Still not convinced? Here are five ways that volunteerism can help with your job search:

1. Acquire New Skills. As a volunteer, you can help organizations with tasks that you wouldn't be exposed to otherwise. These can be hard skills such as marketing, event planning, or accounting, or transferable skills such as leadership, communication, and team building. Either way, you can learn new skills, or build off of old ones to make them even stronger.
2. Expand Your Network. As a volunteer you can tap into new networks and gain access to career expertise and knowledge. Through this new group of contacts, you can schedule informational interviews to learn more about their career trajectory. Who knows, these interactions may even lead to your next job.
3. Try Out What You Like. If you're making a pivot to a new career path, or you want to try something completely new, volunteering allows you to try out a new industry or career field in a lower stakes environment. By determining whether you like what the work entails, you can gain the information you need to decide where you want to go next.
4. Keep Up with Market Trends. Volunteering in a field you're interested in allows you to keep a pulse on the latest trends in that particular market. By staying current, you'll be able to speak to these trends in a cover letter or interview, which makes you a stronger overall candidate.
5. Enhance Your Resume. It can be hard to believe, but volunteer experiences still count as experience. If you're unable to volunteer with a community organization, you can volunteer with a faculty member as a research assistant. By engaging in volunteerism, you can add projects and experiences to your resume. You can also use your volunteer experiences as part of the STAR technique in interviews.

Volunteering can make you feel good for multiple reasons: you're helping an organization who needs it and you're working for a good cause. By being more strategic with your volunteerism, you can feel fulfilled personally, while working on your career path.

Learn more about opportunities working for an organization that relies heavily on its volunteers, the American Red Cross, at the Career Corner on March 5, 2024 from 10 AM to 2 PM. 

(1) https://www.americorps.gov/sites/default/files/evidenceexchange/FR_2013_VolunteeringasaPathwaytoEmployment_1.pdf

Marriah Ellington 

M.S '23, Environmental Engineering

Advisor: Dr. Lee Blaney

Jenny Thomas

B.S. '23, Chemical Engineering, Trading Track

Mike German

B.S. '09, Chemical Engineering, Biotechnology and Bioengineering Track

Ian Vaillant

M.S '23, Chemical Engineering

Matthew Murdock

B.S '21, Chemical Engineering, Traditional Track

Neil (Nghia) Tran

B.S '21, Chemical Engineering, Biotechnology and Bioengineering Track