By: Trevor Blair, Workforce Development Manager, Manpower, San Diego
The reality of today’s career paradigm is that work is not a rigid social structure and activity. The time, location, and relationships defining what we call “work” are becoming more and more fluid: sometimes you’ll work full-time, sometimes part-time, sometimes you’ll be paid, and sometimes not. In this article, we discuss why the most valuable work opportunities are sometimes the ones that pay the least (or even don’t pay at all). Depending on your financial situation, the idea of taking an “unpaid job” may sound ludicrous. However, the following should give you reason to reconsider: volunteering, or taking an unpaid internship, can open a wealth of career opportunities that you would never otherwise come across. It just requires you to rethink your definition of compensation. With a good volunteer experience or internship, you are actually getting “paid” in other highly valuable ways.
Selecting the Right Volunteer Opportunities
While volunteering for the sake of providing a service to the community is a wonderful and commendable thing, that’s not what we’re talking about here. The volunteer opportunities on your radar need to be stepping stones or door openers for your next career step. Your time, whether paid or unpaid, is valuable. And every minute you spend volunteering, is another minute you could be researching companies or networking. The opportunity cost is very real, so make your selections carefully. While you do need to believe in the organization and enjoy the people around you, the work itself must be worthy of your experience and talents. Chances are, that’s not ladling soup or stuffing envelopes. Board seats sound impressive, and they can provide amazing networking opportunities, but keep in mind that many require a financial commitment. If that’s not for you, try to identify roles in the organization that will give you exposure to both senior management and board members. Ideally, you will make such an amazing impression on them that they will gladly open their rolodexes for you.
Staying in the Game
Numerous studies have shown that the longer you are out of work, the more difficult it is to find work again. Skills become outdated, professional networks go cold, and in effect, you lose your “edge.” However, you can reverse this slide by finding challenging, meaningful volunteer work. Volunteering can quite seriously keep your career moving forward – you’re meeting new people, acquiring training, learning new skills, and continuing to develop yourself personally and professionally.
It Doesn’t Have to Be Full-Time…Nor Should It
One of the best things about volunteering is that you can list the experience on your resume just as you would any paid position, but rarely will the recruiter ask exactly how many hours per week you spent there. It’s like getting credit for working full-time, when the actual volunteering may have only amounted to just a few hours a week. (Note: always answer truthfully if asked your actual number of hours, although the likelihood that you will need to provide that number is not high). Just how many hours per week should you allocate to your unpaid volunteer/ internship efforts? Enough that you take advantage of all of the learning and networking opportunities that they afford, yet not at the expense of your job search activities. Unless you have virtually zero outside commitments (family, health, etc.) and only sleep two hours a night, I would suggest no more than twenty hours per week for volunteering. Remember, you still have a full-time job, and that is getting a job!
Free Training
While most nonprofits can’t afford to send their volunteers on expensive training courses, you will no doubt require some instruction as you come into the organization and role. Chances are this will come through what we call on-the-job training and mentoring. These informal training opportunities can in fact be more impactful than formal courses, as you’re learning directly from a colleague, and the instruction is catered to you. Most importantly, you can probably ask all of the questions that you want. Soak it up! Learn as many new skills as you can. Gain exposure to all areas of the organization, but remember, running a nonprofit is in many ways like running a business. Be sure to find a mentor – someone with skills and experience in an area important to your career. Sit down with that individual at the outset, and explain not only what you can offer the organization in that role, but also, what you hope to gain, and how they can assist your job search. Volunteering should be a two-way, mutually beneficial relationship between you and the organization.
Safe Environment in Which to Take Some Risks
Although you’re a volunteer, you still need to give your role 110%. Establish clear expectations with your managers as to your weekly time commitment, and then pour your best into every hour that you’re “on the job.” This is also a safe environment in which to take some risks that you might not otherwise take in a paid position, especially when you’re the new kid on the block. Now let’s be clear about what we mean by risk: never, EVER do anything that would compromise the organization or your professional integrity in any way. We define risk as an opportunity to step outside of your comfort zone. If you’ve never had any experience in HR, volunteer to assist on a search committee. Do you need some sales or marketing experience? Ask if you can work with the nonprofit’s Business Development Director. You have much to learn, and your enthusiasm and inquisitiveness will hopefully be appreciated.
Volunteering as an Experience Accelerator
Since nonprofit organizations have to run very lean on staffing, you may have opportunities to assume higher level duties than you would otherwise normally be assigned if you were working in a larger, private sector entity. Less structure and management hierarchy may also afford you the opportunity to move around the business more easily than if you were working in a big firm with formal procedures in place for every single little thing. Experience as much as you can, get a copy of the org chart, and network your way across every division. You may discover that you have interests and talents in areas that you had never even considered.
Plugging the Gaps
The following is one of the most awkward (and deadly) conversations in an interview:
Recruiter: I see you have a two year gap here on your resume. What have you been doing since you left your last position?
Job seeker: Oh, nothing really. I’ve been looking for work the whole time.
Result: You just shot yourself in the foot. You’re damaged goods. And, I don’t mean the fact that you’ve been out of work for two years. It’s an extremely tough job market out there. For highly specialized occupations and senior management roles, the gap between paid positions can be significant. Good recruiters know this, so don’t hold that against yourself. In this example, the fact that this person has been unemployed for two years wasn’t a deal breaker. After all, they did make it to the interview stage (let’s assume the recruiter did their homework and at least took a few minutes to review the resume). The red flag went up when it became obvious that this person didn’t take the initiative to use that time for personal development, like obtaining a quality volunteer or internship opportunity, going back to school, or ideally some combination of the two. Instead, show that recruiter that you’re proactive and determined, with all of the additional skills and experience that you’ve been accumulating since your last job!
Using Your Volunteer Experience in an Interview
There are two ways to list your volunteer experience on your resume. If you haven’t been out of work very long, then you may want to include a separate section at the back, immediately following your last paid position. Title this section something along the lines of “Volunteer Positions,” or “Community Involvement.” Alternatively, if you’ve had some time since your last position, list it right at the top of your paid positions. Since these will be listed chronologically anyway, it makes sense for it to be the first on the list. (Note: DON’T EVER use a functional resume. That format is incredibly tedious for a recruiter to tease apart, and won’t score you any points. We need to see what you were doing, when you were doing it, and with which employer. A functional resume also covers up gaps in employment. When I see a functional resume, I can’t help but think that the applicant has something to hide). Whichever format you choose, treat the volunteer roles exactly as you do all the other paid positions on your resume. It should give a very brief description of the organization, and list responsibilities and accomplishments that you had during your time there. I encourage every job seeker to list their volunteer experience on their resume; it shows you’re compassionate, you’re engaged in your community, and you have much to offer. In addition, managers viewing your resume may have been impacted by the work that organization does. Imagine how powerful of an ice breaker/ relationship builder you would have if you volunteered for the American Cancer Society, which happened to fund a study that led to a breakthrough that led to a new treatment that saved the life of the mother of the recruiter that you’re about to interview with. You two now have a lot of great stuff to talk about.
Feel free to contact me with your thoughts at: tblair@manpower-sd.com.
