Charity & Voluntary Jobs | Jobs Classifieds

People volunteer many reasons, especially wanting to help others. However, it is quite reasonable to expect some benefits for yourself. There is a long tradition of seeing volunteering as based on self-sacrifice. The best volunteering involves the desire to serve others, but does not exclude other motivations. In preference to considering volunteering as something you do for less fortunate people, try to see it as an exchange.

Today, you may be the one with the ability to help, but tomorrow you may be the beneficiary of someone else's volunteer effort. Even now, you might be on both sides of this cycle. Perhaps you are teaching someone to read, while last month, a volunteer ambulance rushed you to casualty. Volunteering also includes helping yourself. If you are active in your neighbourhood crime watch, your home is also protected while you protect your neighbours' homes.

If you are genuinely providing a service, it tends to strengthen your commitment to volunteering when you can see the benefits to both the recipient and yourself. It is also far more comfortable than providing "hand-outs" because it upholds the self-esteem of those with whom you volunteer.

Finding the Correct Assignment
There are numerous volunteer jobs available and you should take time to find the one that best suits you.

1. Start with Something Easy
Look around yourself and start with anything that you think you can do. It is very important to start with easier activities and to steadily progress to those more challenging, as your confidence grows.

2. Don't Overtax Yourself
If you hope to continue your activities for any period, avoid being too ambitious. An unassuming but prolonged activity will win confidence and enable you to stay involved even longer. It is also important to have the courage to refuse anything you think is beyond your ability.

3. See Things from the Other Side
Any volunteer activity involves two parties: those who are in need of help and those who are trying to help them. Your chief priority must be the needs of the person whom you are trying to help.

4. Keep Your Promises
Never break promises, even if they seem to be trivial ones that you just happened to make during casual conversation. You must keep your word concerning such things as appointment times and how you are going to be of assistance. Don't exclude children. They are rely on you as much (and sometimes more than) anyone else. The establishment of trust with the other party is a key to your success as a volunteer worker.

5. Manage Your Time
You can't be everywhere at once, and there is a limit to the amount of time that you can spend on your volunteer activities. Be aware of the limits, and match your efforts to your goals accordingly.

6. Obtain the Understanding of Your Family
Volunteer workers are required to provide their services when the other party needs them. Sometimes they have to work at weekends, or for prolonged periods of time. This inevitably leads to spending less time at home; a prospective cause of conflict. Don't forgo your family or job for the sake of your volunteer activities. Obtaining full agreement is an essential early measure.

7. Be Discreet
You will need a certain amount of knowledge regarding the other party, since your activities are based on common efforts. You will learn various sorts of information through the course of your activities. Such information will be disclosed to you out of trust. You must never betray this trust by passing such details on to others. Protecting privacy is common sense from the perspective of respecting people's rights, and also a basis for creating trust and fruitful volunteer activity.

8. Avoid Religious or Political Motives
Some people become interested in volunteering because of religious beliefs or a sense of justice. You deserve credit for offering assistance to those experiencing troubles or difficulties. However, you must not attempt to persuade the other party to join a religion of which you are a member, or to support a political party that you favour. Appreciating the value of each other's rights to freedom of thought and belief is showing consideration for basic human rights. Volunteering is essentially about respecting the human rights of others. It is very important that you understand the severity of this.

9. Never Exchange Money
Volunteers activities are done solely because you want to. No one can force you to do anything in this context. In order to maintain the autonomy and freedom of your activities, you should not accept any kind of recompense. You must not give any money or goods as assistance. Volunteers help others through their emotional support and good deeds. As for transportation fees, and other costs involved in volunteer activities, however, the other party normally pays.

As long as you are providing a useful service, and pay attention to the needs of the other party, volunteering can be extremely rewarding. Pushing kindness on others can be not only a nuisance, but also an obstacle to establishing a personal relationship on equal terms, since it divides the parties involved into a superior "giver" and a subordinate "receiver." Volunteering is not a one-way flow of assistance, but a mutual activity where you'll also learn from those who you are trying to help. Volunteer activities provide a wonderful opportunity for personal development and self-fulfilment.