| Why
Get Involved In Local Voluntary Work?
As much as you may have gotten used to
it - even starting liking it - the student life is a hard life! With lectures,
practicals, essays, reports, studying, exams, and part time jobs,
(not to mention that all important FREE time), it seems as if there could
just not be any possible reason for you to devote anymore of your precious
few hours to anything else!
However, think seriously about the advantages
that getting involved in local voluntary work could do for you.
Student volunteerings would provide you
with a unique opportunity to:
-
experience, appreciate and understand the
diversity of our society;
-
make a difference in the community, and
-
gain self-confidence, awareness and the skills
needed for future successful employment.
Remember that whilst the number of graduate
jobs has not increased very much over the last few years, the number of
your fellow students leaving University and looking for employment has
gone sky high, so more and more employers are starting
to recognise that technical qualifications and a fancy scroll are simply
not enough to get you the first job on your career ladder once you've
entered the big bad real world.
The Council for Industry and Higher Education
has identified that you need to acquire a basic portfolio
of skills during their studies, including problem solving, management,
communication, and a general awareness of yourself and others.
The Dearing Report into the future of
higher education affirmed that students need exposure to the community
if they are to be equipped emotionally, practically and professionally
for a life after education. It stated that "All
the evidence endorses the value of some exposure of the student to the
wider world... via work experience, involvement in student union activities
or work in community or voluntary settings."
One in four graduate employers stated in
a recent report that they were concerned about the levels of communication
skills in potential graduate employees.
One way of ensuring that you are able to
gather these skills whilst in education is via the development of community
volunteering opportunities though Student Community Action and other such
community organisations. And there is a great variety of voluntary work
to get involved in, so you could do something to
supplement your degree, or use it as a means of escapism! Whatever
your reasons are, take a look at the sort of stuff you can get involved
in:
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health promotion
-
helping the socially excluded
-
creative arts
-
hands-on work
-
teaching and mentoring
-
media and marketing
-
conservation
-
fundraising
-
outreach work
-
technical
-
managing and organising
-
information technology
-
research
Even though you don't get paid for doing voluntary
work, its effects can be far more beneficial than paid employment
ever could. Here are some things it can achieve in the long run:
-
build a caring society of active citizens
-
widen participation and tackle social exclusion
-
bring passion and values into the workplace
-
make an economic impact
-
unveil an exciting network of people and experiences
-
provide a tool to aid personal development
planning
-
provides millions of work-experience opportunities
-
enhances academic research, teching and learning
-
enhances your employability
-
be an agent of social change
foster a "can-do" culture of entrepreneurship
So is it really worth
all this planning and effort going into obtaining your degree if you don't
start putting planning and effort into what you're going to do once you've
got it?! Becoming a student volunteer is one solution to better yourself
and the world around you. Student Community Action is here to help
you. So use us! |
