How can you use your volunteer or internship experiences to advance your career?

Identifying your goals is a very important step as highlighted, something another step which I think should be a prerequisite to this step is asking questions. Many of the times many of the people just think that things are the way they're maybe because of the way other people or the media portrays it to be, unknown to us there's a lot more to this. I am not saying this to instigate fear, but to make the individual know exactly know what he/she is getting into.

What do you want to learn? If you have specific outcomes in mind, it's easier to gauge where you are in the process of learning. When you feel confident in your personal process of learning, it's easier to explain your value to others.

Do your best job as a volunteer, go deep, leave pockets of greatness however small a task, you soon enough become Unforgettable, in demand and the most wanted team member. Maintain this attitude as you will have triggered a talent war by those who discover you. In not long a time, with your focus on quality, money will follow you . Stop looking for the next job. Just do amazing work every day where you are volunteering. Greatness will pursue you by itself.

When thinking about skills it is important to think of the tangible tactical skills and also the soft skills. It is easy to look at a specific experience and see at face value what the skill however the golden nugget is often hidden in the transferable skills learned. For example, you offered to organize the school winter celebration which you thought could demonstrate your organizational skills yet you are also demonstrating, project management, communications, marketing, budget management, stakeholder engagement etc.

This is something a step that is very important. One very important thing this step does is to make you accountable in your learning process. Often we feel relaxed or lazy to carry out some task, but remembering that you have publicly announced that you are taking this challenge up in the public will make you shake your self off and continue. This does not mean that the individual does not know when to take a break,of course he or she does.

Networks are more important than skills in both the early and late stages of your career. At the beginning, you can select from a variety of skills, but your network will largely shape the extent of your opportunities. At the later stages of your career, when your skills are more mature, your network will (hopefully) have expanded and will become important in terms of sharing the skills you have acquired with others.

Take advantage of opportunities to showcase your talent. Many internships offer a capstone project. You will want to do your best on this as the company will give you the opportunity to present your project in front of senior leaders of the company.

Over my 20 years in the "Construction industry", opportunities and volunteering for what no one else would do has excelled my career with multiple backgrounds. When you learn something new ask questions. Do your work at 100%, communicate and learn what's best practice & stay away from previous project downfalls or "lessons learned". Safety-first of your team and self is always #1, never sacrifice safety for any reason. When you take on a new, take responsibility, own it and communicate with your team. Keep a journal of what your doing, communications in meetings and with team members. Log safety issues and lessons learned from this new work you took on. Great for end of year review conversations.

?My first bit of advice would be to take a step back and not be overwhelmed. Your time is valuable only volunteer it if you are able. ?You are not only working in a role, but learning in a completely different environment. Add into the mix the pressure of making the most of it all, it's a lot! ?Experiences you pick up will be invaluable. You might not even realise fully until later. ?Mindset is everything, of course try your best and show willingness to grow but if goals don't align there will be other opportunities out there.

My internships helped me shaped the direction I wanted to go in with my career. I tried different industries and took advantage of the opportunity to not only explore the responsibilities and career paths I could potentially have, but also explore the company culture. You spend most of your awake hours at work, it’s important to find an environment where you can thrive.

Testing is one of the most important aspects of internships and volunteer experiences. View every experience as a binary test: "Would I do more of this?" For the "no" answers, move on and try something else. If you find a "yes," then you have something to explore!

Go from internship to side hustle to new career. Internship is a great way to test drive a career (or a sector) you are interested in but you are afraid to take the step towards it in "real life". Watch Bill Burnett and Dave Evans insightful contributions in Ted Talks about the steps to designing the life you want. Test driving is the smart way to do it!

Exploring different fields lies in areas where you put minimal effort into achieving a goal, or better still something that interests you a lot while you do it. Before now, I loved electronics a lot, but I noticed that I really struggled with te practical concepts, but I was strong when it came to theory. One day, I decided to try out writing codes (Arduino), and I noticed I loved that part more. So I decided to concentrate more on writing codes. The more I typed, the more I enjoyed it, and this was the beginning of my journey as a software developer. I also love teaching. So for now I continue to pursue my career as a software developer and make plans to study core electronics for my Masters and prepare to become a lecturer.

Experience of any kind, even that which is not a full-time job, is applicable to work. Yes, a broad and bold statement, but it's very much true. Too often, when I'm coaching students, I realize how much they underestimate themselves. I try to reinforce for them: EVERYTHING you've been through up until today serves some purpose going into your endeavors tomorrow. What people need is for someone to help them translate those experiences into the lessons and skills they have taken away but not yet realized. That assessment and realization leads to wisdom. Don't leave it on the table. Take it with you.

Aside from the tangible skills an individual can learn or exposure to a specific industry the network you can gain from a volunteer or internship is invaluable and should be cultivated as a professional asset.