are qualities that will be sought in any given workplace.
6. Cultivate a Sense of Purpose and Well-being
Research suggests that individuals who engage in other-regarding behaviors, as in volunteerism, report greater satisfaction and mental wellness. Fulfillment and the state of having a purpose in life are subjective feelings that will impact the quality of the work one does. This heightened sense of being and satisfaction can further enhance one’s ability to concentrate, perform and be creative at the workplace. It gives a sense of surmising that while your active life is busy, it is not all about that and therefore helps in combating burnout and raising contentment in the job.
Final Thoughts
Volunteering can thus not only give the society but can also be a positive determinant for one’s career growth. From networking and tackling new challenges to feeling more empowered and healthy, community work offers more than has a direct effect on society. In ready attainment of employment, especially today, being engaged in activities that do not only earn you a salary, but rather show your concern for society makes you a compassionate, driven and versatile individual. Most of the people who want to improve their work and career prospects often want to help out the community as well. It may be surprising how much you go back to get while you are giving out.
