Posted by: Darlene Duncan. CWDP. JSS, CCC, JCTC, JCDC
Training Coordinator
You’re sending out résumés, filling out applications on a regular basis, posting on Facebook and keeping your profile updated on LinkedIn. You’ve even attended some networking events. In your mind you’re doing everything you can to find a job.
What else could you possibly do?
There is an element you’re, very likely, not including in your search and it has many benefits. It keeps you out in the workforce where you’ll continue to use your current skills and pick up new ones. You’re presented with opportunities to meet people who may be able to supply you with job leads.
Have you guessed it yet? It’s volunteering. No! Don’t go away. I know you need a PAYING job. I also know that volunteering can be a vital part of your search for that paying job. More than once I’ve had people tell me that they got the job they have because they used to volunteer where they’re now working.
The worst thing that happens is you spend some time helping others. Is that such a bad thing? Of course not. The best thing that happens is someone where you’re volunteering gives you a lead that gets you a job or the organization you’re volunteering at offers you a paying position. No matter how you look at it, it’s a win-win situation.
(This is a repost from December 2010.)
