Coming to university to study and get yourself a degree is a great way to kickstart your career, but sometimes you will want to gain some experience alongside your studies to give you the best opportunities post-graduation.
This is where volunteering comes in handy!
Here at the Students’ Union, we have just launched a new Volunteering & Skills Recognition Scheme. The purpose? To give you the opportunity to get recognition for the time and effort you put in when you volunteer.
In this article we will cover the top 5 reasons for you to volunteer!
1) Develop Employable Skills
Through volunteering, you will get the opportunity to develop key employable skills. As part of our Volunteering & Skills Recognition Scheme there are 14 different categories you can log, these are:
- Application of IT
- Business & Commercial Awareness
- Communication & Literacy
- Critical Thinking
- Emotional Intelligence
- Intercultural Awareness
- Negotiation & Influencing
- Numeracy
- Problem Solving
- Project Management
- Resilience
- Self-Management
- Social Responsibility
- Teamwork
As you progress through the scheme you will be able to reach different milestones and have access to a downloadable transcript of everything you have accomplished and logged on your volunteer profile. You can then put this on your CV to share with employers.
To create your volunteering profile - click here
2) Be part of a community
Volunteering is a great way to build you own networks and be a part of a community. Here at ARU London SU, we not only provide our own volunteer opportunities with you, but we also work with, and promote, other volunteer providers that work in different parts of the UK.
If you are looking for volunteering within the SU, we hold elections at multiple times throughout the year to elect class reps and course champions. There is no better way to feel part of the community at ARU London than by standing to be a representative, gathering feedback from your peers and using that to influence change at ARU London.
We also hold a large schedule of events across the year and will often need event volunteers. This is another easy way to get hands on experience and get involved with event set up and management. There are also societies that you can either enquire about joining an existing committee or starting up your own society! Event management, financial management, communication and promotion. The opportunity for skill development is endless when you are running a society!
To find out more about student voice & representation - click here & to find out more about societies - click here
4) Take part in new opportunities
Through volunteering you can have the opportunity to develop new skills, work in areas and sectors you may not have had experience with before, and you may even get to visit new locations!
Volunteering opens you up to countless networking opportunities to help you explore your interests, develop critical experience for career progression or just for the fun of doing volunteering. We are always looking for new organisations to work with us to provide you with new and exciting opportunities to volunteer!
To check out our current list of volunteering opportunities - click here
4) Recognition
As part of the Volunteering & Skills Recognition Scheme, we wanted to make sure it gives you the opportunity to get recognised for what you do, and there a few ways this can be achieved.
The first is through the 4 award tiers; each with their own criteria that you need to achieve before progressing to the next award. With each tier you complete you can get a certificate for your achievements. By doing this you will be generating a profile that with keep track of all of the volunteering you have down and will develop a downloadable transcript that will display it all. This will be particularly helpful to put in your CV.
Throughout the year we also have our Rep of the Month and SU Awards as other methods of receiving recognition. Students and staff can nominate student reps for the Rep of the Month award and then each month a winner will be selected. At the SU Awards we have 7 different categories of student awards that you can also be nominated for, which will also come with a certificate and trophy!
5) It feels good!
Our final reason why you should volunteer is quite a simple one…it feels good to do good, and volunteering is a great way to do that. When you volunteer you are having a positive impact on others. Whether it is volunteering within the university, in your local community or for a larger business, what you are doing helps!
We hope these top five reasons will encourage you get involved and set up your volunteering profile! To check out our volunteering page - click here
If you have any more questions about volunteering please do not hesitate to get in touch with our two Student Union Coordinators Erin (e.brennan@angliastudent.com) or Mariana (m.rotariu@angliastudent.com)