Volunteering has a number of key benefits, from improving your wellbeing, building your CV through to contributing to a community, that make the activity rewarding for everyone involved.
In relation to the individual, volunteering provides a lot of personal benefits. It has been proved that volunteering contributes to your physical and mental wellbeing. Exploring your own passions through working in an area that really interests you will help increase your confidence and self-esteem. Volunteering also helps to reduce stress and anxiety, combat depression and keeps you mentally stimulated as it allows you to take part in a meaningful project that gives you a sense of purpose. It is also a great way to meet people from a wide range of different social and cultural backgrounds and make new friends.
Volunteering can also help you gain valuable work experience in which you develop and improve skills and knowledge that strengthens your CV through getting positive references. The resulting skills such as problem-solving, leadership and teamwork along with many others make you stand out from the crowd with employers during interviews. Indeed, studies show that employers value volunteering experiences on a CV when recruiting candidates. Volunteering can thus help you become more employable and increase your career prospects.
But not only does volunteering benefit the volunteers, but it also enhances the organisations recruiting them and the community they are active in. Volunteers have a real impact on the organisation as they facilitate the development and delivery of services to the community in a more efficient and effective way. They also bring a more diverse range of skills, knowledge and ideas that help organisations adapt and improve. In addition, volunteers can use their personal skills and experience to support people in most need in the community and make a difference in their lives.
