Volunteering While in a Job Transition has Many Hidden Advantages

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While in transition, you’re after a paid job, not working for free. It’s natural to feel that way, but in fact volunteering could be the thing that gets you your next position. It’s happened often to job seekers. Volunteering has many rewarding facets, and most of them remain hidden till you uncover them by performing volunteer activities. Abby Kohut, president of Staffing Symphony LLC, recommends that 20 percent of a job seeker’s time be spent on volunteering.

Volunteering is a benevolent activity that could be extremely rewarding, especially for those in transition who need to hear a thank-you once in a while. Helping others is inherently enriching and satisfying. Providing assistance for others and lending a hand to people in need certainly qualify as good deeds. And when you give, you also get.

In general, people are open to the idea of volunteering but usually don’t take steps to initiate it because of the unknown and because they don’t know how to go about finding a suitable spot. Two decisions have to be made toward that end: First is to decide what type of volunteering interests you. Second is to decide where to find it. My advice is to search the Internet for the words finding volunteering opportunities. From there you’ll be guided to settling on your decisions.

Since volunteering is unpaid, your commitment can be short- or long-term. Make sure that during involvement in volunteer activities you take advantage of the opportunity to get acquainted with other people. Volunteering makes for an excellent occasion to network with people who appreciate your commitment to volunteer. Such people will listen to you and likely want to reciprocate. Make the most of it.

Picture of Alex Freund

Alex Freund

Alex Freund is a career and interviewing coach known as the “landing expert” for publishing his 80 page list of job-search networking groups. He is prominent in a number of job-search networking groups; makes frequent public presentations, he does workshops on resumes and LinkedIn, teaches a career development seminar and publishes his blog focused on job seekers. Alex worked at Fortune 100 companies headquarters managing many and large departments. He has extensive experience at interviewing people for jobs and is considered an expert in preparing people for interviews. Alex  is a Cornell University grad, lived on three continents and speaks five languages.

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