Volunteer

Helping Others Can Benefit You

Volunteering has a meaningful, positive impact on your community. But did you know that it can have many benefits for you, too? You may have heard that volunteering helps you get into college, but keep in mind they’re not just looking for a list of organizations and dates. Colleges want to see a complete picture of you, and real examples of your commitment, dedication, and interests.

Reasons to Volunteer

to Volunteer

• Gain Valuable Life Experiences and Skills
• Meet Interesting People
• Get Academic Credit
• Send a Signal to Colleges
• Travel to different places
• More…

Questions to Ask Yourself Before You Volunteer

• How much time do I have to commit?
• Do I want an ongoing, regularly-scheduled assignment, a short-term assignment, or a one-time assignment?
• Am I willing to participate in a training course or do I want to start my volunteer work immediately?
• Which talents or skills do I offer?
• What would I most like to learn by volunteering?
• What don’t I want to do as a volunteer?
• Do I want to work alone or with a group?
• With what kind of people do I want to work — both in terms of who is receiving my services and who my co-workers might be?

 

 

 

 

Reasons to Volunteer

Gain Valuable Life Experiences and Skills

Whether you build houses for the homeless or mail flyers for a local politician, you’ll experience the real world through hands-on work. You can use this experience to explore your major or career interests.

Meet Interesting People

Volunteering brings together a variety of people. Both the recipients of your volunteer efforts and your co-workers can be rich sources of insight. For example, maybe you’ll learn about the legal profession from a former lawyer you visit at a convalescent center.

Get Academic Credit

Some schools offer academic credit for volunteer work through “service-learning.” This is a teaching method that integrates hands-on learning (through service to the community) into the school curriculum. It’s available in high schools and colleges, as well as in earlier grades. To find out if your school offers service-learning, visit the Learn and Serve website.

Send a Signal to Colleges

Colleges pay attention to your life inside and outside the classroom. Your extracurricular activities reveal a great deal about you, such as what your interests are, whether you can manage your priorities and maintain a long-term commitment, what diversity you’d bring to the student body, and how you’ve made a meaningful contribution to something. Keep in mind, colleges are not interested in seeing you do it all. It’s more meaningful to colleges to see your dedication to one or two causes or activities than to see that you’ve spread yourself thin.

Travel to far off places

In many instances you may be asked to travel to distant lands, places far away from home. Many times we need people that can travel to areas that need our assistance, such as: disasters, poverty stricken countries, areas isolated from the rest of the world. Some travel will be for diplomatic reasons, or to assist in opening branch offices.

More…

Volunteering has many other intangible benefits. It can help you give back to society, break down barriers of misunderstanding or fear, explore personal issues, and even have fun. “Community service, which was required at my high school, was a big wow with interviewers. It’s even better if you can match your service with your career interest. For example, volunteer at a hospital if you’re planning on med school. “a college student wrote.

 

Questions to Ask Yourself Before You Volunteer

It’s important that you enjoy the type of service you choose and that you have the time to stick with it. Ask yourself these questions before you commit to an organization.

• How much time do I have to commit?
  • Time to commit is essential to your success, the non-profit organization and the people who need you.
• Do I want an ongoing, regularly-scheduled assignment, a short-term assignment, or a one-time assignment?
  • Decide how you want to assist an organization. Most organizations are very flexible and have many options available for you.
• Am I willing to participate in a training course or do I want to start my volunteer work immediately?
  • Decide if you need or want training or would you like something simple to begin with.
• Which talents or skills do I offer?
  • Do a talent assessment of your skills and talents to better understand what you can offer.
• What would I most like to learn by volunteering?
  • Volunteering offers many new learning experiences that you can and will use throughout your lifetime. For example: saving lives, teaching others new skills or how to read, and many more learning experiences.
• What I  don’t want to do as a volunteer?
  • Do you have an idea of things that you don’t want to do. If you don’t, you might want to make a list of things you don’t want to do. Also, make a list of things that you would be willing to do. If the list of don’t want to do is greater than the list of would do maybe you might not want to volunteer.
• Do I want to work alone or with a group?
  • In many cases volunteering requires group participation. In a few cases working alone will be beneficial to the organization. Example: Being the only network engineer for a non-profit organization.
• With what kind of people do I want to work — both in terms of who is receiving my services and who my co-workers might be?
  • Decide if you can work with various personalities, (grouchy, jokers, etc.) prejudices are best left at home. Would you work to save someone’s life if they just bombed the twin towers?

Thank you for your interest in volunteering with AmerinRio, Inc.