Looking for a job?

Looking for a job? Maybe just a career change? Well volunteering is an effective avenue to career success. Not only is volunteering a way to better your community and yourself, a way to make new friends and learn a new skill, but it is now a proven way to be a better job candidate. Linkedin has just created a field for volunteer experience to be added to your profile. They conducted a study that showed 41% of hiring managers consider volunteer work to be equal to experience in a paid position.

In Met Council's experience we have learned that volunteering often leads to jobs. We have served as a way to learn new skills for a career change or for college and grad school applications. Our staff has been asked to be references for job applications. We have even hired a few of our volunteers and interns.

As you know Met Council is here to help you if you are looking for any type of volunteer experience. We offer a very wide variety of skilled and unskilled volunteer opportunities. If your interested in volunteering to change your life or some else's please e-mail volunteer@metcouncil.org and we will be happy to set you up with a meaningful volunteer opportunity.

The Social Importance of the Internet

Based on the article, “'The Social Side Of The Internet': Web Users More Likely To Volunteer, Study Shows ,” internet users are more likely to be involved in volunteer activities than their non internet-user counterparts. This is not surprising, considering how socially involved most people are via the internet. It has become the hub of many a party invitation, advertisement, current event, and direct social interaction.

Statistics show that “80% of internet users participate in groups, compared with 56% of non-internet users. Moreover, social media users are even more likely to be active: 82% of social network users and 85% of Twitter users are group participants.”

Generation Y (people born between 1977 and 1990): I strongly encourage you to spread your “internet knowledge” to those who might be intimidated by or not familiar with this new wave of technology innovation. Hint: take a look at our ever-growing baby boomer generation and beyond. Show them how to navigate the web, while stressing the importance of this incredible resource.

Volunteer programs, in particular, have significantly grown and flourished due to their use of internet marketing. For example, the internet has become one of Met Council’s key tools in volunteer recruitment, as it has helped to pique the interests of those who otherwise would not have necessarily been informed about our volunteer opportunities.

Check out Met Council news, videos and more at www.metcouncil.org and get involved on our Facebook page!

Starting young: the importance of child volunteers

Experts say that it’s important to start learning skills like math, music, and languages at an early age . . . but what about community service? If a child learns to volunteer at a young age, will he or she be a better volunteer later in life?

Okay, I’m a volunteer coordinator and not a social scientist. I can only report on my own experiences combined with a good dose of common sense. And lately, I’ve had many an opportunity to observe younger volunteers at work.

On Sunday morning I coordinated another gardening project that was billed as a family-friendly volunteer opportunity, so lots of kids and parents came out to help. I was a little taken-aback by how young the kids were (between ages 3-6). I was worried about whether we’d complete the project in time but trusted that the parents knew their child’s abilities better than I did. This definitely proved to be the case.

At first it was fairly obvious that the kids didn’t want to volunteer on a Sunday morning (Sundays are after all prime cartoon time). But over the course of the project, the kids began to be more engaged and less apprehensive.

One of the older girls was in charge of checking every flower to see which ones needed water and I’ve never come across a more enthusiastic waterer! She made sure no plant went thirsty, and sometimes I had to reign in her exuberance for the sake of the flowers. Similarly a three-year old boy was so excited when he was asked to collect the garden tools that he started to take the trowels out of people’s hands!

By the end, the kids were scrambling over who got to do what and totally involved in the project. Although these kids were made to volunteer by their parents, they ended up working hard because they began to understand how good it feels to help others. And in my profession, it’s very encouraging to see young kids loving volunteer work!

So the hypothesis was tested, sort of. I guess to truly test my theory I would need to contact these kids in twenty years to see if they volunteer more than the average adult. This probably won’t happen . . . but tune in to our blog in twenty years to find out! I however feel fairly confident in saying that these kids have started to cultivate a lifelong passion for volunteerism.

Were three-year-olds the best gardeners a volunteer coordinator could wish for? Well . . . they were certainly the cutest. And seeing young kids get their hands dirty to help low income seniors warmed my heart and made me more optimistic about the future of volunteerism.