WHY VOLUNTEER???

Boost your career options

A survey carried out by TimeBank through Reed Executive showed that among 200 of the UK’s leading businesses

• 73% of employers would recruit a candidate with volunteering experience over one without
• 94% of employers believe that volunteering can add to skills
• 94% of employees who volunteered to learn new skills had benefited either by getting their first job, improving their salary, or being promoted

Also, if you are thinking of a career change then volunteering is a perfect way to explore new fields. If you have a passion for the arts but have career in computing then why not volunteer at your local theatre? Or if your ambitions are to be a doctor why not find out about volunteer opportunities at your local hospital – the ideal way to expand your work portfolio in your field and to gain a real insight into your chosen path.

Taken from: World Volunteer Web

Volunteering and employment-related benefits

Generally, the same groups that are most likely to volunteer to improve their job prospects are also more likely to say that volunteering increased their skills and improved their job prospects. For example, volunteers aged 15 to 24 were more likely than older volunteers to report gaining increased communication skills (82%) and interpersonal skills (77%) from their volunteer activities. However, those aged 55 to 64 were more likely than other volunteers to report gaining knowledge from their volunteer activities. Unemployed volunteers were more likely than other volunteers to report gaining communication skills. Three quarters (75%) of unemployed volunteers reported gaining communication skills, compared to 68% of employed volunteers and 66% of volunteers who were not in the labour force. Similar, but less pronounced, patterns were seen with other skills. Just under half (49%) of employed volunteers aged 15 to 24 said their volunteer activities gave them new skills that they could apply directly to their job. Additionally, almost one quarter (24%) of volunteers aged 15 to 24 said that their volunteer activities had helped them in the past to obtain employment.

Perhaps the most compelling finding regarding the effectiveness of volunteer activity in helping people to obtain employment is that 28% of unemployed volunteers (and 16% of employed volunteers) said that their volunteering had helped them obtain a job in the past and 62% of unemployed volunteers believed that it would help them to find a job in the future.

The Benefits of Volunteering, from the 2000

National Survey of Giving, Volunteering and Participating

(NSGVP), Canada

For Volunteer Positions in City of Kawartha Lakes, Haliburton and surrounding areas, visit: click here FourInfo.com