<Within a Box entitled “Skills-based Volunteer Work” include the following please:

Skills-based Volunteer Work 

Skills-based volunteer work can provide excellent opportunities for you to apply your knowledge, skills,  and abilities in valuable experiential learning settings. In addition to using your technical or lab skills, benefits of volunteering to promote career readiness include: 

• Improved Time management and organizational skills
• Gain Communication skills
• Practice Professionalism
• Teamwork and the ability to work with people different than you
• Practice Customer service
• Gain awareness of Public relations
• Develop problem-solving skills 
• Flexibility

Research shows that volunteer work reveals the following to potential employers:

1. You are passionate
2. You have a growth mindset
3. You are proactive with your time
4. You’re eager to learn new things, beyond role-related skills
5. It shows that you have a network and connections with other individua

A study by Deloitte revealed that:

• In the 2016 Impact Survey, respondents reported that they see volunteer experience listed on only 30 percent of the résumés they receive. 
• At the same time, the majority (82 percent) of respondents said they would be more likely to choose a candidate with volunteer experience on their résumé. 
• While all types of volunteerism were found by the majority of respondents to be beneficial, respondents slightly preferred skills-based volunteering for building skills that respondents see as “must haves” for leaders.  
• 85 percent of respondents found skills-based volunteering to help talent advance their communication skills vs 77 percent for non-skills-based volunteering 
• 88 percent of respondents found skills-based volunteering to play a key role in developing strong character vs. 84 percent for non-skills-based volunteering 
• Given there is a strong interest in candidates with volunteering experience, businesses may need to do more to communicate to potential talent how much they value the critical professional skills developed through volunteer activities. 
• Executive Summary “At Deloitte, we have experienced the importance of volunteering and understand that it helps build skill sets that are critical to developing well rounded leaders across our organization.” Doug Marshall Director, Corporate Citizenship Deloitte Services 
• 92 percent of respondents agree that volunteering improves employees’ broader professional skill sets 
• 92 percent of respondents agree that volunteering is an effective way to improve leadership skills 
• 80 percent of respondents said that active volunteers move more easily into leadership roles

-UT Dallas students can tap into the resources provided by the Office of Student Volunteerism (OSV) which is committed to enriching the lives of UT Dallas students by educating them about and connecting them to the needs of their community across campus, the country, and the world.

UTD students can set up an Engaged account and have access to many opportunities. 

EngageUTD allows students to find and register for volunteer opportunities posted by community organizations. Students can learn more about how to sign up, register for events and add their service hours/impacts.

Volunteer Work for Future Healthcare Professionals

Future Healthcare Professionals are especially encouraged to volunteer, as time in an experiential setting is often required for applications to medical school and other healthcare programs.

• The Health Professions Advising Center (HPAC) provides various opportunities for volunteer work.

You may also want to consider a very unique program at UTD that allows you to get trained as an Emergency Medical Technician (EMT) and gain certification. You can also count this experience as an advanced course through the HLTH 4304, Section 002 course.

• EMT Course Information.