Volunteering: Why Would You Want to?

 Helping yourself, whilst helping others.

Volunteering is big business and can now be done in over 150 countries worldwide. The choice of volunteer vacancies can range from making cups of tea in an Art centre to organic farming and special constable police work.

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There is working with animals, children, and people with special educational needs. You can work with Europe’s most successful conservationist movement, you can volunteer at home or over seas. There is even a virtual volunteering that does not require your physical presence at an organisation; the volunteering is carried out through the Internet, emails or phone.

I was a volunteer adviser. I received training on a large database and also interview techniques. I had to interview people that wanted to do volunteer work and help them find a placement. The range of people that wanted to volunteer was very diverse. Long gone are the days when it was only retired people that volunteered to keep themselves busy. I think the youngest I interviewed was 16 and the oldest possibly in their 70’s or 80’s and all the in betweeners. There were people wanting to change career that needed a taste at some other kind of work experience. People that had been long time unemployed and needed training of some kind to get back into work. Work experience-seeking students. The list and reasons why people volunteer is endless.

There are always projects ongoing or new projects that need managing, at home and abroad for people with minimal experience, as training is always given. Don’t assume that because you are not getting paid that the training is skipped or reduced down, it is not.

For people who find themselves in a foreign country, with life outside their own four walls limited, co find friends and work with like-minded people who share the same interests and at the same time volunteer.

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If your CV looks a little sparse you can gain more skills, confidence and make new friends with volunteering. Even hospital radio needs volunteers!

What ever way you look at it and how ever many minutes, hours or days you could give to being a volunteer, you know you are going to go away from it with a new outlook on life, yourself and other people.