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 “When I came to the city last year, as you can expect things were not very easy: different lifestyle, different culture and most of all different weather! I was completely out of my comfort zone and wanted to quickly blend in and feel like I was part of this new community. When I started volunteering at Volunteer Toronto, it totally changed my life. I suddenly regained my passion, developed a sense of commitment and felt awesome when helping others. It has also allowed me to practice my marketing skills for a good cause and opened my eyes to how nice people are in the city and how diversity is what Toronto is all about.” 

- Maya Atallah

Maya moved to Canada from Egypt over 12 months ago. She was an ace volunteer at Volunteer Toronto working as a Referral Councellor, Outreach Presenter and Social Media Advisor helping individuals connect to meaningful volunteer opportunities. After a few months on the job hunt, this fall, she was able to land a new job in Corporate Marketing. 

Maya’s story isn’t unique. Many people turn to volunteering when looking for work. As Maya’s story outlines, volunteering can help job-seekers regain passion, connect with others and become familiar with a new city. It can also help you in other ways.

Here are 5 ways volunteering can help you find a job:

Helps Develop Your Skills

When thinking about the job you would like, reflect on what skills are necessary for the position. Think about hard skills, like IT knowledge or nursing experience, and soft skills, like leadership, managing multiple priorities and research. What skills would you like to develop? Search for volunteer opportunities that suite the hard or soft skills you’d like to improve.

Allows You To Network

Volunteering allows you the opportunity to meet many new people. Reflect on who you would like to make connections with and look for volunteer opportunities that will allow you to make some of those connections.

Gives You Interview Practice

The application process for volunteer positions often mirrors looking for work. Usually, you will be asked for a cover letter and resume and need to participate in interviews, whether by phone or in-person.  This is an awesome opportunity to practice adapting cover letters and resumes for specific roles and to practice answering questions in an interview.

Provides You With Constructive Feedback

In general, volunteer coordinators want to see their volunteers thrive in their role and in life more generally. When volunteering, feel free to ask for feedback from your supervisor about your performance in the role. This will help you identify your strengths and work on your areas of improvement. If you don’t get the volunteer position you were hoping for, ask how you could have improved in the application process.

Helps You Earn Great References

Many volunteer coordinators will provide references for your service. If this is important to you, make sure to ask the Volunteer Manager if they give references before you start in the position. Of course getting a great reference will depend on you doing your volunteer service well: arrive on time, do the tasks to the best of your ability and ask questions if you don’t understand something.        

And remember, volunteering won’t only benefit you as a job-seeker, but it can be an incredibly fun and engaging way to get involved in your community and better our city!