Volunteering can help individuals develop transferable skills and build networks, thereby improving an individual's employability and increasing their chances of obtaining a dream job.
Career development
Getting involved in volunteering can help you plan your career path. Due to the variety of forms of volunteering, you can learn about the specific working patterns of many occupations and identify the skills needed for different jobs by participating in different activities. At the same time, you have the opportunity to identify your strengths and weaknesses, which helps you to reflect on yourself and find a clear career goal. During this process, you may discover that the job you envisioned before is actually not suitable for you, or you may find out what you are interested in.
Huan Lu, a sophomore maths student who volunteered at CoachBright, said that tutoring students was a new experience for her; “Getting out of the comfort zone and trying new things was actually challenging for me. I was so nervous that my hands and legs were shaking a little during the first lesson, but when I really got into teaching, I realised that it wasn't as hard as I had previously thought, and the positive feedback I received from the students helped to build my confidence. This experience has given me a taste of what teaching life is like and I think it's actually quite fun, helping students correctly understand a topic or even a simple formula can give me satisfaction, so I think teaching might be one of my future career options."
Volunteering can help you make connections with other people while providing practical experience. UCL Careers Consultant Sally Brown pointed out that volunteering is a good way to enrich your CV. You can develop a range of work-related knowledge and skills through volunteering, and it's also an opportunity to demonstrate your abilities to potential employers. "If you want to work in the charity/NGO or international development sectors, often those employers will hugely value volunteering experience and they may even recruit for paid roles from their pool of volunteers. Sometimes it's even a prerequisite that you've done some form of volunteering before going into that sector."
Volunteering allows you to meet individuals from different fields, as well as opportunities to make meaningful connections with professionals in the workplace. Let's hear the story of UCL alumnus Rianna Pindoria: "In my first year, I volunteered with the Science Museum Group in London. My main responsibility was to introduce objects from the Information Age Gallery to the visiting public, such as showing a stock ticker and standard Morse key, highlighting how and why they were used. I volunteered once or twice a month, each time for a day at the weekend. I really enjoyed this role because I met a lot of people through it and built up my network. A few months in, one of my volunteer managers suggested me for an internal role and I ended up gaining a part-time job at the museum. This role continued throughout my first and second year, and I was there for about a year and a half in total. I then got a part time job working with the Volunteering Service at Students’ Union UCL for two years, mainly to promote volunteerism on campus. I think the two paid job opportunities I got during my university years were largely due to my previous volunteering experience. Since leaving university, I've mentioned my volunteering experience in job interviews, and it is always a great topic of conversation. Interviewers want to know why it's important to you and why you're so passionate about it, because these experiences shape your character and ultimately, can help employers get to know you better." (Rianna Pindoria, Chemistry, 2019)
Developing Skills
Apart from enhancing 'hard' skills, volunteering can also develop a range of 'soft' skills that employers value.
Communication skills
Volunteering is a process of interpersonal communication. Volunteers need to communicate with the people they serve, colleagues and managers in their work. Good communication skills will be developed through a lot of interaction, as Rianna and Huan described:
"At the Science Museum, I had to translate the information I had learned about the objects professionally and clearly to any audience, which could be a 5-year-old child, a 70-year-old woman, or maybe even professionals who were actually using the objects. Talking to a wide range of people helped me tailor my language when engaging with visitors and understand different communication styles. (Rianna)
"I need to communicate a lot with the students and with the program officer. The students are obviously the most important because I’m the one working with them. I think good communication skills are essential and this project has greatly improved my skills for this part." (Huan)
Time management skills
As a student volunteer, the most important thing is to balance study and extracurricular life. Volunteering can help you develop time management skills and multitasking abilities, take Huan for example:
"I usually need to attend many seminars and complete assignments for different modules, and before each volunteering session, I have to spend extra time in advance to prepare for that week's tutorial, such as formulating teaching plans, finding past exam papers and so on. So, I feel that volunteering has developed my time management skills well, allowing me to handle a variety of workloads and use my time efficiently.” (Huan)
Leadership skills
Volunteering offers an opportunity to develop your leadership skills. The Volunteering Service’s Student-Led Volunteering Programme gives you the chance to create your own volunteering project to address a need in the London community. The team will support you in a variety of ways, such as providing project management training and regular mentoring. Identifying goals, developing and evaluating plans, recruiting volunteers, delegating tasks and running projects safely can all help you develop your management and leadership skills. Moreover, as a team member, you can also learn about the excellent leadership qualities from supervisors by observing the way they act.
Above are just a few examples of the skills that volunteering can help you develop. In addition to these, you can also gain other transferable skills like teamwork, interpersonal and problem-solving through volunteering.
Furthermore, volunteering is a way of demonstrating personal qualities and ethics to potential employers. More and more companies have gradually appreciated the social significance that volunteering represents and are regarding work ethic and social conscience as important considerations when recruiting employees.