Is volunteering on your end of exams summer wish list?
If not, here are 10 reasons to volunteer over the Summer.
1. IT’s FUN
It’s a reason to meet new people, embrace cultural traditions and go on adventures.
During your downtime you can spend a weekend island hopping in Thailand, climbing Table Mountain in South Africa, or white river rafting in Costa Rica, the choices are endless!
This makes for an unforgettable experience which will stay with you for the rest of your life.
2. BOOST YOUR CAREER PROSPECTS
Volunteering is an excellent way to boost your career prospects. HOW?! It helps you create a positive impression, makes you more innovative, creative and gives you a range of useful skills. It’s not just us that believe this, recruiters do too!
Recruiters rank volunteer participation higher than personal presentation, political affiliations and spelling and grammar errors when looking at a candidate’s social presence.
3. LEARN NEW SKILLS
So just what are the reasons that makes employers love volunteers so much? Employers love a candidate with a range of soft skills and luckily, volunteering gives you plenty of those.
You are faced with problems on a daily basis, you have to deal with a mix of personalities and all while adjusting to life outside of your comfort zone. This all adds up and helps to improve your teamwork, leadership, problem-solving and people skills.
All in all, another excellent reason to get out there and volunteer!
4. SENSE OF PURPOSE
Studies have found that when you stop thinking about your own problems and focus on someone other than yourself, your stress levels start to decrease, your immune system is strengthened and your overall sense of life satisfaction increases. This is because helping someone else interrupts tension-producing patterns and replaces it with a sense of purpose, positive emotions and high confidence levels.
5. A REAL-WORLD EXPERIENCE
Another amazing motivator for volunteering abroad is the insightful, real-world experiences that volunteers gain in the field. Get ready to gain a hands-on experience, get stuck in doing wildlife conservation research, painting and renovating old buildings, conducting underwater surveys, tracking jaguars, cleaning baby turtles, teaching underprivileged children, or earning your PADI Open Water qualification in some of the world’s most pristine waters.
6. MAKE A DIFFERENCE
Volunteering, at home or abroad, gives you the chance to vote every day about the kind of community and world you want to live in. It gives you the opportunity to be apart of something bigger than yourself and use your civic responsibility for the greater good.
Without people who are willing to sacrifice their time and skills to meaningful causes, a lot more people and animals would be worse off.
7. GAIN A WHOLE NEW PERSPECTIVE
Volunteering abroad changes how you see the world. You come into contact with people on a daily basis from different countries, backgrounds and quality of life. It shows you how much less you can have and still find reasons to be happy. This shift in perspective opens your mind to what is truly important, puts to bed age-old stereotypes and shows you how small your problems are in the grand scheme of things.
8. GIVE BACK TO A CAUSE YOU BELIEVE IN
Not sure where to start in your volunteering journey? Your reason for volunteering should begin where your passions lie. Let your love for animals, teaching or healthcare create positive change in the world. Allow your actions to be led from a place of passionate intention. That way all the hard work will be worth it, you will be more committed to the cause and as a result, your impact will be that much bigger.
9. LEARN A NEW LANGUAGE
Did you know learning a new language boosts brain power? Or that it develops your ability to multi-task? How about the fact that it stalls the onset of dementia and Alzheimer’s?
Another reason to volunteer is to learn a new language. By taking the time to learn a country’s language you are opening yourself up to its culture and aiding your self-discovery.
10. MAKE REAL CONNECTIONS
Volunteering lets you meet people from all walks of life. It gives you the chance to form real relationships that can have a lasting impact on your life. You could meet your new best friend, future business partner or have a conversation that sparks a real change in your life.
This is why all our volunteers have an introductory lesson to the local language during their orientation. By trying to understand a language, we learn about the heritage that goes with it. It helps us comes to terms with how we view other cultures and appreciate the intricacies of our own.
