Volunteerism and Career Advancement
Volunteering or helping other people is one effective a way to take a break from the pressures of work and personal life. It is also a way for you to expand your social sphere or use your skills for the greater good. But did you know that you can help yourself by helping others to advance their career?
Yes!
Here’s how:
1. Helping other people allows you to expand your personal network which is an important component of career development. – At the taproot, a personal career network is a collection of all of the people you know who have information that can help advance your career. Your personal network may be composed of past and present coworkers, professional associates or contacts from other companies, suppliers, customers, consultants, recruiters, former teachers and classmates, and friends. However, you cannot and should not develop a personal network solely for singular and self-serving purpose of advancing your own career. If you do this, you will be left with contacts who are shallow and more interested in helping themselves than you.
2. Helping other people allows you to get into career support group – A career support group is composed of group members that act as sounding boards, advisers and devil’s advocates for each other. Helping other people can help you get experience in your field of interest and establish a strong camaraderie in the field. You help yourself by helping other people because you are able to practice important skills like teamwork, problem-solving, project planning and task management. Practicing these skills while helping other people gives you more confidence in stretching your own wings at work.
3. Helping other people provides you career learning experience – Helping other people provides you opportunities to acquire/improve knowledge, competencies, and skills for the advancement of your career. It can boost your career as it is a good way to show leadership and management skills. It is also an excellent opportunity to show your good work ethic and dedication for a good cause. Many companies today encourage social responsibility and giving back to the community. Listing your volunteer work as one of your added activities tells your company that you share their values.
4. Helping other people sharpen your communication skills and other skills used in the workplace such as teamwork, project planning, task management and organization – Helping other people can build social competence and assuage anxiety about social relationships. It gives an opportunity to develop and refine social skills. It also helps foster a sense of trust in other people in general. Helping other people helps an individual to have a broader perspective of life which consequently contributes to a more inspired and dedicated outlook towards career and work.
5. You help yourself by helping other people because it allows you to work for a cause of your interest. It also allows you to think and re-think your goals in life and thus it gives you better career perspective and direction. Volunteering can be your stepping stone or your way of knowing what you really want in life.
