Involvement Volunteers International How Volunteering is Good for Your Career written by: lruberto How Volunteering is Good for Your Career
There are times when you are either in between jobs or burnt out with your current one or looking for a new one. That’s when you might just need volunteering abroad so you can reconsider and refocus on your possible career goals for the future. Because by doing this, you are building up yourself and your experience while you give your precious time to a really good cause.
Steer clear of burning out
Whether or not you know this, top leaders in the world do easily admit that they take time off their work so that they can focus on life outside of their office. By this, they can improve their morale, productivity and creativity. As a matter of fact, Sir Richard Branson has recently decided to take away the limits on the holiday amount of Virgin employees to take every year just to achieve that.
Your taking a break at your career to volunteer abroad can provide a certain opportunity for you to live in a foreign country where you will work with other international volunteers and you can contribute to some sustainable development projects such as teaching, healthcare, conservation-based work and community development.
Involving yourself in this kind of work, immersing yourself in a new and foreign country, surrounding yourself with new acquaintances and overcoming some new challenges will make you switch off whatever it is you’re running away from. Aside from these, you can tune yourself in to making some valuable contribution to the host community you’re currently living in and later on you’ll definitely be thankful how volunteering is good for your career.
Make the most of your vacation time
Say, you save up your annual leave to have that desired trip overseas. But if you like the idea of getting more than a suntan by the end of your vacation, volunteering abroad can let you experience the perks of doing both. For example, if you love sunbathing and you have a lot of time in your hands, you can focus your week days on some volunteer work and do your sunbathing in the weekends.
Bridge the gap
While you are in between jobs or you don’t have work after graduation, you can bridge the gap by volunteering abroad. This will help you make the transition process smoother, which will allow you to enter the next stage of your fresh perspectives in life, more awareness in yourself and the world, plus enrich your CV credentials that will show your contribution to some sustainable development projects in other countries.
Embrace retirement
For people who are entering the “what’s next” phase of their lives, volunteering abroad can make the transition from working life easier and help them explore new friendships and challenges. A renewed sense of self worth can be achieved by people on retirement through various volunteering opportunities, local or abroad.
Volunteer services
Volunteering isn’t only an opportunity for spending your free time but can also transform in an opportunity to build up your career while you offer your time to support a worthy cause. You can achieve new skills through volunteering or polish your existing skills. Your chances of landing the job of your preference are increasing. From two identical candidates applying on a particular job, the employer might choose you based on small details such as volunteering experience in a field related to the job post opening.
Volunteering abroad can be fun. There are many volunteer opportunities in Australia alone. It is not difficult to look for the perfect role for you and your situation. The certain role is anything from volunteering at a music festival to working as a clown for disadvantaged children.
Your experience as a volunteer can truly be a career selling point. In a research, it is found that 69 percent of people say that it will show what kind of person they really are and 68 percent of people believe it will show an employer what they can really do when they’re hired.
If you do wonder what type of skills you can include in your CV, you can merely reflect on your experiences while volunteering abroad. Most likely, you will develop some of the following skills:
• Interpersonal skills at the workplace
• The ability to work with others as a team
• The ability to solve light or complicated problems
• The ability to make even difficult decisions
• The ability to plan and prioritize work
• Leadership experience
• Time management skills
• Customer service or sales skills
Volunteers can be better job candidates
Greater recognition and acceptance has emerged as an advancement of people’s careers when they volunteer abroad. It is not merely about altruism. Research has found that 85 percent of Ausies believe that volunteering can create a better community. They see and believe it as a sign of being a good person and a citizen who truly cares about other people – especially those people who are less fortunate.
If you might be interested to do volunteering abroad, you can try teaching in Bali, joining the work in turtle conservation in Costa Rica or surf outreach in South Africa.
Find a new career direction
Traveling can inspire your creativity. You will be inspired by the new people you meet unexpectedly and by the places you go. In New Zealand, Dan Radcliffe – 2014 EY Entrepreneur of the Year – illustrates how volunteering abroad can truly inspire you to pursue a new and different career direction, which can even revolutionize an entire industry. After his volunteer trip to Kenya in year 2006, he was inspired to transform the world of volunteer travel by establishing International Volunteer HQ or IVHQ. This makes volunteering abroad accessible and affordable to any person who has the desire to make a difference and travel at the same time.
IVHQ is established in 2007 and provides responsible and affordable volunteer abroad program in 28 countries around the globe. It offers various projects for volunteer travelers that include childcare, turtle conservation and wildlife conservation, teaching, community development, construction and renovation, and medical.
A lot of IVHQ volunteers come back from their trips with new motivations to pursue or have new career goals and some are even inspired to establish their very own NGOs to provide long-term contributions to their volunteer placements. Because of this, new education and feeding programs to Nairobi’s children in slums are provided, as well as free education, sustainable development initiatives and community services are given to Cambodian rural communities.
