01 Oct Volunteering can benefit you for life – from health to career goals

A number of our Active Lives participants went on to volunteer with the course, to help share the benefits they themselves experienced

Volunteering offers numerous benefits, not only to the recipients but also to the volunteers themselves.

Let’s start with mental health – volunteering reduces stress, anxiety, and depression through social connection and purposeful activity. It also boosts mood and self-esteem by providing a sense of accomplishment.

Physical health can be another benefit because an active volunteer role not only increases physical activity, but volunteering is also linked to lower blood pressure and a longer lifespan, according to some studies.

Loneliness and isolation can affect people of any age, and volunteering provides an opportunity to expand your social network, combat loneliness, and foster a sense of belonging. It also gives you a reason to get out of bed every day, knowing that others are relying on you.

Furthermore, it encourages empathy, resilience, and cultural awareness; helps clarify values and goals and lets you contribute to causes you care about, increasing life satisfaction and meaning.

Research has shown that engaging in diverse activities can enhance brain health, memory, and problem-solving skills, and that regular volunteering is linked to greater life satisfaction and sustained social engagement.

What is often overlooked is the fact that volunteering can lead to paid employment in several direct and indirect ways. For many, it develops skills, building hard and soft skills (communication, leadership, project management) which are all transferable to work and daily life.

It takes time, but volunteering can enhance your career. It provides experience, networking, references, and can lead to paid opportunities. Imagine getting your paid-for dream job as a result of your volunteering efforts.

The opportunity could arise in the organisation you are volunteering for or elsewhere, as you have built a portfolio of work or measurable outcomes to show employers. It gives you the chance to demonstrate your commitment, reliability, and real-world application of skills and fill gaps in your CV.

Moreover, it shows a would-be employer that you are not happy to simply do nothing whilst waiting for the right job to come along. It demonstrates commitment, reliability, and real-world application of skills.

Also on the plus side, it helps you to potentially connect with staff, board members, other volunteers, and community partners who can refer you or alert you to openings. Or put another way, informal relationships often lead to inside information and priority consideration.

It also helps you understand the organisation’s mission, operations, and culture, reducing employer risk and onboarding time, and a proven fit often makes volunteers’ first choice when roles become available.

Not surprisingly, organisations sometimes convert volunteers into paid roles to retain institutional knowledge, reward performance, or formalise responsibilities previously handled by volunteers. Volunteering in a role similar to a paid position makes the transition smoother.

Volunteering gives the opportunity to demonstrate leadership and initiative because leading projects or improving processes shows management potential and problem-solving ability.

The same training and certifications provided to salaried staff are often available to volunteers. Nearly always free, they are another handy boost for the CV that increases employability.

Volunteering can be fun, but it can also be a genuine route to employment, and if that is what you are looking for, then you should:

• Treat volunteering like a job: be professional, punctual, and results-oriented.
• Track and quantify achievements (e.g., increased donations by X%, managed Y events).
• Communicate career goals to supervisors and ask about paid opportunities.
• Seek stretch assignments and leadership roles.
• Network intentionally and request references.
• Upskill where needed (courses, certifications) aligned with desired paid roles.
• Propose a paid role if you’re consistently doing work beyond volunteer scope; prepare a brief proposal with responsibilities, outcomes, and cost/benefit.
• Be patient and persistent; sometimes the path takes months to years.

The Government’s Department of Work and Pensions recognise the benefit of volunteering as a way back into employment, and as long as you tell them about it and receive no payment, then it is encouraged.

Volunteers in all their guises make the world go around, and here in the Bay, there are hundreds, if not thousands, of opportunities covering nearly every walk of life and interest.

If you want to find out more, go to VolunteerTorbay.com and fill in a short survey, and one of our team will be in touch. Alternatively, type “Torbay Together” into your search engine and click on the volunteer button to unveil dozens of current vacancies.

Volunteering could be the trigger that helps change your life.