Why should someone who is already working full-time take up a volunteer role?

There are many reasons, but number one for me would be the psycho-social benefits. There’s a ton of research that demonstrates again and again that volunteering is good for your health. I work with clients who are in very stressful jobs, very demanding jobs, and volunteering is a way for them to tune into a different part of themselves.

You could be in a career or a job that you’re enjoying, you’re doing great work, but maybe there’s just that bit missing from a purpose perspective. So if you’re not getting that from your current role but it’s working for you in other ways, volunteering is another way to fill that void.

We’re hearing a lot in the news about lay-offs and resignations, and it seems like many people are looking for a new direction. Can volunteering help someone make a career change?

Volunteering can help build a bridge from where you are now to where you want to be. When you think about changing career, employers are looking for evidence: they want to trust that if you haven’t actually done the job, you’re going to be able to do it – you’re demonstrating a passion for it, initiative to do training, that kind of thing. Volunteering is another way you can showcase that – it’s like rocket fuel!

Volunteers should be thinking, what’s the narrative, and how is this experience helping my personal brand? How can I use this volunteering opportunity now to catapult me forward? That’s where the gold is because you can volunteer and enjoy it, and meet great people and know that you’re giving back and you’re getting all those health benefits; but then the next part is, how can I start putting this together in a way that I can tell this story in an interview?

What kind of things might people look for in a volunteer role if they’re looking for something to build their career?

What’s important is to get clear on what the gaps are – if you’re looking at volunteering as a way to progress your career, what are you currently missing? That might mean if you want to be a manager, asking if there would be an opportunity for you to move into a mentoring or supervisory role after a certain length of time, so that you could then demonstrate those skills at interview or with a promotion.

Or maybe there’s something you’re really passionate about, like the environment, but you don’t have environmental qualifications and you don’t have an obvious track record as to why you should work in that industry. Volunteering then could be another way of building trust, by working with a volunteer-involving organisation that is in environmentalism. You’re also then expanding your network in that space and expanding your network helps open you up to opportunities and new perspectives.

Should a volunteer put their volunteering on their CV?

One hundred percent! On LinkedIn, you’ll see on profiles there’s a volunteering section, I would encourage my clients to fill that out. It gives potential employers a sense of the person. When you take the time to volunteer, you’re demonstrating initiative, you’re showing you’re a team player, you’re showing that you care about the bigger picture – it shows a lot of positive qualities that employers are hungry for. So absolutely include it!

You’re a member of our board of directors here at Dublin City Volunteer Centre. Could you tell us about your experience as a board member and where that kind of role might fit into someone’s career path?

Joining the board is one of the highlights of my career to date. I think when you’re at board level you get to impact at scale. That’s one of the big draws for me – my time is limited; how can I drive the most impact? A board position is where I can bring my experience and have it trickle into multiple different areas. It helps you operate at a high level. It’s a very important role, there’s funding involved, there’s government involved.

I think if you’ve left your career it’s a great way to come back in with all your experience, stay sharp, use your talents, be part of something meaningful and give back. If you’re mid-career it’s an opportunity to hear from extremely impressive people and learn from them – the breadth of experience of the other board members is amazing, I’m learning constantly.

We know that many groups, including women and migrants, face special challenges in building careers. Do you think the volunteering sector can play a role in overcoming barriers to employment?

Certainly; I think volunteering can do a lot in terms of providing safety. If you think of someone, say a refugee, or anyone who has gone through trauma, volunteering can provide a safe space for them to explore and move out of a sympathetic nervous system state – that flight or fight instinct – and start moving into creating a new life. There’s so much talent out there that never gets to that first step, so there’s an opportunity with volunteering to help, along with apprenticeships and things like that.

I was at a conference recently with Senator Lynn Ruane speaking, and something she said just hit me like a brick. She said, success looks different for everyone. If you think about a lot of the programmes that we’re investing huge money in, often the stated goal is that people are re-entering the workforce. But for some people going through a programme, the success is actually being able to talk to their doctor or being able to advocate for their child with a teacher. I think that’s important as well. There are so many micro-successes that you achieve along the way – maybe this one volunteer experience doesn’t get you your dream job, but what it is doing is it’s an extra step on that bridge. It’s part of the journey – it might not be the whole journey but you can definitely use it to help you build that bridge to where you want to go.