Volunteering Abroad and Your Career

Volunteering Abroad and Your Career

Volunteering essential is an altruistic endeavour where by you as the volunteer help out people by giving out your time as well as your skills towards a common goal.

This works well as that is the main purpose of volunteering.

Although there are also hidden perks where you can benefit from volunteering, especially if you choose to go abroad and do it there. The advantages of volunteering abroad are exploring new places, learning new cultures, travel, and many others.


In addition to these there are benefits that help you and your career which include:

Getting into a good college and resume experience

If you are in high school or you an undergraduate volunteering abroad gives you a better chance of getting into colleges, universities and graduate schools. Many universities and colleges get many applicants who would like to enroll in their institutions.

With all the applications that are sent to them, they are usually swamped with too many of them. This makes choosing students to enroll in their school to be difficult. As such they look for something extra the applicants have or have done to make them a worthy candidate. The students who have volunteered abroad are usually picked over those that haven’t, having one foot inside the door. This also applies to guys who are looking for a job. Many multinationals and fortune 5000 companies prefer hiring someone who has worldwide experience.


Great practical experience

Volunteering abroad gives you as the volunteer actual working experience that could be applied in your job. Volunteering sometimes involves working in an office or in certain fields that the volunteer is able to learn and apply practical experience they had learned either in class or in lecture halls.

Volunteer work prepares you for life in the corporate world. It also provides you with extensive training in a certain field. This work experience is rewarded by some universities by them giving academic credits to volunteers.


Volunteering can lead to a job

In addition, volunteering abroad can provide a job for you. There have been situations where volunteers have gone abroad to work in various charities, and they have proved to be such a great asset that they are hired to be part of the permanent staff.

Many not for profit organizations are looking for people who could work for them and provide great service to them. When you volunteer for them they see you as someone of value and since you already know how they work they can choose to hire you. They would avoid the extra expense of advertising and holding interviews if they have people who are already working for them on a voluntary basis.



Networking is an added benefit to volunteering abroad. The volunteer would be able to form friendships from different parts of the world and this can be a useful asset. These friends are a great resource especially when they can recommend you for a job position available in their home countries. Friendships formed while abroad are great as they could be used on a professional basis and they help especially in making business deals and agreements.

There are other more benefits out there for volunteering abroad, while it helps people it can also used as a means of improving the volunteers’ personal and professional lives.


Travel tip shared by Zablon


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