Education is critical for job seekers in the tech field, but experience cannot be ignored. If you’re new to the area or having a hard time getting hired, how can you get valuable experience? The answer may lie in volunteering.
It’s a terrible catch-22: you need a job to get experience, but you need experience to get a job. It’s true in all areas of IT, leaving job-hunters frustrated and leaving hiring organizations without a strong candidate pool.
But volunteering serves a great purpose. It gives valuable experience to tech candidates. And it also helps an organization with its tech needs.
Volunteering is a very personal experience for me. If it wasn’t for the time that those took to guide me when I was a young professional, I would never have achieved any level of success in my career. Volunteering also allows you build the most important skills such as compassion, understanding and helps reveal the character that lives inside of you.
On the practical side, 82% of hiring managers said they would be more likely to choose a candidate with volunteer experience on their resume and 80% of hiring managers said that active volunteers move more easily into leadership roles. So volunteering is not only a rewarding experience; it’s smart!
Finding a Volunteer Role
Finding a place where you can volunteer your tech skills is the first step. There are charity directories online that highlight the areas where a charity needs volunteer effort. You can filter through these listings to look for IT opportunities.
There are also tech-specific non-profits that may need your help. For example, organizations like NPower and PerScholas help people prepare disadvanted people for careers in technology. These non-profits need people with tech experience to lead the instruction and otherwise help new learners.
You can also find volunteer opportunities through community volunteer centers. Wherever you live, there is probably an individual or organization coordinating opportunities.
Highlight Your Passions
Volunteering shows that you are passionate about your skills, even if you are not currently working. Especially if you can volunteer in an area of particular interest for your career path, you are polishing your resume!
Volunteering not only improves and maintains those tech skills, but it also helps you develop soft skills too. This is especially key for new graduates and others with little work experience. Volunteering gives you transferrable know-how like leadership, communication, and working with deadlines.
Get Feedback
If you are not employed, it’s hard to get feedback on your work. However, with a volunteer position, you can gain that important constructive criticism that will help you improve. The people with whom you volunteer can offer insight into your strengths and weaknesses, so when you’re applying for a paid job, you know what to highlight.
Even if you are declined for a volunteer position, you can ask for feedback. This is similar to seeking feedback when you are not the chosen candidate for a job. If a volunteer role has a competitive process, you may not be successful, but it’s worth finding out why.
Decide Where You Want to Work
Volunteering is not just a way for charities and community organizations to get the help they need. It is also an excellent approach for tech professionals unsure exactly where they want to work or what they want to do. Volunteering lets you test out different career opportunities, from different sizes of businesses to other areas of expertise.
Exploring volunteer opportunities gives you a chance to better understand your own interests, likes, and dislikes. As you are applying for jobs, you can use this information to ensure you will end up in a role that is well-suited for your dreams! And, if it turns out you don’t actually like a volunteer opportunity, you can gracefully exit without it impacting your job history.
While it’s true that volunteering can provide you with a wealth of great experience, what it gives in return is endless. Volunteering provides a sense of purpose, boosts your confidence and helps ease stress and anxiety while making a difference. Whether you volunteer to support various causes, people or your local community, you will surely gain more than you give and hopefully have fun while doing it!