This week is volunteering week, and I’m celebrating. Its how I got my foot in the door, how I managed to find a permanent role in the end, and I enjoyed it.
I looked for work for a long time. The combination of the pandemic and a visual impairment and not being entirely sure what I was looking for didn’t help. So I was volunteering whilst I searched, in about three roles at once.
First, I had a book reviewer company, where I was sent books over Kindle and asked to review them. It was mainly new authors, and could be any genre, but comprised of a lot of romance stories. It was something I could do whilst studying, and only meant a few hours a week. And it also honed my writing skills, learning how to write in a short space but still give a flavour of what the book was about, and how to give constructive criticism.
Next up, I volunteered with Alzheimer’s Society. I worked as part of their Dementia Directory, and was mainly in the office til the lockdowns hit. It involved using Salesforce, updating records about services, and contacting people to check their details. It was great fun, and I really enjoyed it. It gave me a flavour of office life, and skills within databases, which was a selling point for my current role. It gave me practice of commuting to London, and using new tube lines, and also telephone skills too. I even got to flesh out my research skills, when the pandemic hit, searching if services were still available or being run online.
Last but not least was TESYouth. A small charity helping people into employment. This involved creating web content for their website, writing articles and working with others to get them published on time. It helped me learn how to manage a team, and improve my writing skills, and how to use Whatsapp.
I applied for jobs while in these roles, and my time volunteering gave me something to look forward to when interviews didn’t go well or the search was getting me down. I was still doing something, even if it wasn’t paid. I was still learning and growing, and discovering that sometimes the road takes longer than you think.
I really enjoyed my time volunteering. It gave me a chance to develop skills, and to learn more about the charity sector. Without it, I don’t think I would be in this permanent role today. I used their examples in interviews, and the experience they gave me made me stand out a bit more. And my time with Salesforce helped me get this role, which was one of the main requirements. Of coruse there was more to it, confidence building and practicing responses, learning how to do a great interview with new techniques. But my time with volunteering definitely helped.
So I shall celebrate volunteers week, with a smile, remembering all the good times.
