Volunteering has the capacity to change your life in many different ways.
The most common reason put forward is that the experience will help you acquire new skills and enhance those you already possess. In some cases you may acquire new technical skills in your particular area of professional interest, whether this is in marketing, advertising and promotion, written and verbal communication skills, or in financial analysis.
All of that will contribute towards your C.V. and your job prospects. And this is certainly true. So if you are involved in running a fund-raising event, think of all of the tasks that need to be done and the talents and skills that will be required. Administration, communication, managing and leading people, you will soon appreciate how important all of these are.
But there is more to it than that.
By volunteering you will be making a contribution to the community, for whatever cause or in whatever location, whether local, regional or international. This will give you a great sense of satisfaction that you have done something worthwhile with your time. You will have helped a cause that interests you purely for the spiritual reward you get from the experience, rather than any monetary reward.
Possibly more than in any other field, volunteering will open your eyes to the way that other people communicate their feelings and emotions. This will apply to colleagues you work with as well as to the people you are helping, if indeed you come into direct contact with them.
Volunteering is going to give you a heightened sense of the importance of emotional intelligence in human relationships, the idea of being at peace with yourself and therefore at peace with others, whatever their background, circumstances or status. This aspect of volunteering will be perhaps be the biggest advantage to you in your future career, because once it is there it will never go away and will offer other positive impacts.
You will find that your confidence increases, your self-esteem will be boosted, you will acquire a very positive outlook on life that will improve your mental powers as well as your physical health.
There is also a sense that volunteering will help change you as a person. Here you have a unique opportunity to help others in less favourable circumstances than yourself. You will have unique access to a culture of giving and an environment of doing something good. You will gain an insight into the social issues surrounding groups of disadvantaged people. Your character, temperament and emotional outlook will undoubtedly change for the better as a result of this.
Depending on how and where you volunteer, you might learn a new language. You might actually get a full-time job in the organisation for which you are volunteering.
Volunteering will open up a whole new network of useful connections for you and could be an essential part of your continuous professional – and personal – development, as you seek the challenges that will change your life forever.