Volunteering: the perks are free

Sian Austen, 27, already had a degree when she decided to volunteer. ‘I was unemployed for six months. I had finished a degree but there were no jobs around. I was going to the job centre every couple of weeks and took a course but it was a complete washout.’ Sian was beginning to feel very frustrated, when she saw an ad for volunteers in her local community. ‘The people running the course said, ‘don’t go for it’, but I ignored their advice. It was the best thing I ever did.’ Sian ended up organising science workshops for 5-7 year olds in a neighbourhood primary school.

‘Initially, I did it because I thought it would look good on my CV. By the end, the benefits were much more. I got to meet some great people, and working with those kids dispelled a lot of the myths I had read in the media about young people in this community. When I started, I expected all of them to be carrying machetes, but it wasn’t like that at all.’ Sian now has a job as a manager at a local charity.

The prestige that volunteering can add to a CV will not only benefit young people like Lucy and Sian, who are just entering the workforce. Anyone returning to work after a career break, whether it was to raise a family, because of illness or for any other reason, can enhance and update their CV through volunteer work. Community projects are recognised by most employers as a valuable means of developing what they call ‘soft skills’ – qualities like commitment, team spirit and good communication, all skills increasingly valued in today’s workplace.

When two jobs are better than one
People already in employment are also finding the time to do their bit for charity. Time-banking is a radical new way for companies to encourage their employees to give back to the community. The benefits for the company are obvious – they gain a better profile within the community and they appear modern, fresh and caring to prospective employees. The benefits for the volunteer go beyond the occasional hour or day out of the office.