In today’s economy where students will go to great lengths to secure a job, volunteering may be the key to a career.
College students are encouraged to pursue internships to gain experience and broaden their resume, but it is easy to forget volunteering at an organization can be just as effective at building relationships and finding a job.
“From the employers’ perspective, it makes perfectly good sense,” said David Kraus, director of the Texas Tech University Career Services. “Why wouldn’t (employers) strongly consider someone who has shown an interest and passion for the organization by volunteering?”
People tend to volunteer at places that mean something to them, he said. They are attracted to an organization with similar values, causes and people, which reveals to their potential employer their true character.
“They are more of a known quantity than another candidate who has not performed voluntary service,” Kraus said. “So, bottom line is, yes, I think students should certainly see their volunteer work as places of potential employment.”
Even if the employer does not have any available positions at the time, if the student has done a good job in volunteering and made an impression, he or she likely will receive recommendations and assistance through contacts the employer might have, he said.
Volunteering is just as valuable as an internship, Kraus said. It is sometimes hard to distinguish the two.
“I look at volunteering experience much like an internship,” he said. “It’s an opportunity for students to get experiences for employment, make contacts, network and show how good they are (at something).”
Kerbi Smith, program coordinator for group volunteering at the Volunteer Center of Lubbock, said volunteering is an effective way of finding jobs, especially considering today’s job market.
“Because companies may be not ready or able to hire at the moment, but they will take on a volunteer,” Smith said. “And it can really be a great tool (for students) to develop their skills or learn something new in an environment where they are not being paid.”
Like an internship, volunteering allows students to learn skills they can put to use in their future jobs, she said. It gives them a chance to experience several career paths without officially taking on a job.
There is no one specific type of organization or company students should volunteer at, it depends on what the student’s ultimate goals are, Smith said.
“There are opportunities for such a huge variety of people from doing legal work to tax preparation to organizing big events,” she said. “The best thing to do is do research and find organizations that fit into your career goals in a non-profit atmosphere.”
All volunteering provides a great chance to network, because anything students choose to participate in will put them in a different circle of people than they are normally used to, she said.
Caitlyn Shumaker, a senior agricultural communications major from Manor, works as a student ambassador at the career center. Because she has experienced the benefits of volunteering, she said she advises all students to take advantage of such opportunities.
By accepting a volunteer opportunity a professor offered her this semester, Shumaker said she was offered a full-time position for after graduation.
“I was asked by one of my professors to videotape a trip of 200 Columbian (ranchers) who visited Texas to see what techniques ranchers here use, and how they are different,” she said.
As the group traveled from city to city, Shumaker was there with her camcorder. At the end of their excursion, the group of Columbians brought her video back to Columbia to show to other ranchers.
Two men who traveled with the group work for Sexing Technologies, a livestock reproduction company, observed Shumaker as she worked, she said. One of the observers, the marketing director, was so impressed by her abilities, he offered her a job.
“Just by volunteering and being myself, they got to see who I was and how I worked without being under pressure,” she said. “(As well as) my focus, discipline and work ethic.”
Volunteering has no strict meaning, she said. It is helping advance a cause or making something happen without being paid.
“Students should take advantage of any volunteering opportunity because you never know what could come out of it,” Shumaker said. “It’s good for others and helps you in the long run.”
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