How Lending a Hand Assists You Professionally

As an independent contractor whose community profile might match that of the local politicos, realtors are often asked to donate their time, money and expertise to various causes, events and charitable organizations within the community in which they work. In fact in our recent survey, over 43% of your were regularly undertaking volunteer work within your community.

While it’s not uncommon to automatically think no when a request for help comes at you out of the blue, perhaps you’d be better off if you took your time to consider the request without immediately closing the door.

And as well-thought-of professional it behooves you to give back to the community from which you’ve built your reputation, earned a living and developed a sphere of influence or a trusted social network of friends.

Volunteers are often the glue that holds a community together. As such, volunteering lets you better connect with your community. But it’s not simply a one-way street and those who think so are woefully mistaken. Volunteering your efforts to help, say, with the local humane society can end up out-benefitting you in the end as you connect and build relationships with other animal lovers.

Volunteering can also help you build upon skills and talents you already have and use them to benefit the greater community. As a realtor, for instance, you raise awareness for your favorite cause or event as a volunteer advocate, while further developing and improving your public speaking, communication, and marketing skills.

The exposure alone is invaluable. People come to know and recognize you as that advocate of whatever the cause or event. Your name and your face get plastered in the community papers. That level of recognition can’t be bought.

As you become more and more involved in your cause or charity, your mounting community profile could lead to new or related paid gigs.

Now that you have the volunteering bug, the question will be what cause or charity really excites you and motivates you to give of your time freely. Here, thanks to Volunteer Edmonton, are some questions you should ask yourself:
• If you had all the time and money in the world, what problem would you solve? What would you change or create? Your answer will tell you what matters to you most.
• How much time can you commit? Weekly? Monthly? Mornings or evenings?
• What kinds of people do you want to work with--both in terms of who is receiving the services and who your co-workers might be? Do you want to volunteer with children? The seniors or disabled?
• Where would you like to volunteer? At home or at an organization? Do you have transportation?
• Do you have specific skills or talents you would like to share? Others could benefit from your expertise--whether that is gardening, sewing, bookkeeping, web designing and much more.
• What are your personal goals? Gain work experience, explore a new career, champion a cause near and dear to your heart and
• Are you willing to participate in a training course or do you want to start your volunteer work right away? A training course can boost your skills, but it can also be time-consuming.
• What DON'T you want to do as a volunteer? Identifying your dislikes will give you a clearer picture of what your ideal volunteer experience looks like.

Whether you’re selling raffle tickets for a draw, helping run a small agency as a board member or serving food to the needy, remember that your efforts not only serve to inspire you but others as well. There’s nothing like starting a rippling effect of kindness.

What kinds of charities or causes do you enjoy helping out with? What is one of your most rewarding volunteer experiences? Do you plan to volunteer more or less this year?