According to recent career change statistics, Generation Z are expected to change careers 5-7 times in a lifetime.
Alongside this, 6 out of 10 people aged 18-35 believe that portfolio careers are set to increase in popularity in the next 10 years.
The youngest in the workforce are not the only generation impacted by this changing landscape however, with research by Phoenix Insights finding that a whopping third (33%) of 45-54 year olds expect a career change before they retire.
Even so, this age group is 60% less likely to have taken actions related to their career, with only 15% receiving career advice in the last 3 years.
What is skills based volunteering?
Skills based volunteering is about utilising your professional expertise to help a good cause.
By becoming a skills based volunteer, not only can you make a sizable difference to a charity's mission, but you also achieve amazing strides in your professional and personal development, advancing your own proficiency in your given industry.
5 ways becoming a skills based volunteer can boost your CV
1.Growing your professional network
Skills based volunteering is a great avenue to collaborate with professionals from various industries.
Volunteering your skills allows you to explore different paths while utilising your particular skill set, and showcases your expertise in a ‘real world’ context.
Nonprofits are all about community, leaning on trusted professionals (like yourself) to help them fulfil their mission.
A nonprofit is therefore an excellent place to meet a wide range of people and connect with like minded professionals who believe in social responsibility.
Alongside this, volunteering is a win-win way to ask for mentorship and advice. Granted you are providing your services, your mentors will have a vested interest in your improvement.
Additionally, you could have more access to senior professionals in a volunteering context than you might in a paid position. The guidance provided here is invaluable and can give you a more in depth view of your role.
2. Strengthening your skills
Skills based volunteering can give you a chance to apply your skills in new and diverse settings, leading to opportunities to exercise creative problem solving and experiment in a way that you may not be able to in a paid position.
Volunteering itself can present unique challenges that differ from a day job, and tackling these challenges can push you out of your comfort zone, enhancing your adaptability.
It is also a great way to introduce yourself to different tools and softwares that you may not have come across otherwise. This can help expand your skill set in your chosen field.
Because volunteer roles call for collaboration, they are an excellent way to receive feedback from others. Volunteering can help you explore multiple different forms of feedback from others from various disciplines.
3. Branching into the nonprofit sector
Skills based volunteering is a fantastic way to gain hands-on experience in the nonprofit sector, even if your background is in another industry. Not only could you develop sector specific experience, but you can also gain job skills that you would not have otherwise.
Volunteering with a nonprofit gives you insight into how these organisations operate, their challenges, funding models and measures of success. This can help you develop sector specific skills, for instance, grant writing, donor relations or community engagement, which are important transferable skills that can be used on your CV in the future.
Alongside this, your volunteer work can lead to concrete examples of competence, such as successful fundraising campaigns. These can greatly assist you in the pursuit of a paid role, not only showcasing your capability, but also your passion and commitment to making a social impact.
4. Gaining leadership experience
Skills based volunteering can help you exercise leadership skills by allowing you to take full responsibility for projects in a way that may not be possible in your paid role.
This can be through coordinating teams, managing resources and decision making.
Since nonprofits are usually working with limited resources, you will be expected to use creative thinking to problem solve which can help you become more adaptable.
It is likely that you will also be working with a diverse group of people that include other volunteers, staff, community members and donors, with whom you can practise essential leadership.
In a skills based volunteer role, you are tasked with making decisions that impact the success of the organisation. This allows you to improve your decision making, strategic thinking and risk assessment.
These are all much needed skills for leaders and can help you build confidence, as well as professional expertise.
5. Developing your soft skills
Finally, skills based volunteering is a great way to develop your soft skills. These include:
Communication: Skills based volunteering can help you refine your ability to clearly convey ideas and adapt your communication style based on your audience.
Time management: Balancing your volunteer work with other responsibilities may challenge your organisational skills and time management. Though this sounds daunting, it is also a beneficial way to develop innovative ways to manage your time efficiently.
Teamwork: Volunteers usually donate their time amongst other commitments, which raises an even greater need for collaboration to ensure everything gets done. A position like this can teach you to share responsibilities effectively, as well as leveraging the strengths of team members to optimise the workload.
Emotional intelligence: The goal when volunteering for a nonprofit, is to advance a cause rather than increase profit. This requires people facing tactics and a distinct sense of empathy and emotional awareness. Tailoring your campaigns towards the mission of the nonprofit can therefore help develop emotional intelligence.
Patience and resilience: Skills based volunteering offers more chances to experiment, and with experimentation comes failure. This requires adaptability and resilience. Marking your own way within an organisation and learning through trial and error brings tremendous opportunities for growth.
Networking: You are also far more likely to be involved in events, workshops or conferences which can open doors to connections with donors, board members and other influential individuals within your industry.
References
How to become a skills-based volunteer. (n.d.). Reach Volunteering. Retrieved August 30, 2024, from https://reachvolunteering.org.uk/guide/how-become-skills-based-volunteer
