Volunteering to Gain Employment Skills
Searching for employment can be a difficult task even with a wealth of experience. It can be almost impossible when you don’t have the basic employment skills. Employment skills include team work, conflict resolution, communication, time management and so on. So the question becomes, how do you find a job when you don’t have the experience? One option is to volunteer.
Volunteering with an employer can be a win-win situation for all involved.
The individual gets a foot in the door in a field they’re interested in.
Individuals are learning new skills.
Individuals are learning what they like and don’t like about their field of interest.
Employers receive additional assistance in their place of business.
The opportunity for future jobs is possible.
Meet our friend Conner. Conner had a strong interest in Athletics. He loves being in an environment that has anything to do with athletes, athletic training, as well as health and wellness. Because Conner never had an actual job in his field of interest, he was somewhat limited in basic employment skills and in the area of Athletics and sports training.
Enter a premiere athletic training facility in the Nashville area. This athletic facility works with/serves a variety of athletes. They promote wellness through a variety of training and coaching programs to its members.
This facility needed voluntary assistance with basic every day housekeeping tasks. Currently, this is not a paid position and was not being attended to in a regular manner. The Arc’s solution was to provide a volunteer, Conner, who loves athletics and was looking for employment skills. Together, with a privately paid job coach, Conner volunteers once a week at D1. Conner is a great asset to this training facility as the picture below shows.
By Conner volunteering, even one day a week, The training facility is getting the help they need with basic housekeeping tasks, Conner is ecstatic to visit the athletic training facility every week, and Conner is also gaining valuable employment skills that he can utilize where-ever he goes.
Coach Jeremy and Conner (Pictured above). Conner has quickly become one of the guys and is popular among the coaches and the members. Conner has been volunteering since May and will continue through the summer. In the fall he will be attending college at Lipscomb University as a student in their IDEAL program.