Why Volunteer

Why do a volunteer placement? Undertaking a volunteer placement undeniably makes a real difference to the lives of others and, through the application of your skills and experience to needy causes, helps to make the world a better place. What you may not realize is that volunteering also benefits you as an individual. With Oxford Royale Academy’s volunteer programs you can:

Improve your job prospects and employability

Volunteering proves to potential employers that you have developed necessary skills and are a committed person. This is especially useful for application forms and job interviews. A survey carried out by TimeBank through Reed Executive showed that among 200 of the UK’s leading businesses:

• 73% of employers would employ a candidate with volunteering experience over one without

• 94% of employers believe that volunteering can add to skills

• 58% say that voluntary work experience can actually be more valuable than experience gained in paid employment

• 94% of employees who volunteered to learn new skills had benefited either by getting their first job, improving their salary, or being promoted.

Additionally, volunteering lets you try out different kinds of work, giving you hands-on experience of how different professions operate. It might also involve some form of informal training that could be useful to you as you seek future employment. Additionally, volunteering brings you into contact with all kinds of professionals and people from every walk of life. In fact, the networking opportunities it can provide are among the least publicized but most exciting benefits of all. A good network, even with contacts overseas who you might never expect to be helpful back home, can guide your career pathway right through life and help you take giant steps towards your ideal job. Indeed, up to 60% of job vacancies are not advertised and end up being filled internally or through external networking.

If you are already working, volunteering can help you change your career direction.

Have fun

Volunteering is a fun and fulfilling way of allowing you to experience masses of opportunities not usually available to you. Many volunteers are surprised at how much fun it can be to help others! Not every volunteer experience is the same, but by finding a placement with Oxford Royale Academy that matches your interests, you have a good chance of having fun while making a difference.

Improve your English

There is no better way to improve your English than by using it intensively in the work place! Oxford Royale Academy’s volunteer placements offer excellent opportunities to practise your English while working and with the students with whom you live on or off campus.

Build your confidence

Many volunteers encounter a variety of new challenges when they begin. Sharing new experiences with new people, they can learn new skills that can give them confidence to face challenges in other areas of their lives.

Make new friends

There’s no better place to meet like-minded individuals than through volunteering for an organization in which you are interested. Working together for a common cause is a great way to bond with others and become part of a community that can stay in touch long after your work is done. In the course of your volunteer placement you will meet people from a diverse range of backgrounds – people you may never come across in your daily life. As a fully registered student at Oxford Royale Academy you will additionally be able to fully participate in our social and leisure programs alongside students on other programs, and will be living with them either on or off campus.

Improve your health

There is evidence that volunteering can improve your health. In The Healing Power of Doing Good, writer Allan Luks found medical and scientific documentation supporting the health benefits of volunteering, such as:

• a heightened sense of well-being

• an improvement in insomnia

• a stronger immune system

• speedier recovery from surgery

Volunteer Programmes –
Make a Difference this Summer.

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