12 Reasons You Should Volunteer (and Get Ahead in Your Career)

Are you serious about your career? Are you maybe still young and have relatively little experience? I know it can feel like everyone else has had much more impressive jobs and are on a road to greatness, whereas you’ve maybe only had jobs that you don’t think have much to do with your dream career. Or maybe you don’t have any job experience yet, and that is why you should volunteer. There are also many other things you can do for your career, such as learning a new language.

The world is full of opportunities, even though it can feel extremely difficult to catch any of them. What you need to do, is to keep trying and take every opportunity that comes on your way. While getting an actual job can be really hard, finding volunteer opportunities is much easier.

Volunteer work is a great way to do something good, but it also has many benefits to you. If you have been wondering whether volunteer work is something you should do, keep reading and I will share my 12 reasons why you should start volunteering.

1. It looks great on your resume

First of all, volunteer work looks good on your resume. If you go through some LinkedIn profiles, you’re likely to notice that not many people have done volunteer work (or at least they haven’t added it to their profiles). Volunteering is a great way to stand out and come across as someone who is self-imposed and willing to do extra work.

It also gives the recruiter a better idea of who you are. If you are a recent graduate who has done a lot of volunteer work, you look like a person who surely doesn’t have much experience yet but still has gained some valuable hands-on experience that other applicants don’t have.

Your volunteer experience also shows what you are interested in. If you have volunteered for environmental organizations, it shows that you care about the environment. This helps recruiters understand who you are.

2. You can do it online

Does the word “volunteering” make you think of bake sales and soup kitchens? Those certainly are one way to contribute your share to the community, but luckily there are many other options if you’re looking for something else. There are plenty of organizations and movements to choose from.

And the best thing is, there are plenty of opportunities online too. If you happen to be interested in human rights, head to onlinevolunteering.org. There are plenty of ads for different types of volunteer work for many different organizations.

Thanks to Covid, many organizations that haven’t had any volunteering opportunities online before, have now started online volunteering projects. In case you are interested in a certain organization, it’s definitely worth checking if they have something available remotely! That includes organizations in different countries. I have volunteered for many organizations that aren’t even on the same continent and those have definitely been some of the best experiences.

3. It can compensate for your lack of experience

Are you lacking certain kinds of experience? Maybe you have noticed that recruiters often look for good teamwork skills, but you haven’t had any jobs that involve working in a team. Or maybe you would love to have some leadership experience to add to your resume, but there simply is nothing to add!

No worries my friend, that problem may not be all that hard to fix after all. While some volunteering opportunities are hard to get, there are plenty of small organizations that need active volunteers or even board members. The good thing is, that the one who wants to become for example the chair of the group often gets to be it. If not this year, next year your chances will be better.

While being the chair of a volunteer group consisting of 10 people isn’t the same as being the CEO of a big company, it will definitely help you to land your next leadership position. After all, you will have experience in managing a group, possibly being in charge of events, sales, and other projects, and last but not least, teamwork.

4. It can teach you valuable skills

The best way to learn marketable skills tends to be paid work in a full-time job. But since that isn’t always a possibility (for example if you are a student), you have to look at other options. If your prime motivation to start doing volunteer work is to learn new skills, the best thing to do is to be clear about what skills you want to learn. Then you can search for volunteer opportunities in your area and online to figure out what would be best for you to pursue.

For students and people at the beginning of their careers, volunteering can offer experiences you simply can’t get anywhere else. For someone a bit further in their career, volunteering can strengthen your expertise or help you to redirect your career if you’re looking for new opportunities.

5. You can make good connections

If you’re serious about your career, one of your goals probably is to make new connections and grow your network. Volunteering is an easy way to get to know people that you wouldn’t otherwise meet. It’s also a way to make friends with people who have different backgrounds and careers than you do.

I myself know a lot of sociologists and other social scientists because of my background, but volunteering has got me together with lawyers, teachers, refugee advocates, and others who have completely different stories to tell and very different points of view when it comes to the work we do.

If you are interested in making some international connections, online volunteering might just be your ticket to a more international network.

6. You can get a better idea of what kind of work you like

If you are a student or at the beginning of your career, you may not be quite sure of what kind of job you would like to have in the future. So many different kinds of careers sound interesting, but expectations can be very far from reality. One way to narrow down your interests and get new ideas is to try different kinds of volunteer work.

You can try something that has to do with the environment, something with children or animals, maybe something with refugees or old people. You can try volunteering in an office environment, outside, or with people who have illnesses.

Maybe you’ve always dreamed of working with children but volunteering in an afterschool club makes you realize you don’t want to be in charge of children for 40 hours a week. Or perhaps you’ve always thought that you are not leadership material, but volunteering makes you realize that that’s something you’re good at.

7. It can become your job

Sometimes volunteer work can lead straight to a new job or make it easier for you to get a job in the same organization later on. Volunteering for a certain organization teaches you a lot about the organization itself and gives you an idea of what working for them could be like.

At the same time, the people in charge of the volunteers will see your work and effort and they might want you to join them when something comes up.

8. Volunteering is a lot of fun

While volunteer work certainly can be real work, it can also be a lot of fun. Volunteering typically isn’t as serious business as real work (although there are exceptions to this) and often you can choose your role.

I for example volunteered in an after-school homework club for elementary school children and while it was sometimes very loud and almost chaotic, it didn’t make me stressed. I wasn’t in charge of the children or responsible for their learning, so I could just concentrate on helping them where I could and I was able to observe how actual teachers handled the situation. Nonetheless, it was fun to be with the children and the hectic nature of the homework club kept all my own problems and worries out of my mind.

Volunteering in a group with people your own age is fun too because it’s often like being with friends – and sometimes you do make good friends! As a volunteer, you might also be able to join interesting events or go to places you otherwise wouldn’t go to.

9. It doesn’t take that much time

A 9 to 5  job takes 40 hours of your week (or more), but your volunteer work might only take 4 hours a week, or perhaps only 3 hours a month. Some volunteer jobs are more time-intensive, but they tend to be more short-term as well. The great thing is, that you yourself can choose how much time you want to give and how often. If you want to volunteer a couple of nights a week, you will for sure find something that fits your schedule.

On the other hand, if your schedule is different every week and you can’t commit to something that has specific hours every week, that’s just fine. I’ve had many volunteer jobs where I have simply promised to do certain things (for example writing project proposals) and then done them when I had time. Whatever kind of schedule you have, there is volunteer work that fits it.

10. You can try many different opportunities in a short amount of time

If you’re not quite sure what kind of job you would like to have or even what kind of volunteer work you would like to do, I’ve got some good news for you. You can easily try different kinds of volunteer work in a short amount of time. Many volunteer jobs allow people to come only once if they want to or simply pop by whenever they have time. Some volunteer projects last for only a few weeks, meaning that even if whatever you picked wasn’t your cup of tea, it won’t last long.

Whatever you want to try, don’t be afraid to only go once or twice. It’s normal. In every single volunteer project that I’ve ever been a part of, way more people have been there in the beginning than in the end. And it’s just fine as long as you do everything you’ve promised to do.

11. Volunteering is a great way to do something good

Volunteering is one of the best ways to do something good and give back to the world. Maybe you don’t have much money to give to a good cause, but organizations will definitely appreciate your time and effort.

While I admit that some volunteer jobs maybe don’t make a huge difference in the world (and not everything has to!), there are a lot of small organizations that make a big difference in the lives of the people they work with. If you want to do something that matters, volunteer.

12. It adds up really fast

If your resume or LinkedIn profile is still pretty empty, you can fill the volunteering section surprisingly fast and stick out from the crowd when you’re job hunting. Most people don’t have any volunteer experience listed on their resumes, and even those who do, usually only have one or two jobs listed.

If you spend a few months volunteering (possibly both in real life and online), you can easily have 3 or even 5 good volunteering experiences under your belt by the end of the year. Just start looking for opportunities today, it will pay back before you know it!

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Have you done a lot of volunteer work? Or are you thinking about starting to volunteer for the first time? Let me know in the comments! Also, don’t forget to pin this article!