Volunteering as a Career Builder

Rachael Candee United Way of Central Indiana Robin Springstead Catholic Charities of Fort Wayne

Career Builder Toolkit: discussions and activities for today

Purpose: research trends and development

Toolkit content: assessments and activities

Experience the assessments and activities

Volunteer motivations

Volunteer service on resumes

Volunteer managers and volunteer skill development

Volunteerism and career debate

• Are we looking at the wrong issue?

• Do we really hire only for skills and abilities?

• Do volunteers care about the employment impacts?

• Can unemployed people really take time to focus on volunteerism?

• Can volunteer activities give employees the right skills?

Volunteerism and career research trends

• People want to work for companies that support volunteerism

• We perceive volunteerism as helping our career

• Nonprofits believe in the capacity building of skilled volunteers but don’t engage professional skills among volunteers overall

• Skilled volunteering is important to HR professionals, especially for those transitioning into careers

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Takeaways

• Volunteerism does help, but it does not help everyone in the same way

• The type of service performed by a job-seeking volunteer can matter in their job search

• Perception is key, both for volunteers and hiring managers

• Nonprofits and businesses see the value of skilled volunteer engagement but we do not do it well yet

• Volunteer managers play a role in the career-search

• How do we define our role?

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Toolkit content: overview

Sections

• Introduction

• Interests & Motivations

• Skills & Competencies

• Selecting a skill-building position

• Volunteering and your job search

• Volunteering on the job

• Tools for volunteer managers

Career Volunteer

Skills

Knowledge

Com

pete

ncie

s

Growth

Developm

ent

Interests

Motivations

Resume

Inte

rvie

w Volunteer resume

Assessment

Netw

orking

Position

Managem

ent

Cover letter

Abilities

Recruitment Advancement Training

Support

Toolkit

Job

Job search

Toolkit content: review of activities

Assessments & Activities

• Case studies

• Interests & Motivations

• Skills & Competencies

• Aligning volunteerism with professional goals

• Discussing volunteering in interviews/while networking

• Sample job-search documents

• Employee Volunteer Program Resources

• Sample volunteer management documents

Experience the assessments: volunteer motivations

Volunteer motivations assessment

• Recognizing our motivations matters

• Retention, growth, satisfaction

• Altruism is not the only reason to volunteer

• Finding the right position

• Complete the assessment

• Share with a partner: do your results surprise you?

• Why might this assessment matter to you?

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Experience the assessments: volunteer skills in career-search

Volunteer skills and your resume • Consider how you might develop a career

resume using volunteer experience

• What is a volunteer resume?

• In groups of 3-4, discuss these questions

• How would you describe a volunteer experience on the career resume? On a volunteer resume?

• What are best practices for using volunteer experience on a resume?

• Practice using the sample experiences on your own

• What do you prefer about either a regular resume or use of a volunteer resume?

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Experience the assessments

Why does volunteer position development matter?

How could a program benefit from focusing on volunteer development?

• Go back to your group of 3-4 people

• Practice developing a position that highlights skills needed and developed

• What benefits could a position like this provide to your organization?

• Where could you find training for the volunteer related to this position?

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Assessment’s value and toolkit use

Volunteering as a Career Builder Toolkit focuses on giving volunteers, volunteer managers and professionals, the opportunity to think about volunteerism in a new way.

Toolkit will be available electronically

How will this toolkit be used in the future?

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How to access to toolkit

Sign-up on the sheets being passed around!

Anticipated delivery: November 2013

Questions?

Thank you!

Sources

Third Sector Research Center. Paine, McKay & Moro, 7/2/2013

http://www.tsrc.ac.uk/LinkClick.aspx?fileticket=tGaSOT2tnRU%3d&tabid=1016

Cambridge Policy Consultant. Links Between Employability and Volunteer. Hirst, 2001.

http://dera.ioe.ac.uk/4618/1/RR309.pdf

Volunteering & Employability: Cause or Effect. Ellis. 8/2013

http://www.energizeinc.com/hot/2013/13aug.php

Deloitte. Volunteer IMPACT Research, 2004-2013

http://www.deloitte.com/view/en_US/us/About/Community-Involvement/f0d3264f0b0fb110VgnVCM100000ba42f00aRCRD.htm

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