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FROM A CAREER PERSPECTIVE,
VOLUNTEERING HAS A LOT TO OFFER

Volunteers are West Virginia’s greatest natural resource. An ethic of helping and service are inherent parts of our State’s culture. In West Virginia, extraordinary volunteers are involved daily in a wide range of activities, both formal and informal, in every imaginable aspect of local and regional life. Volunteering is a powerful force for change and for community growth and development. The commitment of time and energy West Virginians have given reflects their dedication to improving lives and represents a vital contribution to our communities and society as a whole.

Develop Your Skills

When you volunteer, you gain skills and knowledge that help you when you look for a paying job. You also develop qualities useful in all workplaces: punctuality, dependability, an ability to work in a team and the ability to handle pressure. Then there are your self-management and work-readiness skills. Everyone needs practice in decision making, problem solving and leadership.

Gain Work Experience

Do you have real work experience? The kind employers want-that roll-up-your-sleeves-and-dig-in work experience? If not, how will you get it? You can't get the experience employers want if you can't get a job in the first place.right? Wrong!

Volunteer jobs provide hands-on learning experience. They give you the experience and qualifications necessary to develop a résumé and portfolio.

Find Out About The Work World

Which job environment is right for you? You'll discover the realities of the work world when you volunteer. You'll gain practical knowledge about organizations and how they really work on an everyday basis.

Learn to Market Yourself

Marketing your best assets to future employers will be easier after filling out job application forms and going to interviews in the volunteer world.

Explore Career Options

You may have the "ability," but what about "suitability"? Volunteering gives you a chance to learn whether or not you're really suited to a particular line of work. Taking on a volunteer position will ease the move from school to work. And if you've been working and want to try something new, take a volunteer job to test the waters before you jump in.

Volunteering allows you to work in a supportive environment. You'll learn from the experience - including much that you didn't expect to learn - and the community will benefit, too! You've got nothing to lose and everything to gain.

For many people volunteering is a lifetime activity. What you gain from volunteering will change as your life and experience grows. There will always be new skills, new experiences and new feelings of satisfaction. Volunteering can be hard work but it is rarely dull. And there may be times when life doesn't allow you to volunteer-but you can always return to volunteering when you need it to enrich your life. Take joy in the knowledge that you can always give. But volunteering will do a whole lot more. It will develop you as a person, too. You will discover new parts of yourself, make friends, try new experiences and know the satisfaction of helping others and being a part of a community.