Top 5 Reasons To Volunteer In College

4 minutes read

Volunteering is a worthy use of your time. It is better than spending your evenings on Facebook and better than spending your spare time leveling up on computer games. Even if you hate the experience, it is a worthy thing to do with your time, and as you look back over your life; it is likely to be one of the many things you “don’t” regret doing (even if at the time the volunteer job is not very nice).

So, here are the top 5 reasons to volunteer in College:

1 – You can make new friends and find a partner

 

Having trouble making new friends and finding a girlfriend or boyfriend in college?

The reason may not be your entire fault. There are many times when college becomes a routine and you do not find the time (or opportunity) to meet new people. There are many students that are surrounded by hundreds of people and still feel completely alone. Volunteering can put a stop to that.

 

There are many volunteer jobs where you are forced to work in groups full of strangers. Working as a team often creates bonds that go beyond the volunteer job in hand. Many people walk away from volunteer jobs with new friends and even new lovers.

 

2 – It carries weight on your CV

 

The benefits volunteering in college offers to your CV makes two vital points. The first point is that you are a caring person and you are not self-centered or selfish. The second point is that you completed your qualification and still had time to volunteer. It suggests that you were not buried in your work from start to finish. It suggests that you handled your work so well that you had free time to do other things.

 

The second point is a well-noted fact, and University admins and employers know it. Put it on your University application forms and the admins will understand that you passed your course with relative ease, so they will feel more confident when accepting your application. Employers will be able to see that you are able to manage your time very well to the point where you have free time to volunteer. Highlight your volunteer work in your CV, and it puts you ahead of other graduates that didn’t bother to volunteer.

 

3 – It can hold some of your fondest and long-lasting college memories

 

At the time, you may not feel that your volunteer work is making a difference and you may not enjoy your time as a volunteer. However, when you grow older and look back, you will see it in a different light. You will see it as a worthy use of your time and you will not regret it. It may even open up new career opportunities because it gives you experience in areas you wouldn’t have been able to gain paid experience in.

 

Any stories of your hardship whilst volunteering, such as being knee deep in mud or being bitten by mosquitoes, you will view as happy tales of your youth. You will look back and tell people of the things you got up to with a fair amount of reverence.

4 – The people you meet may become long-term networking partners

 

Volunteering is a good place to make friends and find lovers, but it is also a good place to find networking partners. These are people you stay in touch with after college. You help each other find new course and maybe even new jobs. You introduce them to people of note and they do the same.

 

How do you find networking partners? The easiest way is to make lots of friends. Some students volunteer because it looks good on their CV. They too want to show future academies, Universities and employers that they didn’t struggle whilst earning their qualification. These career-minded people make excellent networking partners that you stay in touch with after you graduate.

 

The person you volunteered with in college may soon be a government council member or prominent member of a large company. The old saying, “It’s not what you know, it’s who you know” is very true. The student covered in swamp mud as a student may be the person that hires you to work at Microsoft in five years, so it pays to stay in touch.

 

5 – Sometimes, doing good feels good

 

This sounds like a wishy-washy reason for giving your time for free. It almost sounds like a con. It sounds like the sort of thing an employer may say to make you work overtime. However, there are many people that volunteer regularly because they say it feels good.

 

There are always people that will volunteer for the wrong reasons, such as to steal or embezzle. There are even people that volunteer with an expectation of payment (fundraisers are sometimes paid a percentage), but until you try volunteering you cannot guarantee you will not feel a sense of accomplishment. You cannot guarantee you will not feel good about yourself after you have volunteered for something.

 

About the author: Anthony Ash is a freelance blogger and a regular contributor at Topaussiewriters You may follow him on Twitter: @anthonyash_acc