What can volunteering do for you?

Sure, volunteering is great for your community and makes the world a better place; but could it actually make a positive impact on your life, too?

Whether you want to improve your CV with new skills, meet new people or just feel good about yourself, TimeBank can hook you up with a volunteer opportunity that could change your life for the better.

“ It was a real confidence builder, knowing I could think on my feet. ”

–Winnie Parker, volunteer and technical marketing engineer

Build your confidence

Many volunteers encounter a variety of new challenges when they begin giving time in their communities. Sharing new experiences with new people, they can learn new skills that can give them confidence to face challenges in other areas of their lives.

Introduce you to new friends

There’s no better place to meet likeminded individuals than through volunteering for a campaign or cause you believe in. Working together to bring about a change is a great way to bond with others and become part of a community that can stay in touch long after your work is done. Plus, you could meet people from a diverse range of backgrounds – people you may never come across in your daily life.

Create more fun in your life

Many volunteers are surprised at how much fun it can be to help others. Not every volunteer experience is the same, but by finding an opportunity that matches your interests, you have a good chance of having fun while giving time.

Improve your health

There is evidence that volunteering can improve your health. In “The Healing Power of Doing Good”, writer Allan Luks found medical and scientific documentation supporting the health benefits of volunteering, such as:

" Volunteering gave me first hand experience of what caring for patients actually involved and how challenging a job in medicine could be."

–Sophia Naz, doctor
  • a heightened sense of well-being
  • an improvement in insomnia
  • a stronger immune system
  • speedier recovery from surgery

Boost your career options

A survey carried out by TimeBank through Reed Executive showed that among 200 of the UK’s leading businesses:

  • 73% of employers would employ a candidate with volunteering experience over one without
  • 94% of employers believe that volunteering can add to skills
  • 58% say that voluntary work experience can actually be more valuable than experience gained in paid employment
  • 94% of employees who volunteered to learn new skills had benefited either by getting their first job, improving their salary, or being promoted.

Additionally, volunteering lets you roadtest different kinds of work, giving you handson experience of how different professions operate.

" Volunteering helped me decide that teaching really is the career for me."

- Daisy Craig, psychology student

Volunteering can bring you into contact with all kinds of professionals and people from every walk of life. In fact, the networking opportunities it can provide are among the least publicised but most exciting benefits of all. A good network can guide your career pathway right through life and help you take giant steps towards your ideal job.

Up to 60% of job vacancies are not advertised and end up being filled internally or through external networking.

If you are already working, volunteering can help you change your career direction.

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