15 Ways You Improve Your Career Prospects by Volunteering

There are plenty of ways to get involved in community service and lots of reasons to do it. Of course, volunteering is, first and foremost, about helping other people, but that doesn't mean you can't or won't benefit from it personally and professionally. And among the many benefits, you definitely improve your career prospects by volunteering.

Whether or not you've settled on an intended career path, volunteering will help you set and achieve career goals. Just take a look below at some of the amazingly helpful ways you can gain from your voluntary involvement with a good cause.

Have fun making a difference and building yourself up!

How You Improve Your Career Prospects by Volunteering

1. If you're in high school or an adult planning to go to college, volunteer experience helps get you accepted and maybe even into a better school.
   
   
2. It lets you create a "Volunteer" section on your resume, which is great for getting yours to stand out in the stack, increasing your chances of getting interviews.
   
   
3. Employers love to see job candidates who take the initiative and who donate some of their time and energy to helping others and their community.
   
   
4. If you're young or weren't working for a while, volunteering can partly make up for a lack of work experience and employment history.
   
   
5. You can seek out community service opportunities that give you the experience you need for the job you want, whether performing specific tasks, using particular skills or working in a certain field.
   
   
6. Think of it as networking. You'll meet and work alongside professionals who may know of opportunities or be offering one themselves-either now or some time down the line.
   
   
7. You can get more familiar with fields you're considering working in but aren't 100 percent sure about yet.
   
   
8. You can discover and explore new areas of interest, opening you up to possible career paths you may never have thought of.
   
   
9. It improves your communication and interpersonal skills, which are essential for successful interviews and advancing in any organization.
   
   
10. You build up your leadership, organizational, and problem-solving skills-three important qualities all employers and managers want to see.
    
    
11. You also build up a variety of other skills through your volunteer work, all of which can help you distinguish yourself from the competition for jobs and promotions.
    
    
12. Volunteering gives you insights into your personal strengths and weaknesses. This lets you better leverage what you're good at and work on areas that need improvement.
    
    
13. Having a record of volunteering is a great way to get your foot in the door in the nonprofit world, which can be hard to do for a career.
    
    
14. You'll feel better about yourself. This makes you more confident, happy, focused, and otherwise ready to perform at your best.
    
    
15. Exposure to new people from different walks of life, new problems and solutions, etc., help you develop a well-rounded perspective that will serve you well in countless ways in your career.