Vinspired
Vinspired
25 May 2024 ·

Selling Your Volunteering Experience to Graduate Employers

Volunteering is more than just a way to give back to your community and meet like-minded individuals—it’s a strategic move to boost your employability. In this article, we’ll explore how you can effectively showcase your volunteering experience to graduate employers, highlighting the key skills you’ve developed.

Why Volunteering Matters for Employment & Skills

Employers highly value candidates who use their free time or gap year productively. Volunteering signals that you are resourceful, self-motivated, and full of initiative—qualities that are attractive to potential employers. But how do you present these new skills in a job interview?

Develop and Demonstrate Soft Skills

Volunteering is an excellent way to develop soft skills such as effective communication, time management, negotiation, planning, and organization. Many employers note that graduates often lack these essential skills upon leaving university. By volunteering, you not only gain work experience but also the soft skills necessary in the workplace.

How to Sell Your Soft Skills

Understanding the skills employers are looking for is crucial. Maintain a record of examples that demonstrate your skills, making it easier to use them as evidence in cover letters or during interviews. For instance:

“Volunteering taught me crisis management. Once, I was responsible for printing leaflets for a community event. The printers made an error with the logo, and the event was the next day. I found another print shop to do the job the same day and negotiated a discount from the original printer.”

Examples Enhance Your Profile

Providing specific examples and detailing the skills you developed during volunteering helps employers gauge your level of experience and soft skills. The example above illustrates quick thinking, negotiation skills, and the ability to remain calm under pressure.

Even small volunteering tasks can offer valuable skill development. Working in a shop, for example, can enhance interpersonal skills, client-facing communication abilities, and numeracy skills if you handle cash transactions.

For more insights, check out our article on Selling your volunteering experience to graduate employers.

To explore the wide array of skills you could be developing, visit the TARGETjobs skills and competencies page.

Additional Resources