Reasons to consider volunteering

This week is national volunteering week. According to research from insurer Legal & General and the Centre for Economics and Business Research, one in five UK adults have volunteered their time for community activities since the start of the lockdown on 23 March 2020. If you are job seeking right now, have you considered volunteering?

Gain and share experience

People choose to volunteer for a variety of reasons, perhaps wanting to give back to their community, or to make a difference by helping a charity. For others it provides an opportunity to develop new skills or build on existing experience and knowledge. Volunteering can be extremely beneficial in terms of both personal and professional development and is a great way to gain and share experience and learn new skills. Volunteering may help you gain the experience you may need to get a particular role. Alternatively, if you have a wealth of experience behind you, volunteering can give you the opportunity to share the skills that you have acquired with others.

Build your network

Volunteering can give you the opportunity to build your professional network both online and face-to-face. Networking can be useful for your job search no matter what industry or sector you work in. You are likely to meet other professionals whilst volunteering who may be key to your job search. You may find out about opportunities or new contacts in your chosen industry to refer you, greatly improving your chances of success. If your experience is limited, references from volunteering may put you ahead of other applicants. Volunteering bridges the gap on your CV, it shows you have been proactive in keeping your skills up-to-date, learning new skills and keeping in touch professionally.

Demonstrate your passion and explore other interests

Employers want candidates who really love what they do and doing it for free by volunteering demonstrates that. If you’re looking to change direction, volunteering is a great way to explore a new career path or try a new hobby, all of which could result in new interests or passions you didn’t know were there. There are so many organisations that require volunteers, do your research and look for opportunities that interest you. You can either look for volunteer centres via NCVO to discuss local opportunities or browse UK wide voluntary roles available through DO IT

Improves Wellbeing

Volunteering can enhance the quality of your life, it keeps you busy and gives you time to network with others whilst seeking your next career move. Helping others and meeting new people will keep you motivated and could help you to become clearer about your long term career goals. Volunteering is not only good for your career, but also for your wellbeing too, it's obviously good for society and it gives you a sense of purpose. So if you are seeking your next career move at the moment, it could do you more good than you could possibly imagine.

Renovo is the UK’s leading outplacement and career transition specialist. We work with both organisations and individuals to support all their career transition requirements. If you would like to understand how Renovo can help you please call 0800 612 2011 or email info@renovo.co.uk