Tag: Volunteer

Guest Post: 7 Reasons To Kick-Start Your Career By Being A Volunteer

If you are finding it hard to break into a new field, maybe you should be looking a little further out. Most employers demand relevant experience and proven skills, which those looking to start a career just do not have. A quick stint of volunteering overseas could give you the experience you need and help your CV stand out from the pack.

1. Thrills. So you need to build up skills for a new career? Well, you could just grab a lowly position locally and push papers waiting to be noticed or you could get some real-life experience and some real thrills by volunteering in exotic locations around the globe.

The only papers you will need to get in order are your travel visas as you get the chance to see beyond the tourist trail in Thailand, Fiji, China or the majestic landscapes of Africa. Escape the daily drill and get a real thrill in stunning locations all over the world.

2. Skills. Of course volunteering is not all about the thrill. Employers demand evidence of real skills, and volunteer organisations such as Projects Abroad (http://www.projects-abroad.ca) can give you the chance to gain these in fields as varied as journalism, care, medicine, archaeology, teaching, development, human rights, conservation, marketing and many more.

These are skills learnt in real situations and practiced in difficult circumstances: they prove you can cut it when the going gets tough.

3. Put yourself on the map (1). Volunteering overseas will reveal your commitment to a profession so much more than a 10-week training course can. It makes your intentions and dedication crystal clear and helps your CV to stand out from the pile. After all, a couple of months in Tanzania are a talking point – a training course is just another bullet point.

4. Put yourself on the map (2). You will be placing yourself on the map in more ways than one, however. Volunteering overseas is an intense experience shared with a team of international volunteers. You will bond quickly with other volunteers and be coming home with cheap holiday opportunities with new-found friends all over the world.

5. Take a hip trip. With the advent of voluntourism – that is, volunteering on projects to travel the world – volunteering is sexy. Many say it is the best way to travel – letting you really get to know the places you visit while you gain new skills and meaningful experiences.

Recent celebrity volunteers helping make it the ultimate hip trip include George Clooney, Brad Pitt, Angelina Jolie, Bono, Ben Affleck, Matt Damon and Charlize Theron.

6. Try before you buy. Volunteering overseas is a great way to try before you buy, or look before you leap. If you are thinking of applying for overseas work, it is the ideal way to test the waters before taking the plunge.

Similarly, if you are thinking of entering a new field, it offers a great way to see if the grass really is greener. There are organisations that offer short projects to make this possible – care and community and sports programs for 16-19-year-olds, for instance. Here you can find additional information on this project. Volunteering is a great way to not believe the hype and see for yourself.

7. Budge the drudge and catch the buzz. Sitting behind the computer conducting online job searches and firing off endless CVs is a bore. It can sap your energy, motivation and enthusiasm. Volunteering overseas lets you gain the skills you need to get those interviews and will gives you a buzz that will help you impress at those interviews.

Stop waiting for an opportunity and start doing something that will create it. See you on the next rung of the career ladder!

September 8, 2012
Guest Post: 7 Reasons Why Volunteering Makes You Cool

Volunteering is something that everyone should take part in at some stage in their lives. It’s an enjoyable and worthwhile experience and benefits others. We should all make time in our lives to help our fellow humans. If you’re still not convinced, here are seven solid reasons you should volunteer abroad.

1. Volunteering Abroad Makes You Well Travelled. If you are a person who loves travelling, and feels the need to seek out further flung places to explore each year, then volunteering abroad is definitely for you. If you are one of the people who likes to brag to their friends that you’ve had lunch with and been accepted into the tiny community of a village no one’s ever heard of, you’ll be right at home when you volunteer abroad. Places like Chisinau or Orhei, Cochabamba, Machu Picchu welcome assistance with open arms, and it’s unlikely your un-travelled friends have heard of any of these towns.

Dave on a double date with his new best mate and their arm candy

2. Volunteering Makes You Feel Awesome Inside. If you have been working the 9-5 and trudging along on the daily commute for some time, in an uninspiring office role for a commercial enterprise, you may feel a little bit like you’re not serving much of a purpose in life. It’s especially common for anyone single reaching the big 3-0 to start to get itchy feet on their career path. Get away and volunteer or teach abroad. You’ll find it hugely satisfying to know that you are helping others to learn and grow and you’ll feel like a part of a community.

3. You’ll Escape The Rat Run. It can be easy to feel hard done by in the UK as the cost of petrol and a pint of milk seems to go up daily, leaving less money in your beer and shoes fund. Getting away from the UK and visiting a developing country to see just how tough life can be for others who don’t have all the creature comforts we do will make you realise you have been taking your rainy days curled up on the sofa in front of “Deal or No Deal” for granted.

4. Your CV Will Be Amazing. If you have been floating aimlessly around the job market along with all the other graduates and unexpectedly redundant workers, you’ll know how tough it is even to get an interview let alone a decent job. Adding a little something different to your CV shows you are adaptable or dependable and will help you stand out from the rest of the applicants.

5. You’ll Have Totally Brilliant New Skills. Volunteering holidays are open to everyone and don’t require any specific skills if you want to take part. However, any skills you might have picked up at high school, in the Boy Scouts or Girl Guides or playing on your X-Box will always be useful somehow. By immersing yourself in a different culture you’re bound to pick up a few words of the local lingo and learn that actually knowing how to tie a reef knot is a good skill to teach to others.

6. Celebs Do It. Yep – all the celebs are doing it – Madonna, Brad & Angelina, Prince William and Kate. Oh and of course Bono, and all the X factor gang who remade the song “Do They Know it’s Christmas?”

7. Volunteering Helps You Be A Better Person. It’s true – if you take in to consideration all of the above, in summary volunteering abroad will increase your geographical knowledge, boost your self-esteem, make you more grateful, boost your employability, enhance your skills and make you look cool. You can’t go wrong really, so get booking that trip!

May 30, 2012
Guest Post: 7 Reasons You Need To Volunteer Abroad

If you are coming to the end of your studies, most of you will soon be busy checking job websites, scanning the local papers and trying to find that perfect first position. However, given the tough economic climate, more and more young people are finding it tough to get a job at all – let alone find the perfect one.

With that in mind, here’s seven reasons why we think now’s the right time to volunteer abroad.

1. You Develop As A Person. By far and away the biggest benefit to you by volunteering abroad is that you yourself will develop as a person. You will meet people from across the world you’re unlikely to have met if you’d stayed at home. You’ll develop skills and nurture friendships that will last a lifetime, and once you return you will have stories to tell. Whatever it is you do, you will develop into a more well-rounded person.

2. You See The World. By volunteering abroad you can choose the country which you’ve always dreamed of visiting. You could go to Africa and work in an orphanage, visit India and deliver life-saving medication to slum dwellers or work on a conservation project saving turtles in South America. Whatever you do or wherever you go, seeing majestic mountains or crystal clear seas is by far and away more appealing than a rainy Redditch.

3. You Change Lives. One of the major benefits of volunteering abroad is to change lives. By volunteering abroad the time and effort you give on your project will make a difference to peoples’ lives. For example, if you help dig a well for a water pipe, it could keep a village stocked with clean drinking water for years. Even if your volunteering work is just looking after children, the time you spend volunteering will help – it all adds up.

4. You View A Culture From The Inside. By spending time in a country different from the one you grew up in, you will be given a unique learning experience by interacting with a new culture. You may learn a new language, try new foods, have to dress differently. Wherever it is you go you will view a culture from the inside – helping to challenge proposed “norms” and making you a more well-rounded person.

5. You Meet New People. You will not be alone when you volunteer abroad. For years you have probably surrounded yourself with the same friends and same family members, without branching out and meeting new people. What could be better than jetting off abroad and interacting with people from all four corners of the world? People who work abroad make friends for life – and, with the advent of Facebook, keeping in touch with them and reminiscing about the time you spent together is easier than ever.

6. You Can Influence Your Future Career. You might have spent years studying accountancy. You may know everything there is to know about English Literature. But two weeks spent abroad helping orphans afflicted by AIDS can put it all into perspective. You may come back and decide you don’t want to photocopy spreadsheets or write email marketing newsletters for a company which sells lawnmowers. Volunteering abroad really can influence your future career.

7. You Boost Your CV. But finally, the biggest benefit for volunteering abroad is that it will boost your CV. Jobs nowadays are few and far between. Spend a few weeks abroad making a difference to people’s lives, meeting new people, trying new things and having new experiences and you will have something to put on your CV which stands out. You will not only stand out from the competition when you go for an interview, you’ll be showing prospective employers you’re motivated, you’ve got guts and interpersonal skills far and above your peers.

Author Bio: Original Volunteers is a provider of voluntary work opportunities across the world. For information on how you can work abroad please visit the website.

May 3, 2012