It is the start of a new year, and while we know that New Year’s resolutions never work, it could be the right time to add a new role to your life, as a volunteer. As the new Client Services Coordinator at JMA, I am excited to bring my decades of experience coaching volunteers to higher levels of success to my interactions with our clients. The two are aligned in more ways than you may think.
Why Volunteer?
People volunteer for a variety of reasons, often shaped by personal values, experiences and goals. Volunteerism can take various forms, such as participating in charity work, disaster relief efforts, nonprofit board service, environmental conservation projects, or mentoring programs. Whether you are offering medical services in a developing country or walking dogs at your local animal shelter, there are three key elements of volunteerism:
- Choice: Your participation is voluntary and driven only by your willingness to contribute.
- Community Impact: Your focus is on supporting societal, humanitarian, or environmental goals.
- Personal Growth: You are looking to gain skills, knowledge, and personal satisfaction from your efforts.
Volunteerism offers an opportunity to make a difference while also enriching your own life in meaningful ways.
A Teacher of Leadership Skills
As the Director of Alumni Relations at the University of Chicago Booth School of Business, I worked with the best of the best, just like we do with leaders here at JMA. Booth alumni are incredibly accomplished individuals –rising to great levels of success in life. They are also very thoughtful, analytical, and methodical about where they spend their time and energy. But I have heard repeatedly that once they step into a volunteer role, many of them learn and grow in ways they never expected.
Some alumni may be at an entry-level assistant director position a few years out of their college career. But in the alumni world, there are no limitations. They could be the chairperson of a committee where they must manage a group of people and keep them accountable for deliverables. A common theme I often heard from alumni is that they learned to appeal to others’ motivations because everyone is volunteering.
You cannot recruit a volunteer because of pay or benefits. That is quite different from the corporate world, where you always have leverage because you are the boss, and they are the employee. They do not need motivation because it is their job. But when you are collaborating with volunteers, you must learn how to appeal to another volunteeer’s core interests, values, and motivations. If a volunteer does not want to do something or if the program does not align with their interests, they simply will not participate.
The workplace may not challenge someone to grow and evolve in the same way because it is very structured. You are given a salary to do a job, and you either perform on benchmarks or you do not, whereas volunteers who are open to learning can grow and evolve. The most productive volunteers take these lessons and apply them to other areas of their lives.
A Volunteer Success Story
I once worked with the CFO of a financial organization in Chicago who was, of course, very data driven and analytical. David (not his real name) was reluctant to join the alumni board because he was not sure he had enough time to dedicate to a volunteer job. But he instantly connected with the other board leaders and saw the organization’s need for his skills.
He also quickly learned that he needed to change his strategy to motivate people. He learned how to make an effective request (we break down the six essential components in this article) while appealing to individual motivations. David’s volunteers needed to see why they were being asked to do the tasks he was asking them to do, why they were a good fit, and what the value was for their participation.
All this was happening at a time when David was struggling in his corporate role. When he was let go, he considered quitting the alumni board so he could devote more time to finding a new job. But he saw the value in his volunteer time and how his leadership skills were improving. When he interviewed for his dream job six months later, the interviewers were already sold on the fact that he could do the job based on his credentials and experience. But they needed to evaluate his soft skills and whether he could motivate a group of people around an idea. He got the position, and he came back to me and said he owed the new opportunity all to his volunteer experience that expanded his awareness in how to connect and engage with other people.
Make the Most of your Efforts
Volunteer leaders have a unique opportunity to develop and practice leadership skills in a real-world setting. They learn the value of leading through service, showing that great leaders prioritize the needs of others and work toward a shared goal. Through volunteering, you learn how to inspire and guide others, communicate effectively, lead cross-functionally, and build strong, collaborative teams. It also teaches problem-solving and adaptability, as you often must work with limited resources and navigate unexpected challenges. These are all valuable skills in the professional world.
Volunteering fosters emotional intelligence by helping you understand and empathize with others while also developing self-awareness and resilience. It exposes you to diverse perspectives and encourages inclusive leadership, where everyone feels valued and empowered. Perhaps most importantly, it reinforces the importance of accountability and follow-through, demonstrating that effective leadership is about taking responsibility and delivering results at the same time empowering others to make contributions. These experiences create well-rounded leaders who are prepared to make a meaningful impact in any setting.
Test Drive a Career
Volunteering is also a great vehicle for someone to experiment and try something new and different. In many ways, it is like a playground or a sand box that can help expand your emotional intelligence. You have learned new skills, now it is time to see if you can leverage them and incorporate them into your life.
Perhaps you are considering a career change and want to volunteer your services to an industry-related organization to see if you like the work. Look at boards and (depending on your age and experience) junior boards of organizations in your area.
If you consider non-profit organization board service work, it helps to understand the role of a board versus the staff. The staff execute on a tactical level day in and day out. The board serves as an oversight committee and brings their life and professional experience to the organization. Non-profits, in general, do not have enough time or financial resources, but they have talented, capable people both on staff and as volunteers.
Related: Navigating your Path to the Boardroom
Shout your Volunteer Experience from the Rooftops
If you do decide to volunteer, that experience should be listed on your resume. When I worked in alumni relations, I hired people to manage volunteers so, of course, I was looking for volunteer experience. But I still look for it on every resume that crosses my desk today.
When I see someone is claiming their volunteer experience, it shows that they are charitable in nature and that is an excellent quality to have among team members. Volunteers give their time to organizations in need and that charitable spirit is something that I want on any team. If you do not claim your real-world work skills that come from volunteer experiences, you are short-changing yourself.
I know many people who have paused their careers for a point to raise children. They worry about the gap in employment on their resume, but that may not be as big of a challenge as you think. Many of these parents join the PTA, some are fundraisers extraordinaire, and others spend time in the classrooms helping teachers. Some may manage their church, or serveice on civic boards and commissions helping to govern their communities. All this experience belongs on your resume. If you do not claim it, you are missing an opportunity to tell the story of who you are as a person, who you are as a spirit, and how well rounded your life experiences are.
Could you use some help telling your story in your resume and online profiles? JMA has a Certified Professional Resume Writer on staff who has experience writing resumes for a myriad of positions, levels, industries, and volunteer work.