The Power of Volunteering

The other day I read an article about a potential law that basically states that if you want to collect unemployment insurance, you must prove that you are volunteering. I don’t know how that will go over but it had me thinking again about the importance of volunteering as it relates to the job search or career change.

Why Volunteer?

There are many reasons to volunteer including getting out of your house and making a difference. As far as being beneficial to your job search though, there are three major benefits:

1.     Improve/maintain your current skill set (Think: resume)

2.     Learn new skills (Think: resume. Think: career change)

3.     Grow your Network (75%-85% of jobs are gained through networking)

In every job search class I take an unofficial pulse of the volunteer activities of the people in attendance.  Less than half of the people I’ve polled have volunteered since losing their jobs.  In addition, as a whole, 100% of every group never recognized the three major benefits of volunteerism.  What’s keeping people away?  The responses vary but generally fall into the, “I never thought about it”, “I don’t know where to go”, I’d like to but I don’t have the time”, and the always present, “If I were volunteering, when would I have the time to look for a job?”

The benefits of volunteering outweigh the responses.  Even if you offer an hour or two a month, you are out of the house, sharing your skills, learning new skills and meeting the people who might be able to network for you.

What do you think?