A little known secret is while volunteerism pays nothing, it returns greatly in terms of career advancement as well as personal growth. As a former Chief Financial Officer and Executive Recruiter, I have witnessed many times how volunteering helped advance a career.
My volunteering began in earnest when I moved to Lafayette, Louisiana as an accountant. Not long after I moved there, I was approached by an insurance representative to join Kiwanis. I had heard of Kiwanis, but knew nothing about them. He invited me to a luncheon and presentation.
In all honesty, I was really busy with my new job and going to lunch once a week seemed like an obligation that I couldn’t fulfill. But I thought it might be a way to make some friends and so I agreed to go; and from then on I was hooked.
The group was a mixture of professionals and self employed tradesmen with a common bond of friendship and community service. Our club raised money to benefit children’s charities.
Each week we gathered for a nice lunch and listened to our speaker of the week. In that process, I learned many things about our community, our state and our politics. I learned how to be socially responsible in my community and, as a result of my active participation, I made many friends. I made so many in fact, that it was a rare day that I didn’t run into someone I knew.
Soon I was volunteering to serve as an officer and I became the President Elect. It was a tough assignment as I was responsible for our biggest fundraiser: Christmas Tree Sales. But I tackled it like an accountant and former salesman, and I changed how we ran our fundraiser. As a result, we made more money and we developed a stronger database of former customers and their purchases.
What resulted next I never expected. My resume improved. When it was time to look for a new job, it was my community service, my experience leading a group and my new found presentation skills (gathered from leading our weekly meetings) that set me apart in my interviews.
It also led to my nomination to a more select group of local businessmen who essentially were the future leaders of our town. And it led to my nomination to a Mardi Gras Krew. Both of these were made possible because of my selfish desire to make friends and my willingness to volunteer to make those friends.
When I left Lafayette to become a recruiter in Houston I noticed that all of the senior executives had significant volunteerism on their resume. In fact, if you look at the Annual Reports of the Fortune 500 CEO’s, you will discover that many of them serve as Board of Directors for charitable organizations. The same goes for Partners at law and accounting firms. Ditto for many Doctors who run hospitals or large medical firms.
I also joined a charitable group when I moved to Houston: The Texas Exes Houston Chapter. We raised money for scholarships to give to students who wished to attend my alma mater. Again it was a selfish decision, I wanted to make friends. In the process, I gained more leadership skills, more resume padding and more personal fulfillment that I was making a difference.
No matter what your reasoning, volunteering will not only improve your people skills, it will give you personal satisfaction for giving back to your community and it will grow your network of contacts throughout the community when you are looking for a new job. It will also “pad your resume.” Something recruiters always look for. And the Fortune 500 does too. Not bad company to keep.
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