In our last blog post we had a look at the different places you can visit to find out about volunteering opportunities where you live. Today we’re going to take a slightly different approach to the same overall question of how you can get involved with volunteering. Instead of looking at the places where you can find who’d like your help, we’ll be looking at the different types of volunteering you could do.

There’s a good reason for looking at volunteering from these two angles. While the sources of vacancies can help people find out where they’d be welcome to volunteer where previously they thought there weren’t many where they lived, once they find the opportunities they usually end up having the opposite problem to the one they started out with: there are now too many to choose from!

This is where looking at different types of volunteering comes into its own. While you definitely can choose who you volunteer with based on how much their cause appeals to you–a strategy we wholeheartedly recommend–you can also let your decision be guided in part by what type of volunteer work would best suit you, in terms of the skills you could gain from it and how it could help your future study and career plans.

Volunteering, you see, comes in many shapes and sizes, with each different type of position requiring different attributes and qualities, many of which are needed for life out in the world of work.

The way we see it, there are two main types of volunteering: working directly with the people the charity helps; and fundraising work. Let’s have a look at what they involve, and what skills they could help you develop.

Working with people (and maybe dogs and cats, too)

This is probably the sort of charity work that is conjured up in most people’s minds when they think of volunteering. It’s volunteering in its purest form of working directly with people who’ll benefit from your help.

Virtually all charities have volunteering options of this sort. Whether it’s spending time with the elderly in a residence, playing with kids at a youth centre or walking dogs from the shelter, there are thousands of opportunities to get stuck in like this.

And you get all sorts of great skills from this type of work, some of which are generic, and some of which are particularly applicable to certain career paths. The broad skills you’ll get are teamwork, communicating, initiative and following instructions. If you’re interested in working in a field of healthcare, looking after the sick or infirm will help you develop caregiving skills. And for certain other professions, such as civil engineering, there are also sometimes opportunities to be had in areas such as construction projects in developing countries.

Fundraising

If charities need people manning the frontline of their services, they also need money to help fund their activities. As a consequence they’re just as eager for people to get involved in helping them raise the cash they need to carry out their noble work.

There are a number of different fundraising positions you can fill. You could get out there amongst the public, soliciting donations from people. You could staff the tills at your local charity shop. Or you could do something a bit more project-oriented, such as be on a fundraising committee at your school or college that organizes fundraising events for a chosen charity. Alternatively, on an individual level you could raise funds through entering an event such as a run or, even more ambitiously, set up your own personal event to attract sponsorship.

Like volunteering to work directly with people, fundraising work will boost your communication and teamworking skills. But it’s also a great choice for people who have designs on working in a leadership role in the future. Fundraising projects require ideas, organizing skills and an ability to meet deadlines under pressure. All things that are perfect for future managers and executives!