What are the benefits of volunteering as a student?
Volunteering for a cause you care about can be an incredible way to give back to your community. It can lead to lots of other professional and personal benefits, especially if you’re a student.
When you’re a university student, it’s important to make your studies your priority, especially if you’re juggling studying online with paid work or family responsibilities.
But it’s equally important to stay connected to your community, and volunteering for a cause you care about can be a great way to hit two birds with one stone.
Many people volunteer while studying, as there are plenty of volunteer roles that not only help people or communities, but that also equip volunteers with experience that can be useful in their careers down the track. And, importantly, volunteering can be an incredible way to meet people and gain new friendships.
So where do you start, and what are the key benefits to volunteering as a student? We spoke with Sarah Wilson, a passionate volunteer and Strategic Partnerships Director at Volunteering Australia, to get her tips and advice.
Why should you volunteer as a student?
There are lots of reasons why people choose to volunteer as a student. Some people want to contribute to a cause they’re passionate about. Others may want to gain experience or develop new skills. And others still just want to find a way to meet new people and connect to their community.
For Sarah, it was a combination of these factors. She was studying a law degree when she started volunteering for VolunteeringACT, coordinating a major community project for them.
“I was completing my degree and working in a law firm, but I didn’t feel like I was showing up for the world in a way that aligned with my values. I wasn’t sure what I wanted to do as a volunteer, but I knew I wanted to put my skills to use,” Sarah says.
What started out as a casual volunteering role ended up changing Sarah’s life.
Can volunteering help you get a job?
“I often joke that I’m the poster girl for volunteering as a pathway to employment,” Sarah says. “After volunteering with VolunteeringACT for two years they offered me full-time employment, and I stayed with them for eight years before moving on to my current role with Volunteering Australia.”
As a student, you might be learning new skills in your studies that you haven’t had the chance to put into practice yet. Volunteering can help you gain practical experience that can support your job applications. It can also open your eyes to the kind of work you enjoy or are interested in.
- Related reading: Should I volunteer abroad?
“If I were to describe the positive aspects of volunteering using ‘employment’ terms, over the years my volunteer roles have had everything: stakeholder engagement, copywriting and editing, marketing and communications, procurement, and event management. It was a really great introduction to the workforce and taught me a lot about the kind of career I wanted to pursue,” Sarah says.
What other benefits are there to volunteering?
As a volunteer you can make a very real impact by giving back to your community, but you can also benefit in other ways too. Especially if you’re studying online.
For a start, it’s a great way to meet people. “Studying can be psychologically and emotionally draining, particularly for those studying online,” Sarah says.
Volunteering is one of the most accessible, cost-effective, and impactful things we can do to improve our wellbeing.”
In fact, there’s evidence to show volunteering has a positive mental health impact. “Research has consistently found that volunteering improves psychological wellbeing, including happiness, satisfaction with life, daily motivation, and a sense of accomplishment. Volunteering has also been shown to reduce loneliness, social isolation, depression, and anxiety.”
What types of volunteering can you do as a student?
One of the great things about volunteering is that there are a wide range of causes and activities you can get involved with.Volunteer roles can range from hand-on tasks like sorting donations for an op shop, planting trees for environmental charities, caring for animals in shelters, all the way to event delivery, marketing and communications support, or administrative and project management tasks.
- Related reading: 13 high-paying entry-level jobs for uni graduates
It's a good idea to work out what type of roles you’re interested in, how much time you have to offer, and what skills and experiences you can bring to the table to work out what kind of volunteering you’re best suited to.
How do you find volunteering opportunities?
Most universities will promote volunteer opportunities, either through the student union or student wellbeing/campus life bodies. In addition, you can find volunteering opportunities through your state/territory volunteering peak body.
“Volunteering Australia hosts the national, online platform GoVolunteer, where people can search for opportunities by keywords and location,” Sarah says.
She also encourages people to reach out to organisations they’re interested in directly.
Explore our hacks and guides for even more advice about finding job opportunities as a student.
