Want to boost your CV?
The 19th-25th of February this year is Student Volunteering Week and to celebrate we are going to have a look at how volunteering can help you boost your CV and enhance your personal statements for applying to university. The Student Volunteering Week is a national scheme to encourage students all across the UK to get involved in a huge variety of volunteering projects. Many colleges and universities are signed up to the programme however you do not need to be signed up to start getting involved in volunteering projects.
Volunteering is a win-win situation
Being a volunteer is hugely beneficial in many ways. Firstly, it is a great opportunity to give back to your local community and meet new people. There are so many volunteering options all over the UK for you to get involved with. Whether you want to help out in the local countryside or work with the people in your community there are loads of options. Secondly, you will enhance your CV and personal statement due to all the skills you will gain by being a volunteer. It really is a win-win situation for everyone involved.
Skills to be gained
When we talk about the skills you can gain as a volunteer, there are too many to list completely. However we will look at three of the main ones which you can add to your CV or talk about in interviews.
Time management
Being able to juggle your school work with your social life and volunteering shows you are an organised person and can effectively manage your time. This is a very important skill for university and in all jobs.
Confidence
You will naturally build your self-confidence when taking part in a volunteering project. You will be talking to lots of new people of all ages and backgrounds and you will be given individual responsibilities or tasks and in completing these your confidence will grow more and more. You may not think of confidence as a skill but it is definitely something which you can develop and improve and you will find it comes in very useful when applying yourself to something new.
Team working
As a volunteer you will be working for an organisation or with a group of people on a particular project. Being able to work well within a team of different people is a hugely beneficial skill which you will use throughout your whole life.
How to get started?
With all those benefits and skills why not become a volunteer? If you are interested in getting involved it is really easy to find opportunities. You can do a simple google search or even speak to your school to see if they have any links or projects on-going already. I had a quick look for volunteering opportunities in Sheffield at https://do-it.org/opportunities/search and found loads of options that you can filter down to ones which best suit you.
Have a look for yourself and happy volunteering!
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Categories: Information.