Why Volunteer Work Helps Us in Career

The Best Way to Find yourself is to lose yourself in the Service of Others – Mahatma Gandhi

Volunteering has never been considered valuable in India. Unlike the West where your CV automatically gets a social upgrade when it sports details of volunteer work or service in the forces. 1 out of 5 managers in the US hired people because of their volunteer experience.

Here’s how volunteering can help increase your workplace value:

Increased Tolerance

When you work, you have to deal with a variety of clients and team members. Some will be proactive and actually adhere to deadlines while others won’t. Besides this, every person you interact with will have a different set of qualities. Some won’t be team players while others may just find ways to bring you down from the word Go.

When a potential employer or existing employer sees that you have been working in an NGO, based on the NGO’s core cause (whether it’s a blind school, school for the underprivileged, etc), he will be able to notice how the volunteer work helped make you more tolerant. This can work to your benefit at the workplace where you will always face people with myriad qualities.

Not Just about the Money

Of course, money makes the world go round. Everyone would love to get that raise, or a better job with a better pay. When you volunteer and devote your spare time to a cause, a potential employer would be assured of your desire to work hard and work well. If you can spare time to work for a cause, you’re probably going to make a hardworking employee at the workplace too. A boon to any employer.

Focus

Too many times, employers today come across executives and aspirants who have no focus. They may have studied at the best colleges and achieved their degrees. But when it comes to real work, not everyone knows how to focus and get the job done. When you volunteer, for a particular cause, you are showing a potential employer that you have focus and dedication. These qualities are sought after and hard to find in today’s world.

All-rounder

Even if you have taken out time to volunteer at the Teach for India movement. Or maybe, to teach computers at a school for underprivileged children, you are showing the world how much of an all-rounder you are. You don’t have to be an IT graduate to teach computers to little children after all. Most employers would want to capitalize on this.

Are you looking for volunteer work in an NGO? Look here to find something that interests you!

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