Volunteering

RJames

I have begun volunteering as a way of gaining some satisfactory knowledge and develop skills in order to pursue a professional career change.  I'm seeking the thoughts/ opinions of others who have done this and how they felt it all fits together?  

74jax

I left work in the summer of 2020 and took a year to volunteer with various charities. 
I chose 1 that was similar (ie project management but of something WAY different) and 2 that were so far from my usual self friends never thought I'd last at them 😂
I did every onboarding course they threw at me and made sure to keep a list of them all (you never know when they may be useful).
I loved it!
I use the knowledge as my 'additional information' and can talk endlessly about my year. It did me so well. 

Marcon

RJames said:

I have begun volunteering as a way of gaining some satisfactory knowledge and develop skills in order to pursue a professional career change.  I'm seeking the thoughts/ opinions of others who have done this and how they felt it all fits together?  

Whether it 'fits together' depends very much on whether the knowledge and skills you are gaining are relevant to what you want to do (albeit tangentially) and whether a potential employer would find you more attractive as a potential employee because you have them. In many cases the answer will be an emphatic 'yes', particularly if you keep a detailed log of what you've done and when. You can then pick out the most relevant things when you start making job applications.

It would be rare for volunteering to do your cv any harm!

MalMonroe

Hi, I think it's a fantastic thing to do.

And most of the organisations I've worked for (mostly the NHS and Higher Education) have welcomed job applicants who have volunteering experience. Certainly when I was working, it was looked upon very favourably. The fact that you are willing to work for no pay to gain experience and help others is really a very good thing. Your time and effort are never wasted.

When you put something like that on your CV (and please do always put it on!) employers see you as someone who is enthusiastic, willing to be a part of a team and learn from the experience and engage in something that benefits others/animals/whatever you are volunteering for - and know they'd be lucky to employ someone like that in a paid role.

It's all extremely positive. And I think it's an excellent thing to do when you're looking for a career change. 

I would wish you good luck but I really don't think you'll need it.

Those are my thoughts/opinions - hope they're helpful! 

Brie

My volunteering has lead very directly to me being employed.  I did a lot of fund raising and resourcing for a local group with extra support from my employer who would match funding and provided things like printing, donating out of date marketing materials (stationery, labelled event water bottles etc).  As a result I got to know the managers of that branch of what I discovered was a larger regional charity.  I informed them early this year that I wasn't going to be able to provide as much support in the future as the employer was moving the department and I was being made redundant.  Net result was that the charity asked if I would be interested in working for them instead and so have moved into a new role that is a great match for my previous work experience.

As for listing volunteering on your cv being harmful.....I was informed a number of years back that one should be careful of what image the volunteering creates of you.  It was suggested to not mention specifics if it is a religious or political organisation.  Also how it combines with your other interests.  When asked at one point I mentioned I had been working with Cats Protection and that I liked to bake and the instant response was "little old cat lady" which was a shock as I was only about 40 at the time.  So I added that I also like hill walking in the Alps which made me look a bit less geriatric.

k12479

Marcon said:

RJames said:

I have begun volunteering as a way of gaining some satisfactory knowledge and develop skills in order to pursue a professional career change.  

Whether it 'fits together' depends very much on whether the knowledge and skills you are gaining are relevant to what you want to do (albeit tangentially) and whether a potential employer would find you more attractive as a potential employee because you have them...

As above, but also think about how big that desired career change is and whether volunteering experience will be sufficient to achieve it.

A background in hospitality combined with volunteering experience doing a charity's website is unlikely to be sufficient to get a job at Google, for example.

Savvy_Sue

When the boys started school, I joined the PTA and gained events experience running school fairs etc. Also kept the accounts, learning to use Excel to show what was most profitable etc.

Then I helped set up an out of school club. More finance, plus child protection, staff recruitment and retention, and lots of free training available for all aspects. 

Then I needed a job. With no formal experience, I got a job managing a team of 6 admins supporting housing officers. 

It's all experience. If I ever have to write a CV or complete an application again, my voluntary experience will be dovetailed in with my paid work.

elsien

Worked for me. With the caveat that I already had a lot of transferable skills 

I was made redundant,  decided I wanted a change and identified the field that I wanted to get into as a sidewards move. I completed their volunteer training programme then a job opportunity in that field came up and I was offered the job before doing any actual volunteering. 

So for me, I didn’t learn a huge amount but it did show the prospective employer that I was serious in my job application and I wasn’t just applying for the sake of it.

silvercar

This has worked for me twice over my career(s).

First time I was volunteering as a learning assistant for a local college evening classes for adult learners. I then became the paid class teacher and from that had a job in a college teaching 16+.

Second time was stewarding at a covid vaccine centre, where I started directing people around the building, progressed to entering patient details and was then employed initially to do the initial consultation and data entry and then to actually vaccinate. 

diystarter7

Hi OP

I did some work like that unpaid of course and i was a in a FT role at the time - helped me move to types of jobs that I wanted.