why do you volunteer?

^^
I started volunteering for work experience when I was 15 in a charity shop and have volunteered since, I did it to help my confidence and I'm now a much more confident person because of it. why do you volunteer?

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Reply 1

Notoriety

Advancement of course.

Reply 2

CoolCavy

Volunteer Team

I Volunteer on here because it's nice to help people and makes me feel productive in the absence of being able to find a job

Reply 3

Themysticalegg

I gave mock interviews to students aged 15-18 for a Welsh Government initiative. It was a win-win situation as it helped the kids who were able build up their confidence with interviews but I also gave them feedback on what they could have done better. It was very interesting you had those who really didn't give a c*** and those who were actually terrified! But I'm glad most of them took it quite seriously and some even opened up quite a lot about their fears and stuff, so I tried my best to reassure these kids who are literally the future of the country. So they can understand to an extent what they can expect from an interview when they're older for university/work. For me I could network with employees at local organisations who volunteered their time as well and I got free lunch. :biggrin:

I also opened up some of my graduate interviews about the irony that my volunteering was based on interviewing people, which made a lot of them laugh. :biggrin:

(edited 4 years ago)

Reply 4

JT_888

Have been a FH (formerly known as CA) for 2 years now for Study Help Forum and I just do it out of the love of helping people and it's something I can add to my list of experiences too. :smile:

Reply 5

claireestelle

Original post by CoolCavy

I Volunteer on here because it's nice to help people and makes me feel productive in the absence of being able to find a job

You can put it on your CV as well, being on tsr really helped me feel a bit better before I quit my job, going to give me something to do whilst i find my next one too :smile:

Original post by Themysticalegg

I also opened up some of my graduate interviews about the irony that my volunteering was based on interviewing people, which made a lot of them laugh. :biggrin:

That's a brilliant thing to do to help young people, i think we need mock interviews to be much more common to help people get jobs.

Original post by CoffeeAndPolitics

Have been a FH (formerly known as CA) for 2 years now for Study Help Forum and I just do it out of the love of helping people and it's something I can add to my list of experiences too. :smile:

TSR is definitely a wonderful volunteering experience , i think helping people is so fulfilling.

Reply 6

江山此刻波澜壮阔

What type of volunteering do you do now?

Reply 7

JT_888

Original post by claireestelle

You can put it on your CV as well, being on tsr really helped me feel a bit better before I quit my job, going to give me something to do whilst i find my next one too :smile:

TSR is definitely a wonderful volunteering experience , i think helping people is so fulfilling.

I agree with putting it on your CV - I have included it as part of experience on my Linkedin profile. On the subject of volunteering, it's definitely a wonderful experience and I wholeheartedly agree that helping people is so fulfilling. :smile:

Reply 8

claireestelle

Original post by CoffeeAndPolitics

linkedin is the one thing i've never gotten the hang of.

Reply 9

harrysbar

I've volunteered at a primary school in the past helping children learn to read.

I wasn't really being altuistic I was spying on my kids, but it was surprisingly rewarding

Reply 10

londonmyst

To help the survivors of rape and honour abuse access the support that they need to rebuild their lives.
Or get through the criminal trial of the culprit/s and the aftermath.

Reply 11

FutureMissMRCS

To put it on my personal statement :biggrin:

Reply 12

marinade

Because other people would do the same for me.

Reply 13

MillennialX

Original post by claireestelle

Builds up your CV.

Reply 14

Drewski

I benefited from others doing it when I was younger, I have the skillset, experience and time to give back, so I do.

It's not on my CV.

But since doing it I've had two promotions at work and now earn £11k more than I did when I started.

Reply 15

江山此刻波澜壮阔

Original post by londonmyst

To help the survivors of rape and honour abuse access the support that they need to rebuild their lives.
Or get through the criminal trial of the culprit/s and the aftermath.

Wow！You are wonderful!
I`m helping suicidal girls.
Are you boy or girl yourself? How old are you?

Reply 16

Spanx

It's because sometimes it's nicer to help strangers who don't have a support network and don't expect the world to be anything but sh**ty.

Providing someone with unexpected help or hope is a small thing for you and a massive thing for them so why wouldn't you volunteer?

:smile:

Reply 17

londonmyst

Original post by 江山此刻波澜壮阔

Wow！You are wonderful!
I`m helping suicidal girls.
Are you boy or girl yourself? How old are you?

Thanks.
I'm a girl, 24.

Reply 18

The_Lonely_Goatherd

I've done quite a bit of volunteering over the years, with different motivations for each one!

Sixth Form volunteering

This we didn't have a choice about :lol:

We had to spend one hour a week giving back to the community in some form or another at my school, as part of our enrichment programme. There wasn't an Italian speaking assistant at the time for the GCSE Italian classes. I'd got an A* at GCSE Italian and wanted to keep up my Italian speaking skills, so I volunteered with my former Italian teacher, doing speaking activities with students and practising their little speeches with them. It was great fun and nice to feel good at something that wasn't music-related :colondollar:

This volunteering taught me a huge life lesson, so I'm glad I did it. Beforehand I'd been quite an academic snob and thought I'd enjoy working most with the kids who were aiming for As and A*s (bear in mind this was in 2005-2007, so way before the numbers system). But actually the most rewarding volunteering I did was working with a really unconfident student who didn't have a natural flair for languages. She was predicted a D in Italian overall but I think I heard that she got a C in the end! I was very proud of her :yep:

So doing that volunteering showed me the importance of everyone doing their personal best, rather than just getting the best grade possible :yes:

Oxford Access Scheme

This was the first thing I went hunting for at my Freshers' Fair in 2007 when I arrived at Oxford. I had applied successfully after being given help by the Oxford Access Scheme (which, in those days, was a student-run initiative), and wanted to give other state-school students the chances I'd been given. I did student shadowing schemes, e-mentoring schemes, and volunteered at college, Faculty and BAME open days :yes:

I was also in the Oxford Interviews booklet one year :awesome:

TSR PS Review

I think I've been doing this since, like, November 2008 (on-and-off) :eek:

I do it for a few reasons:

- to help applicants make the best impression possible on their universities
- to demonstrate useful, transferable skills in my own CV
- to put my rather tough experience of Oxford to some greater good, so that it feels like it was worth it all :redface:

Mock Oxbridge interviewing

Been doing this since autumn 2011 :eek:

I do this to level the playing field for the state school applicants (who get free interview practice with the company I volunteer with) and to raise money for charity (I never see my "earnings" from this, as they go directly to whatever charity I nominate). Over the years, I've probably raised and donated approximately £4,500-£5,000 for charity - something which I'm proud of, because I have no money in daily life to donate to charities :colondollar:

Again, it's also helpful in healing my Oxford wounds and having them serve some greater good :moon:

Church volunteering

I was doing this because the priest who was supporting me from 2011-2016 wasn't actually my own parish priest. So I felt bad for taking up his time, even though he never made me feel bad. I thought the best way to show him my appreciation was to volunteer at his church. So I was a confirmation catechist (confirmation classes "teacher" lol) for about 4 years! Some top banter in those classes :rofl:

:jebus:

Mental health volunteering

I did this for 15 months with my local borough Mind. Me and other people with lived experience of mental health issues, were trained to go into youth settings for people aged 8-25, to talk to them about mental wellbeing and mindfulness. This was a personal challenge for me because it involved public speaking and presenting: two of my worst nightmares. I wanted to see whether I could do it when it was about something I was so passionate about. And I did really well in it! :awesome:

Helped me get quite a few jobs in the past 2 years too :awesome:

Reply 19

bones-mccoy

I started volunteering in order to get experience to get a paid job, ended up with a bunch of skills that I'd have never learned from anything else - both social skills and skills for the workplace. I actually became a relief manager for the organisation which was a paid role but eventually had to move on as I wasn't getting enough hours. Still the most chilled out and easiest job I've had to this day.

Now I volunteer to gain some experience in the sector I want to work in which has helped my Masters applications so much. I love knowing I'm helping a group of people who are seen as "bad" by society and will struggle to find help elsewhere. It's very rewarding to see the change in individuals in a system that does little to help them.