Volunteering can fill gaps in your CV

01/08/2010

If you are currently looking for a job and you have spare time on your hands, then perhaps you could benefit from volunteering. If you are leaving college or university, or have been made redundant then this is a good way to fill in gaps in your CV.

Voluntary work can be tailored to your timetable and inclinations and you can channel your good nature with a mouse click. "There's always been a barrier to volunteering because people don't know how to get involved or don't want a long-term commitment," says Terry Ryall, chief executive of the National Young Volunteers Service, which helps 16-to-25-year-olds donate spare time to causes that interest them. "We need to make volunteering so compelling that it becomes a natural part of every young person's life."

Virtue is its own reward, but those who take up good works are likely to find that there are enticing material benefits as well. A recent survey found that half of employers questioned reckoned that job applicants with volunteering experience were more motivated than their peers and three-quarters agreed that it gives a boost to career prospects. It can also expose unsuspected skills and interests.

In 2004 the government established the Russell Commission to investigate ways of involving young people in their communities. The result was the National Young Volunteers Service, also known as "v", which has organised 76m hours of voluntary work since 2006. The website is a world of possibilities; you can click on an area that interests you to find out what's on offer. If you don't know what you're interested in, you can contact your nearest v team – there is one for every local authority – and they will suggest suitable avenues. The ‘V’ service offers more than just charity shop work.

If the opportunities do not exist, you can create them yourself with a grant. "If people identify a useful community project we will provide funding, provided they involve a group of young volunteers," says Ryall.

There are many places to volunteer, including festivals, sports matches, conservation projects and careers-based events. Obviously a stint helping out at a hospice or succouring the dispossessed in Africa will fatten up any CV, but sheaves of official plaudits are required to distinguish one able graduate from another. Nationally recognised awards will therefore turn a summer of self-sacrifice into hard currency. "Vfifty" certificates recognise 50 hours of volunteering and those who manage a further 100 hours earn the "vimpact" prize. It's bound to impress.