by Doreen Martel

Created on: June 21, 2009

Volunteer work can help you expand and develop skills that you can easily transfer to your career. Let's take a look at some of the skills that can be developed as a volunteer and how those skills can transfer to your career.

Leadership

Almost all volunteers share a common bond of developing leaders. Whether it's a local civic group such as a Lions Club or Rotary Club, your local PTA or Scout Troop, they all need volunteers who are willing to step up to leadership positions. This presents an interesting opportunity for you to develop your leadership skills. This can help you a great deal in your career since you will be someone that others will follow.

Organization

Regardless of what type of volunteer work you do, you'll have to be highly organized. From fund-raisers to service projects, each event must be planned to ensure that there is not only enough money to donate, but also requires careful planning of other volunteers to work at a project. Organizational skills are transferable regardless of your career path, as we all must be organized to get our work done on a daily basis.

Interpersonal Skills

If you are volunteering you are going to have to work with other people on committees, on projects and even within the organization. This means that you'll be dealing with people at all levels of the organization and your interpersonal skills will become more finely tuned. This can help you overcome difficulties in communicating with co-workers or bosses. Your interpersonal skills can often mean the difference of succeeding or failing in your job.

Public Speaking

Most volunteer work is going to require you to provide information to others in your group. This is often done by providing verbal reports at meetings or giving direction at events. This can help increase your public speaking skills, making you a far more valuable employee or employer. Public speaking is perhaps one aspect of volunteer work that most people overlook.

Summary

There are thousands of opportunities for people to volunteer. Understanding how your volunteer work can help you to expand and develop your skills can mean that you'll be a better volunteer. Don't overlook the value of civic and community involvement when you are filling out your resume. Carefully review all of the skills you have developed during your volunteer work and include them. Most volunteers are those who give selflessly of their time, energy and efforts. Do not underestimate the value of your volunteer work to your community, to those you serve, or to your personal goals.

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