How Volunteering Can Help Your Career

Many individuals consider volunteering because they want to give something back to their communities. They sometimes hold back and resist taking the plunge because they worry they won’t have the time and energy to commit to volunteering and working in a paid position as well. When it comes to filling the post of volunteer treasurer, many of the duties that need to be performed can seem so overwhelming that it makes folks reluctant to take on the role.

If you have a good bookkeeping software to help back you and your processes up, so that its quick and easy to keep your accounts updated, serving as a volunteer treasurer offers several benefits that far outweigh any concerns that might be holding you back from volunteering.

This is especially true if you want to move up in the current organisation where you work, or enter a new field completely as volunteering at a nonprofit offers the following benefits for your career prospects.

Improve Your Job Performance by Improving Your Health

Many nonprofit volunteers report that the work that they do to help others improves their self-esteem, personal satisfaction and confidence. They also report feeling calmer, less stressed and more at ease. This boost to your mental health makes you more resistant to the effects of stress and can boost overall immunity.

When our minds and bodies are healthy, and our immunity and mood are high, it’s easier for us to resist common colds and other bugs as they make the rounds in the workplace. This provides an indirect benefit to our careers since being healthy and resistant to stress reduces absenteeism and makes it easier to achieve peak performance so that we get noticed and promoted at work!

Increase Your Flexibility

Volunteering can be a great way to practice your existing skills, as well as pick up new ones if the volunteer work that you perform involves tasks and duties outside of your previous background. This makes volunteering the ideal way to keep your existing skills current as well as pick up new ones.

Prospective employers that see your volunteer work on your resume, and become aware of all of the tasks and duties that you fulfilled in your role are more likely to see you as the flexible and motivated employee that they need. It can also increase your chances of promotion and other forms of advancement.

Meet New People

As a volunteer, it’s likely that you will have the opportunity to meet and talk with people you would never have otherwise. Not only will you work with other volunteers, but you’ll also probably meet some of the beneficiaries of your nonprofit’s services. You may also come into close contact with donors, staff, board members, other volunteers and advocates.

Each time that you meet and interact with someone new, you are being given an opportunity to connect with people from diverse backgrounds who share your interests and values. When it comes time to find a new position, your new connections may well be the ones that help you locate your next paying position!

Spur Your Creativity, Cooperation and Critical Thinking Abilities

Most volunteers wear many hats in their organisations. Working with different groups of people, completing tasks and searching for solutions on the fly are all activities that you will likely perform as a volunteer. Activities like these boost your creativity, as well as improve your ability to cooperate and collaborate on shared projects and improve your ability to analyse information and reach logical, well thought out conclusions.

So, what’s so great about improving your ability to create, get along with others and make good decisions? These characteristics just happen to be some of the top traits shared by the world’s most successful leaders. Serving as treasurer or other volunteer gives you a chance to polish your leadership and gives you a head start on how to lead yourself and your team to greater levels of success!