Volunteering Can Boost Your Career and MBA Admissions Odds

volunteering

We probably don’t need to sell you on the karmic benefits of donating your time to a worthy cause. But besides all the feels you get for helping others, there’s a surprising side benefit you may not have considered. Namely, that volunteering is one of the most underleveraged ways to advance your career. And it’s something that all top business schools hope to see on applicants’ resumes. After all, the MBA experience is about bringing all facets of your life—not just what you’ve achieved on the job—to help your classmates learn.

Having interests outside of work shows that you can balance multiple commitments and that you are the type of person who is capable of juggling academics with clubs, conferences, recruiting, and more.

Today, we focus on skills-based rather than classic volunteer activities, such as planting trees or serving meals at a soup kitchen. Strategic volunteering exposes you to diverse industries and functions, helps identify your strengths, builds connections, and provides valuable new skills and experiences—all of which can pay dividends in your MBA applications. Check out these three major benefits you can get when you give back.

Curious about your chances of getting into a top B-school? Contact us to talk strategy with a free 15-minute advising session with an SBC Principal Consultant.

Volunteering Develops New Skills

As a volunteer, you can try out new skills without worrying about affecting your current position. For instance, your job may not include project management or give you much chance to grow your leadership ability. If so, look for a volunteer position that provides formal leadership to others.

Many volunteering roles will help you hone those always-desirable soft skills. Think of areas such as communication, public speaking, emotional intelligence, and teamwork. You can also look for opportunities where you’ll make an impact with your existing skills.

See if your employer has any community-focused committees with which you could get involved soon. You could mentor a junior employee or head up a company-sponsored fundraising drive. If your company is hiring right now, you could lead efforts to recruit at your alma mater. That’s a way to give back while leveraging connections you already have at your college.

Any of these steps could result in additional accomplishments you can add to your resume, write essays about, or discuss in an interview.

volunteering

It Can Offer Relevant Career Experience 

It’s often difficult to gain job experience without getting hired for the new role. Whether you’re a recent grad or hoping to try out a new career without making a long-term commitment, volunteering is a tried-and-true method of gaining relevant knowledge in a new field.

The key is identifying positions and organizations that align with your desired career. That way, you can show potential employers that you have transferable skills despite limited or no formal professional history in the role.

At the same time, it gives you valuable feedback on whether you enjoy the work and want to explore further. If you discover that you don’t relish the tasks involved, you’ve saved yourself a lot of angst down the line.

“The best way to find yourself is to lose yourself in the service of others”  – Gandhi

Volunteering Expands Your Network

Chances are, most of your network comes from the same industry you do. However, strategic volunteering connects you with diverse people coming together for a common goal. This creates a unique opportunity to expand your network with connections outside of your field. 

Unlike those typically awkward formal networking events, the volunteering environment is usually open and friendly. It’s a place to forge meaningful connections with people who have shared interests without pressure or expectations.

That said, you’re still networking with people who may help your job search or provide professional references one day. So, make it your business to meet as many people as you can while volunteering—you never know who’s connected to exciting new prospects.

Of course, your primary reason for volunteering is still to share your skills and give back to your community. But why not also reap some professional and MBA admit advantages along the way?

The months ahead will provide more than enough time to get involved — or ideally, get more involved — in a cause that’s close to your heart. You cannot change some aspects of your candidacy: where you earned your undergraduate degree, your GPA, and your career choices up until now. But there are other things, like your volunteering efforts, that you can improve over the next several months if you’re willing to get creative.

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Stacy Blackman Consulting offers multiple services to meet your MBA application needs, from our All-In Partnership to hourly help reviewing your MBA resume.  Contact us today for a free 15-minute advising session to talk strategy with a Principal SBC consultant. Meanwhile, here’s a snapshot of the caliber of expertise on our SBC team.

Here’s a snapshot of the caliber of expertise on our SBC team.

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