Volunteering isn't just good for the soul. It can also put you on track to improve your career - and your bank balance.

Whether you're currently studying, in work, or out of work volunteering is a great way to

• develop new skills
• build your confidence
• and show future employers you've got drive and initiative.

These days employers look for more than just qualifications. They're interested in your personal qualities and transferable skills such as time management and communication. You don't have to have learned those things in paid work - the skills and experience you develop outside work are just as useful. Application forms will ask you to talk about why you're right for the job based on paid and unpaid employment, so that's the perfect opportunity to make volunteering work for you.

Whether you want to move up the ladder, try a new kind of job, or get back into the workplace, volunteering can give you a foot in the door you might not otherwise get - the chance to show an employer what you can do, and why they should pay you to do it!

Finding the right opportunity

If you're going to make volunteering work for you as a route to paid work, you have to go about it the right way.

First, think carefully about what kind of paid work you're looking for - what area do you want to work in? What sort of work do you want to do? Then ask yourself what's stopping you from getting that job - what skills or experiences are missing?

It's helpful to look at job ads and specifications for similar jobs to find out what employers are asking for. Then plan how volunteering can help you fill those gaps.

Think creatively, but be realistic! If you want to work in retail but don't have any experience, volunteering in your local charity shop would be a useful step forward. However, if you're trying to get a promotion to a managerial job, it's not very likely to help. What might do is becoming a school governor, or trustee for a charity, to show off your management skills.

Be selective, decide what you want and look for a volunteering opportunity that can provide it.

Because you want to get something specific from volunteering, you might want to look for an organisation that can give you:

• a job specification that sets out what you do
• appraisals or supervision sessions to assess your work
• training, especially if it leads to a qualification or certificate.

Be prepared not to get everything you want from one volunteering opportunity. You might need to work with different organisations and do more than one type of volunteering to get all the skills and experience you need. Think about what time scale you want to volunteer for; you may find that volunteering for a specific project or period of time works better for you than on-going volunteering.

If you want to use volunteering to develop your career, treat it as work, not a hobby.

Thanks to Timebank

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