Oh. There you are. Hey! So I wanted to about volunteering
today, and I figured if we're gonna talk about volunteering,
I wanted to come to campus, because there are so
many different ways to get involved on campus.
And while, you know, we might not be here,
full time, just yet, campus has given me so many
volunteering opportunities throughout my
undergraduate career. I thought it was only fitting
to talk about why you should volunteer -
on campus! Whether it be virtually or in person.
So, if you're thinking about volunteering,
let's talk about why you should.
(upbeat music)
Hello. So, volunteering. Bit of a weird topic sometimes
because a lot of people are like:
well, you're not getting paid, so why would you volunteer?
And that's technically true. But there are actually
a lot of benefits to volunteering that
I wanted to talk a little bit about in this video.
So, okay, let's say you're wanting to get started
in volunteering. You're like, where do you even start.
So I think the big thing of what you can do to start
is update your resume. That's a big thing that I think
a lot of people don't tend to do.
I mean, listen, I get it, resume updating is a bit
boring, you have to like, sit at a computer for five
hours and think about all the ways you're great.
But, a good resume helps you stand out in front of
the crowd. I mean, I've sat on some hiring panels for
clubs and other things in university and a good resume
goes a long way to show your dedication, your
organization, your commitment, and it helps you
stand out in front of the crowd.
(upbeat music)
So. You've built your resume. Excellent. Great work. I'm so proud of you.
Now you have to choose a place to volunteer?
And when I tell you that there are so many places
to volunteer, on campus or in the community?
There's a lot. There's a lot.
Maybe it keeps me up at night, maybe it doesn't,
I dunno, who's to say. What helps, though, is narrowing
down your interests. Ask and answer these questions
for yourselves: What is my passion? What am I interested in?
Am I looking for a volunteer opportunity that aligns with
my academic studies? Am I looking for something entirely new?
Because I think that answering those questions
for yourself will go a long way to help
narrow down the field of potential places to volunteer.
And it'll help make things a lot less overwhelming,
I'll tell you that. Now there are lots of places you
could go to volunteer, it would be futile for me to list
them all here because, again, there are so many.
So I'll just share for you a couple of options that you
can use to at least get started and then I'll provide
some links below that you can follow to do your own research.
(upbeat music)
Now it wouldn't be a trip to campus without a certain
someone saying hello... And that someone is...
Ah, look at this guy! Come on! Don't you miss this guy's face?
(George Michael's "Careless Whisper" plays)
Willy Mac (TM) himself wants you to volunteer.
The senator! He thinks you should volunteer.
He thinks its worthwhile. Right?
So where are we? You've built your resume, you've
spent some time making it. Now sort of comes the part
where you might second guess yourself. Why? Why do it?
Do I have time for this? Is it really going to be worth my while?
Well, let me tell you - I think you absolutely should.
There are three main reasons I think are important for you to
think about when making the jump to start volunteering.
The first one being that volunteering boosts your employment prospects.
A lot of employers will look to your volunteering experience
when they're evaluating candidates. You know, volunteering experience
can demonstrate your passion, it can demonstrate your
additional skillset, that might not be necessarily directly relevant
to what you're applying for, but it might become useful later on.
And it shows you're a well rounded candidate.
(upbeat music)
Second thing about volunteering that makes it
so worthwhile is its ability to help build new skills
and also develop existing ones, too.
Volunteering offers a great chance to expand your
skillset, teach you new things, you can learn a lot
of new things and it helps to really develop those
soft skills. You learn the value of teamwork, collaboration,
problem solving, conflict resolution, all of those things
I've personally learned and developed through my time
volunteering. All of these, you know, "soft skills" are invaluable
when it comes to paid employment, and also life, really.
Volunteering really helps you get better at some of those skills
and, you know, if you try out something that maybe
you've never tried before, and you do it through volunteering,
you might pick up a new hobby or a new skill along the way too.
I need to sit down for this one.
It's hot outside. Whew!
Okay, so finally, I think the thing that is the most
important thing to consider if you're thinking about volunteering
is the fact that volunteering allows you to make a difference.
The ability to just know that you've given back to your
community, know that you've invested your time and your
energy into something that has helped other people
whether you're doing like a three hour event
or you're volunteering with an organization for months
on end, you will find that you have just a great sense
of fulfillment from doing whatever it is that you did.
Because volunteering helps to give back to your community.
And to know that you've helped other people too
in your work is just a great experience all around.
Ah.
You know I was gonna end this vlog by like walking around
or something but like, meh, I feel like - I feel like
we're cool here, right?
No, give the people what they want! They want to see you
walk around! Nah, you probably don't.
Volunteering offers you so much, and it offers you a chance
to learn and grow, and if you have the time, the capacity, the
resources to do it, I would absolutely recommend you do it.
The volunteer experiences that I've had at university here
they've been fun, they've been exciting, they've challenged me,
they've helped me grow as a person, and as a leader,
and as a collaborator. I don't know what my university
experience would be without the different ways that
I got involved. So make the most of it. You will find that
your university experience is so much more enriched
because you volunteered. And if you're ever in doubt
about how to get started because, my goodness, there's so
many ways you can - talk to the SSC Careers Team.
Check out our live chat on our website.
Check out OscarPlus and book a mentorship.
Keep an eye out on our socials for our volunteering
workshops throughout the year. The Careers Team is amazing
and I can't encourage you enough
to at least do one volunteering thing a term if you can.
You know I think I might just sit here for a little while.
I don't need to do other work, right? Nah.
Is that Centro I smell?
(upbeat music)