Volunteer now

To be a volunteer you need to be fully prepared, you need to be aware of what challenges you will face, and you need to carefully research each volunteering offer to which you apply. Below Joblers offers a step-by-step guide about how to become a volunteer. Once you have prepared fully by reading the information below then you are ready to be a volunteer now!

How can you be a volunteer ?

Be fully prepared

Make sure you are prepared to become a volunteer. Firstly, you need to understand that you will have to put in lots of hard work for little financial gain. Volunteering is generally defined as unpaid work with a social aim. You have to keep in mind that your key motivation should be to help disadvantaged communities. Secondly, think about your geographical availability before looking for volunteer work. There’s no use in searching for a school building project in Kenya if you are not really prepared to leave your home town. Lastly, commit yourself to a certain time period. If you are not fully committed and quit the volunteer work after the first two weeks, there is no point in finding the job in the first place. Similarly, if you go somewhere to volunteer without thinking of an end date, at which point you should analyse whether you would like to continue, then this might hinder the progression of your professional career.

Be ready for challenges

Be ready for difficult challenges and hardships when looking for volunteer work and being a volunteer. Check out the five key challenges that you need to be prepared to face and accept:

• You may be very shocked by the poverty and famine of those in need.
• Volunteering can at times be depressing because you can’t change the world in a day.
• You will face extreme situations.
• You will discover new sides to yourself.
• Your world views are likely to change.

Research in depth

Once you have found a suitable volunteering job, then you must research the position in depth and find out every detail about it. Consider expenses, location, experience required, daily responsibilities expected, weekly timetable, and the period in which you are expected to work until. On top of this, you should start a correspondence with the organisation that you will work with to obtain a first-hand understanding of the job role from someone who currently works there. It is also advisable to find out if any other people are starting as volunteers at the same time as you. Perh aps you could get in contact with them and arrange to meet before to make the whole process of starting the volunteering job a lot more comfortable.

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