Volunteering
for
Employability
Katy Goldstraw
CoMMUni
Manchester Metropolitan University
What is coMMUni?
Aims:
• Be a gateway between MMU
and the Voluntary Sector
• Develop a culture of
Volunteering within MMU
• Enable the voluntary sector
to access MMU’s resources
• To help volunteers to gain
valuable new skills and add
to their experience of life
Volunteering for employability
“PUT ASIDE
PRECONCEPTIONS:
VOLUNTEERING IS WORK
EXPERIENCE WITH THE
ADDED POSSIBILITY THAT
THE ACT OF CHOOSING TO
BE A VOLUNTEER CAN
SHOW EVEN GREATER
INITIATIVE AND
COMMITMENT.”
MIKE KILLINGLEY, SENIOR MANAGER
EXECUTIVE EDUCATION, HSBC BANK
“WANT TO CHANGE SOMEONE’S LIFE? THEN
WHY NOT START WITH YOUR OWN?”
STEVE WADE, STUDENT VOLUNTEER, UNIVERSITY OF LOUGHBOROUGH
Employability Skills
• Communication
Skills
• Interpersonal Skills
• Problem Solving
• Team work
• Management &
Leadership
• Networking
• Organisational
• Time Management
VOLUNTEERING FOR
EMPLOYABILITY
• Motivations behind volunteering
• Qualitative benefits to volunteering
• Quantative benefits to volunteering
Motivations for Volunteering
• If their parents volunteer then children are more
likely to volunteer, likewise if school encourages
volunteering, children are more likely to
volunteer.
• The more educated a volunteer is, the more
likely they are to volunteer. Educated people are
also more likely to be asked to volunteer (Wilson
2000:219).
• The self – employed and those with flexible work
schedules are most likely to volunteer which
suggests that students are an excellent group to
recruit from (Wilson 2000:221).
Motivations for Volunteering
• Ellis Pane et al identifies four motivations for
volunteering; psychological & altitudinal factors,
social and social background issues,
perceptions of community and participation and
situational factors (2006:4).
• Trigger factors that encourage people to
volunteer are; being asked, encounters and
events, accessing a brokerage service , time
and having a specific need ( Ellis Pane 2006:8).
Motivations for Volunteering
• People from socially excluded groups are
likely to volunteer in different ways. Those
from black and minority ethnic
backgrounds tend to volunteer informally.
• People with disabilities are more likely to
volunteer within disability organisations.
REDUCING SOCIAL EXCLUSION
• Volunteering can reduce social exclusion,
it can combat feelings of isolation, it can
boost confidence and self esteem,
increase people’s skills and bring people
from different backgrounds together
(Smith et al 2001:4).
Benefits of Volunteering
• Volunteers are more politically active than non
volunteers (Knoke in Wilson 2000:231)
suggesting a positive impact on citizenship.
• The act of volunteering can affect a person’s
perceptions of well being of self worth and
making a contribution to society; “unpaid work
that is taken by volunteers makes a vital
contribution to family and community” (Hardhill &
Baines 2003:102).
• Volunteering reduces anti social behaviour
although research has not been able to define
the reasoning for this (Wilson 2000:231).
Benefits of Volunteering
• Volunteers experience higher health benefits
associated with more social ties, in terms of both
physical and mental health (Wilson 2000:232).
• Meier and Stutzer find that “volunteers are
more satisfied with the life than non-volunteers”
(2004: 1)
• Astin 1998 states that undergraduates who
volunteer are more likely to earn postgraduate
degrees (in Wilson 200:233).
Qualitative benefits to volunteering
for employability
VOLUNTEERING AS WORK EXPERIENCE
• The boundaries have shifted between paid work, volunteering and
education.
• Since 1997 paid work has assumed central importance in social
policy and a key role has been identified for voluntary organisations
in the delivery of care.
• Student reflections on work experience suggest that they gain
communications skills, team work, organisational skills and personal
development.
• These skills are all essential when moving into paid employment.
• Volunteering can combine with academic success to create a well
rounded employee who has the transferable skills to move easily
into employment.
Qualitative benefits to volunteering
for employability
• Volunteering was also clearly linked to being an active citizen (Taylor
et al 2000:23).
• Taylor et al identified that students felt inspired towards a career
through their volunteering which allowed them to overcome their
fears about the world of work, and inspired them to look for new
challenges in terms of their future employment.
• Volunteering can “teach students a great deal about the world of
work and the voluntary sector … many students welcome the
opportunity to reflect upon their skills development and their role in
the community” (Taylor et al 2000:32)
• Some students felt volunteering gave them fresh insight into their
study and that volunteering had enabled them to better understand
their academic course.
Qualitative benefits to volunteering
for employability
• Volunteering can also provide students with the
networks they need to access future
employment.
• Careers such as advertising or conservation are
extremely competitive.
• Volunteering can provide the experience to
match academic success and can boost social
capital.
• The networks of social ties built through
volunteering can be effectively used when
searching for jobs.
Quantitative benefits to
volunteering for employability
• Research by the former Department for Education and Skills (DFES)
states “voluntary activity can improve an individual’s ability to gain
maintain or improve their employment” (Hirst 2000:iii).
• According to DFES research 54% of volunteers believe that
volunteering experience has helped or will help them get a job and
41% of those who are now employed believe their volunteering
helped them to get their current job (Hirst 2000:vi).
• The DFES have found particular areas when volunteering helps
people; not having a driving licence, living on ones own, not having
dependants and being young.
• They also concluded that volunteering positively improved
employability when the volunteering spanned 50 hours or more, was
for more than one organisation, was working with the public,
involved training, involved a review of the voluntary activity, involved
working as part of a team and contained a variety of experience
(Hirst 2000:vii).
Quantitative benefits to
volunteering for employability
• The volunteer’s motivation is also very important “those
who had taken their volunteering activity for employment
reasons are far more likely than others to report a
positive impact” (Hirst 2000:vii).
• Those who volunteer for employability also were found to
be less likely to return to Job seekers allowance than
those that had not volunteered (Hirst 2000:ix).
• The DFES concluded “overall more than half of all
volunteers perceive that voluntary activity has had a
positive impact on their chances of finding work” (Hirst
2000:46).
Quantitative benefits to
volunteering for employability
• Research done by Nottingham Council for
Voluntary service (CVS) had similar
findings “ for people whose eventual aim
was definitely to work; doing some
voluntary work did seem like a stepping
point along the way … people valued the
extra support and training available”
(Corden & Sainsbury 2005:28)
The Policy Context
• Recommendation 18
“We recommend that all institutions
should over the medium term identify
opportunities to increase the extent to
which programs help students to
become familiar with work and help
them reflect on such experience”
Dearing Report 1997. Stress on need for UK educations systems to fit the new
social and economic context.
The Policy Context
“The Leitch Review believes that the
UK urgently needs to raise its game
and set itself a greater ambition to have
a world class skills base by 2020”
Leitch Review 2005
The Policy Context
• Recommendation 11
“ The opportunity to improve skills and
employability is a powerful incentive
for young people to volunteer. It is
important to mark the contribution
made by young volunteers and to
recognise the skills they learn in the
course of their activity”
Russell Commission Report 2005
CONCLUSIONS:
• Volunteering gives the students CV the edge!
• Gives students the opportunity to gain experience in their
chosen career.
• Shows a clear commitment to a Job role
• Develops a well rounded individual.
• Supports a company’s corporate social responsibility
• Can provide students with new skills for a job role.
• Can provide more flexibility than a paid role to try new
experiences. Students can volunteer alongside your
current job to try out a new experience.
• Gaps on your CV are not constructive.
Contact Details
Katy Goldstraw
info@communi.org.uk
0161 247 2211
www.communi.org.uk
RESOURCES
VOLUNTEERING ENGLAND
www.volunteering.org.uk
Community Service Volunteers
www.csv.org.uk
National Association of Volunteer Bureax
www.navb.org.uk
Volunteering Database MMU www.communi.org.uk
Volunteering Database UK wide www.do-it.org.uk
BIBLIOGRAPHY
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Chinman,MJ & Wandersman, A THE BENEFITS AND COSTS OF VOLUNTEERING
IN COMMUNITY ORGANISATIONS Nonprofit and Voluntary Sector Quarterly
1999:28:46
Corden, A & Sainsbury, R VOLUNTEERING FOR EMPLOYABILITY SKILLS Social
Policy Research Unit, University of York 2005
Gaskin, K A CHOICE BLEND:WHAT VOLUNTEERS WANT FROM
ORGANISATIONS AND MANAGEMENT Institute for Volunteering Research 2003
Hardill, I & Baines, S DOING ONE’S DUTY AND THE NEW ECONOMY Local
Economy May 2003 Vol 18 no 2 102-108
Hirst, A LINKS BETWEEN VOLUNTEERING AND EMPLOYABILITY Research
Report RR309 Cambridge Policy Consultants DFES
Meier, S & Stutzer, A IS VOLUNTEERING REWARDING IN ITSELF Institute for
Empirical Research in Economics, University of Zurich 2004
Taylor, G et al THE IMPACT OF WORK BASED LEARNING ON STUDENT’S
UNDERSTANDING OF CITIZENSHIP AND THEIR ROLE IN THE COMMUNITY
Social Policy and Social Work Subject Centre, Higher Education Academy, Sheffield
Hallam University Report Four 2000
Wilson, J VOLUNTEERING in Annual Review of Sociology 2000.26:215-40