How can volunteering help you create a professional development plan?

Before I started my professional career I volunteered at my local highschool holding and organizing social events and community fairs. I helped as a janitor, attendance admin and tutor. I believe this type of efforts helped me create a track record that proved my work ethic and dependability. I got my first job and first intership by showing people I would do anything and everything i could as long as i was learning.

Early on and throughout my career so far, I volunteered because I enjoyed it! It is okay to volunteer to volunteer. It is not necessary to be good at something to volunteer for something. There are definitely volunteer opportunities that are good for you to get your feet wet. I have had experiences in HR, marketing, branding, and outreach and while that does not directly tie into what I went to school for--it is an invaluable to broaden your skills and have some level of knowledge in other areas. At some point though, I highly encourage you step beyond your comfort zone! Challenge yourself to things that scare you! Think of volunteering as a safe playground to hone your skills! The consequences of "messing up" and "failing" are not as bad.

In my experience, assessing your skills can help you identify areas you don't know as much about that spark your curiosity and interest. This is an opportunity to stretch yourself and add to your repertoire of skills. There is an adage that, "If you aren't uncomfortable, you aren't learning." Make yourself uncomfortable and revel in the fun of a new challenge.

For me, volunteering is such a spontaneous thing. It is supposed to be fun and a good opportunity time to connect and parallel work with your community. If I was proficient at what I am volunteering for, I think I would take it too seriously :( I resist bringing any of the seriousness that I need at work into my personal life, unless it is required for a situation. I do agree with the fact that it is best to match your skills to the work that needs to be done to make the world around us a better place. It is just that the wording of the prompt makes volunteering seem more serious than it needs to be. # K. I. S. S.

Find something that you genuinely care about! For me, it took me 6 months to land a full time job after graduating and the Society of Asian Scientists and Engineers (SASE) is what helped me ultimately land my first offer! I wanted to give back to something that helped me out and what better way than to help plan their National Convention where other students like myself can find jobs! I eventually also recruited at this event and boy, I cannot tell you how heartwarming it is to be on the other side of the table and to be able to give people chances like how someone took a chance on me! :D

When I volunteer, I often think about my contribution to society. So many times, we find ourselves mired in work that leaves us unsatisfied. In Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs, self-actualization is the apex of what we need as humans to thrive and lead a satisfying life. What do you want your tombstone to say? I want mine to say that my life meant something and that I contributed to the betterment of society. For example, contributing to betterment can be in a direct manner, such as saving a life, or an indirect manner, such as teaching someone else to save a life.

Once you frame your SMART goals, draw on smart practices based on empirical evidence. I say smart practices instead of best practices because what is best for one person or group isn't necessarily best for others. Smart practices help focus your goals contextually and provide the flexibility to change course if new information supports "course corrections." Remember to balance your volunteering with the other things in your life. I sometimes find that I have overextended myself because I'm enjoying the experience so much. My advice would be to do a few volunteer projects well rather than a bunch of volunteer projects in a mediocre way.

As with any role, tracking achievements and other elements of the experience is always a good idea--these will be things that you can add to your resume and you can use this as content to develop stories and responses to use in interviews! It is important to document regularly so that you can capture as much details as possible--it is possible that you will encounter many things to record so you may forget some of the details if you wait too long.

One thing I've found helpful is to keep a resume and a curriculum vitae on file and updated. A curriculum vitae (CV) consists of multiple pages and provides a more detailed chronicle of your accomplishments. In certain professional fields, such as academia, research, and top-level management, this is often an expectation.

Don't forget to "pay it forward" and share your knowledge with those aspiring to develop skills you are an expert in. Remember where you came from and all the help others gave you along your journey. Now is your chance to keep the positive cycle going.

Networking and mentoring are an invaluable aspect to any role. Volunteering is a good way to explore how to have an effective mentorship relationship as well as how to ask for effective feedback. Mentors help your shorten your learning curve through their experiences: best practices, lessons learned, and failures. You may still fail; however, you have an advantage you can leverage! Additionally, in the volunteer world, you can meet all types of people from different companies and locations--so there is definitely A LOT of potential when networking as well as getting more diverse perspectives!

In the volunteer world, it is often a lot easier to get your feet wet in roles you normally would not have a chance at in a real company. When volunteering, an organization often has a need and you sometimes having someone is better not having anyone so definitely shoot your shot! If you are chosen and you do not have experience, you will gain a lot of experience either through existing leadership who has more of background in that area or you can study up and apply and add value to an area the organization might be weak in! The world is your oyster!

O voluntariado pode ser uma ferramenta valiosa para o desenvolvimento profissional, pois oferece oportunidades de adquirir e aprimorar habilidades relevantes para o mercado de trabalho. Ao se envolver como voluntário, você pode descobrir novos interesses e direcionar seu desenvolvimento profissional para áreas que talvez não tenha considerado anteriormente. Integrar o voluntariado a um plano de desenvolvimento profissional pode enriquecer sua jornada, oferecendo aprendizado prático e oportunidades únicas de crescimento pessoal e profissional.

O voluntariado pode ajudar a criar um plano de desenvolvimento profissional de várias maneiras: 1. Desenvolvimento de habilidades transferíveis para o ambiente de trabalho, como liderança, comunicação, trabalho em equipe e resolução de problemas. 2. Networking 3. O voluntariado permite que você experimente diferentes áreas de interesse ou setores nos quais você pode querer se desenvolver profissionalmente. Isso pode ajudá-lo a refinar seus objetivos de carreira e identificar áreas nas quais deseja se concentrar. 4. Experiência prática em um campo específico, o que pode ser valioso para complementar sua formação atual. 5. Desenvolvimento de liderança, entre outros.