By Jeff Altman, The Big Game Hunter
EP 3066 There is a very good reason not to dismiss getting volunteer experience.
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Welcome to the explainer. You know, in today’s job market, everyone’s looking for that special something, that little edge. Well, today we’re going to dig into a seriously powerful tool that honestly, most people just don’t think about, but it could be the very thing that helps you land your next great role.
Does this one hit a little close to home? Yeah. Maybe you’re fresh out of school or you’re jumping back into the workforce after taking some time off, or hey, maybe you just have a chunk of time on your resume that you’re not really sure how to explain. It’s a super common worry, but what if I told you there’s a way to fill that space with something employers find really, really valuable.
And this brings us right to that classic problem, something I call the experience paradox. Oh, you’ve been there, right? You need experience to get a job, but you need a job to get experience. It feels like this impossible, totally frustrating circle you can’t get out of.
So that’s the real question, isn’t it? When your application feels like just one piece of paper in a giant stack, how do you actually make it stand out? More importantly, how do you break that paradox and prove to someone that you’ve got what it takes? Well, the answer might just be something you’ve kind of overlooked or maybe even written off as not being real experience. It’s an answer that really challenges the old school way of thinking about what actually counts when you’re building a career. Look, we can talk all day about what we think should count, but at the end of the day, the only thing that matters is what the people doing the hiring actually believe.
So what’s the real story? What do they see when they’re sifting through all those resumes? And here it is. This is the game changer, and it’s backed by hard data from LinkedIn. Get this, a full 41% of employers, they see volunteer experience as being almost as valuable as paid work experience.
Just let that number sink in for a second, 41%. We are not talking about a tiny fraction here. That is nearly half of all hiring managers who are looking at volunteer work and seeing real, concrete, valuable skills.
And to see it visually like this, you get it. This isn’t just some fringe opinion. That’s a huge slice of the pie.
It means there’s a massive group of employers out there who are ready to take your volunteer experience seriously. Okay, so we know a ton of employers value it. The next logical question is, why, right? What is it about volunteering that they see as being so important? Let’s actually break down the strategic benefits that make this such a killer career move.
You know, when you really boil it down, this is why it works. The two absolute cornerstones of building a career, developing your skills and growing your network, they happen in both places. The setting might be different, sure, but the valuable results, they’re exactly the same.
So this all comes down to two really clear and powerful things. Number one, you gain actual tangible skills. And number two, you grow your professional network.
Let’s take a closer look at both of those. First up, gaining skills. And hey, this is not just about the warm and fuzzy feeling you get from helping out.
I’m talking about developing real resume-worthy abilities that companies are actively looking for. Think about it for a sec. Are you helping to organize a local food drive? That’s not just helping, that’s project coordination.
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Are you training a new group of volunteers? That’s leadership and teamwork. Trying to get a local business to donate supplies? Boom, that’s communication and problem-solving. These are the exact keywords that jump out on a resume.
So skills are obviously huge, but you know the old saying, it’s not just what you know, it’s who you know. And that brings us to the second massive benefit, growing your network. Volunteering puts you in the same room with driven, passionate, and often really well-connected people.
You could be working right alongside a respected community leader, other people who are just as passionate as you are, or maybe even a senior manager from a company you’ve been dreaming of working at. You honestly never know when a connection you make while volunteering turns into your next big break. And all of this leads to a really cool idea, strategic volunteering.
See, this isn’t just about giving your time to any old cause, it’s about being smart. It’s about looking at an opportunity and asking yourself, okay, what specific skills can I get here? Who can I meet that’s going to help me get to my next step? It’s a total mindset shift. So here’s the bottom line.
We have to stop thinking about volunteering as just a placeholder or just something to do to fill up time. When you do it with a purpose, it becomes an active, strategic way to literally build the career that you want. So as we wrap this up, I want to turn this back to you.
I mean, think about your own goals for a second. What’s that one skill you really wish you had? What industry are you trying to break into? How could you use strategic volunteering as a bridge to get you from where you are right now to where you really want to be? I’ll just leave you with this one last thought. We’re all programmed to look for the next job title, the next paycheck.
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ABOUT JEFF ALTMAN, THE BIG GAME HUNTER
People hire Jeff Altman, The Big Game Hunter to provide No BS Career Advice globally because he makes many things in peoples’ careers easier. Those things can involve job search, hiring more effectively, managing and leading better, career transition, as well as advice about resolving workplace issues. He was the host and now produces “No BS Job Search Advice Radio,” the #1 podcast in iTunes for job search with over 3000 episodes.
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