Uptree

Volunteering: an introduction

Hello everyone and a big welcome to the world of volunteering! My name is Georgi Minchev and I’m a first-year Law student at the University of Leeds. I’m also an Uptree Ambassador and aspire to qualify as a solicitor. The industry I wish to enter is often known for the pro-bono work it carries out, including volunteering – the subject of this blog. I will take you through what volunteering is, why it may be of use to you and point you towards places where you can find and research volunteering opportunities.

What do I mean by volunteering? Volunteering is the unpaid and self-initiated act of doing something for others. As I explore volunteering in greater depth, I’ll include a personal example of my own - volunteering for the Leeds Welfare Appeals & Tribunal Clinic to give you a better perspective.

Whilst my volunteering experience is expressly relevant to the legal industry, it’ll be of good use to you in illustrating how you can align it with your junior professional development.

Benefits of volunteering

I’ve grouped the benefits of volunteering into five main areas:

Building an arsenal of skills
Volunteering will not only supplement your knowledge through exposure to new resources, but also help you to build upon your skills in a professional work environment. Ad-hoc learning demonstrates, above all, that you're an adaptable individual. In my case, the Welfare Appeals & Tribunal Clinic helped me to sharpen my skills of building rapport with clients, to understand how different social benefits operate and to draft appeal submissions. Sometimes, if you proactively request it, you may also receive feedback for improvements on your volunteering work.

Becoming more employable
We’ll go beyond stating the obvious that volunteering strengthens your CV and LinkedIn profile and instead take a more commercial outlook between this activity and your business prospects. Nowadays, the legal industry (as well as other sectors of the economy) strive to engage local communities in a personal way to align with their values and concerns. Volunteering lifts a business’ reputation and standing amongst clients, as well as helping to nurture their employee network. If you’re able to showcase that you’re already familiar with this, your prospective employers will value your volunteering experience and business maturity.

Volunteering may also provide the opportunity to build references. For instance, if I were to apply to the Citizens Advice Bureau again, having had someone working there supervise me would mean that their appraisal of my performance could help my application to stand out. Similarly, for those of you who may be in the process of applying to universities, your UCAS personal statement could be made more persuasive by mentioning volunteering.

Expanding your network
Be it with organisers, local residents or fellow peers, it’s inevitable that volunteering will help you to build your professional network. Before enrolling in the Welfare Appeals & Tribunal Clinic project, I liaised with two academics from my university who were in charge of overseeing the recruitment process. Throughout the project itself, I also made ties with 16 other like-minded volunteers and several local inhabitants, who were my clients.

The moral side of volunteering
Volunteering is majorly reliant on one’s good will and enthusiasm for the cause, so including this in your CV will help demonstrate these qualities to employers (morality is a quality valued in many industries). However, it’s also a type of civic duty – for instance, when I joined the new community in Leeds, I felt that it was reasonable that the chance given to me to pursue better education was met proportionately by servicing those on the downside of that curve. Volunteering can also give you a boost of self-esteem and can allow one to discover or affirm the principles they advocate for.

Saving resources
Although this may not directly impact you, the financial alleviation of volunteering supports organisations on a limited budget or charitable funding. Saving costs on wages and recruitment means that the organisation can direct its capital to helping more people, which could well be your friends or a relative of yours.

Where can I find volunteering opportunities?

Regardless of your level of study, the first place to head to may well be your educational institution. School and university careers teams often share volunteering vacancies with local businesses/organisations. Furthermore, when transitioning into university life, be mindful that opportunities for volunteering may sometimes be advertised within residence halls, so staying up to date with these is not to be underestimated.

Whilst the above may be somewhat age and area-specific, governmental structures, (e.g. local councils) offer an abundance of volunteering roles for a broader number of people. Your online search should be orientated around a key phrase from the likes of ‘Leeds County Council – volunteering’ or ‘Volunteering opportunities within the local Leeds government’.

Special websites combining volunteering vacancies are also recommended because they have good filtering systems and guidance on volunteering. VolunteerMatch, Reach Volunteering and The National Council for Voluntary Organisations are few of the many online platforms you can begin exploring.

Finally, if you are certain as to what type of volunteering you seek to do, why not contact a particular organisation directly? Whilst larger organisations, e.g. UNICEF UK or the British Red Cross, usually advertise roles quite actively, smaller Non-Governmental Organisations or businesses may just require one extra call or email before offering you a volunteering place.

In conclusion, volunteering is an important part of your student life and early career development. If you find the opportunity to become a volunteer – do not let a second thought cross your mind. Should you have any troubles finding volunteering positions – use the guidance above as assistance in your search. Best of luck and enjoy your volunteering time!

Uptree thanks Georgi for taking the time to share insights and advice on volunteering. Why not find out what to include in your LinkedIn profile?