What do you do if you want to boost your career prospects through nonprofit volunteering?

Volunteering is a good opportunity to choose a niche that fits the boarder vision you have for your career. When I started volunteering I picked mental health based organisations the roles included research, campaigning, advocacy and more. They helped me network and build a portfolio for research based work. Today at T&F India; we work at the intersection of multiple SDGs, and all our volunteers can then pick projects based on the niche that fits their career trajectory.

Volunteering for nonprofits brings satisfaction and can significantly enhance your career prospects. It gives you an opportunity to develop several skills that include leadership, project management, and teamwork, which are skills highly sought after by employers and needed for community growth. Additionally, volunteering demonstrates your commitment to social responsibility and community involvement. To maximize the impact on your career, consider volunteering in areas relevant to your field of interest or desired career path while finding ways to help the community. If available and possible, consider taking on leadership roles within the organization to showcase your leadership abilities.

One thing I found helpful in developing corporate volunteer strategies was ensuring our employees who wanted to serve on a non-profit understood how to select the non-profit not only from the point of passion but also from a skill-development perspective. It's essential to bring your strengths to add value to the community and look at developing new skills that you want to create but are out of scope in your current role. In this way, the company can leverage skill-based volunteering as part of learning and development. The employee can learn new skills outside their current job duties while bringing much-needed resources to serve their community.

The times when a volunteer effort have helped my career are when I was sure that I was supporting the organization as a specialist. Offer to do what you are good at and what you want to be recognized for and the gig becomes a resume builder, relationship builder, and skill builder.

Building relationships among community non-profits as a professional is one of the best ways to establish your network. As a Community Relations leader, I served on many non-profit boards, which helped me develop a broad network across the Washington, DC, community, identify professional opportunities, and forge lasting relationships of mutual respect and support. As a leader, I mentored and coached other emerging career leaders on building their careers by establishing a strong network from the organizations where they volunteer; this also established the corporate brand for the company, fostering visibility to their customers and clients.

The bottom line for career development through non-profit volunteering is flexibility. So l advise young people to grab whatever volunteering opportunities are available to them. My experience in non-profit volunteering is that the opportunity to choose the organisations that align with your goals depends on the context. Some contexts have limited employment opportunities, and you don't have to be idle waiting for an institution which aligns with your goals to be established. As for me, l first grabbed what was at my disposal, and the forces of nature and innate motivation drove me to where l am today. The first entry to volunteering will give you the opportunity to network with others, from which you hone your innate abilities for success.