CAREERS NOW 03-04-07

Make Volunteering Count For Your Career

DEAR JOYCE: Six years ago I quit my event-planning job and stayed at home to raise my children, who are now old enough for me to return to work. Unfortunately, I did not do volunteer work during my home years which has left skill holes in my resume. Now my sister is about to stay at home with her kids and I've been urging her to benefit from my experience and keep her skills up to date with volunteer work but she says she doesn't want to serve meals to the homeless or shelve books at a library or go to meetings at night. Can you back me up? - E.P.G.

WORKING IS WORKING. Paid or unpaid, work is resume bait. Finding the right volunteer work is like finding the right job. Certainly it's self-actualizing when you find a volunteer job that allows you to "give back," "make a difference," and "do meaningful things."

But when your primary intent is the rejuvenating of your resume because you're going to need it some day, take care to choose career-wise work that advances your goals.

Working without pay and bolstering your future are not mutually exclusive activities. In exchange for your time and effort, you deserve to gain building blocks for your work history, as well as useful contacts and relationships for your future.

STICKING TO CAREER PLANS. "Unfocused" is an ugly word in recruiting offices. When you have too many unrelated jobs in your background, recruiters tend to conclude that you lack commitment, that you're not occupationally centered. A lack of focus is a reason not to hire you for paid employment. Your choice of volunteer jobs is an echo chamber of the focus factor.

So don't take a job teaching children to read when, as an accountant, you really hope to someday become a corporate chief financial officer - charities could use your accounting skills. Don't hand out flyers at a library information counter when your long-term aim is to expand your marketing expertise - you could help a museum market its events. And don't spend time driving meals to the elderly when you'd like to advance your public policy background; instead you could lobby your city government to launch local bus service for seniors.

Some veterans of unpaid work say that finding the right volunteer work can be more difficult than finding the right paid job. Don't be surprised if you have to start at an entry-level position and work your way up, just as you did when your reward was a paycheck. Caveat: Avoid the seducement of staying too long in a comfortable but dead-end volunteer job.

Before stepping up to the volunteer plate, ask yourself the big question: "Will this job position me for future advancement in my field?"

DOING YOUR OWN THING. When the only volunteer job you can find is grunt work that doesn't bolster your resume, pursue unusual connections. You might, for example, propose serving as membership chair in the local chapter of your professional organization - think of the contacts you'll make. Or hire yourself by creating a volunteer entity, such as the Campaign for College Opportunity, a nonprofit advocacy group created by retired Californians to boost the state's higher education system.

CAREER CHANGING RESOURCE. Not every person who plans to one day re-enter the workforce wants to continue in the same field or industry. Enough was enough! Volunteer jobs can be useful tickets to new horizons. Not only will you be exposed to the reality-101 of the work in an unfamiliar setting, the experience will spotlight any need for additional formal education or training. And, you'll meet useful links for your professional network.

VOLUNTEERING AND BUDGETS. What can you do when surviving on one income is a challenge, unpaid work just doesn't pencil out and you need every dollar you can earn in part-time pay? Volunteer work may be out of the question for you at this time.. Or perhaps you can squeeze in two or three hours a week of volunteering if the work is a heavy-weight addition to your resume. It's the accomplishments of the activity, not the amount of time you spend doing it, that suggest your skills are up to date.

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