Can Volunteering Help You With Your Job Search?

By Wendy Spencer
CEO, Corporation of National and Community Service

Can volunteering be the difference-maker in your next interview? New, ground-breaking research at the Corporation for National and Community Service (CNCS) provides evidence of a relationship between volunteering and finding employment.

Our new study, “Volunteering as a Pathway to Employment,” found that those who were out of work and got involved with volunteering opportunities increased their likelihood of finding employment by 27 percent.

We are excited about these findings because it highlights an encouraging situation for both job seekers and the volunteer sector. 

 

Consider Leanne’s story. She is a military spouse who began volunteering to get involved with her new community when her family relocated to Florida from California. Her work with the Navy Marine Corps Relief Society as a financial counselor and managing volunteers created a passion that never faded as she moved from coast to coast with her family, and eventually led to a full-time position managing volunteers with her local American Red Cross. 

 

Leveling the Playing Field

 

Volunteering makes a positive impression, and that can make a big difference in a competitive job market. It can be especially helpful for people with limited skills or connections, and help level the playing field. 

 

 

For example, volunteers without a high school diploma improved their chances of finding employment by 51 percent, and those in rural areas increased their chances of finding work by 55 percent.

 

In fact, volunteering improved the likelihood of success for job seekers across all demographic categories – such as age, race, and gender – geographic areas, and job market conditions, and the findings held across the 10-year period analyzed in our study. That is amazing! 

 

Creating Opportunity

 

CNCS supports this pathway to employment through our efforts that promote service and volunteerism that impacts communities around the nation. Our grantees and signature programs such as AmeriCorps recruits and manages 4.7 million American volunteers each year for efforts that strengthen our nation’s nonprofits and other community organizations, and multiplies their impact. 

 

Out-of-work job seekers should consider the option of volunteering to build skills and establish connections that can lead to work. Nonprofits can build their capacity by targeting these job seekers to form relationships that can benefit both parties. And policymakers can encourage the use of volunteering as a strategy to reduce the employment rolls and create greater economic opportunity.
 

Many of us know someone who is looking for work. My challenge to all of us is to seek out these friends to see if they will consider volunteering as a way to stay connected while they search for a job.