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Benefits of Volunteering

However many hours of volunteering you undertake as a student, the benefits are great.

Volunteering gives you the opportunity to:

Meet new people who you wouldn't have necessarily talked to outside of volunteering.
Be a part of a group of like-minded people to yourself.
Make lots of new friends.
Do something worthwhile with your spare time, even only a couple of hours a month.
Gain experience in areas of interest for your future career, and may be inspire you to change your potential career path.
Continue a hobby or passion in a more constructive environment.
Get involved in a chartiy or organisation which you may have personal reasons for wanting to help.

Many skills can be gained from volunteering and this, in turn, enhances your employability potential as a graduate. Many employers are now looking for more than just a degree from your time spent at university, and volunteering is a great way to gain or enhance skills which make you stand out from the rest.
Why not come along to a Volunteer Skills workshop, organised by the Careers Service and Provide to give volunteers pointers on how to get across on your CV and application forms, your skills gained from your volunteering.
Next session tbc, but keep checking the training section on the search facility to find out when the next session is.
Volunteering England has published a great guide called, The Art of Crazy Paving: Volunteering for Enhanced Employability. Please come into the Students' Union Blomeley Centre to read a copy, or to purchase your own copy visit www.volunteering.org.uk

The user groups that you may be volunteering with will directly benefit from your time spent with them, and if you are volunteering 'behind-the-scenes', your efforts will still contribute greatly.
Alot of charities and non-profit organisations cannot run without the efforts of each and every one of their volunteers.