Volunteer to Rejuvenate Your Career
Two Steps to Chart a Destination out of Your Job Rut
May 5, 2009
A lapse in passion for your job may not necessarily mean signing up for courses, dusting off your resume or looking at job ads. Not that there is anything wrong with those strategies, but there is a more cautious and cost-efficient approach to generate new creative energy. There are two basic steps to follow: visualize, actualize.
Visualize Your Ideal Activity
Visualize yourself doing something ideal. Everything is perfect. What are you doing?
Take a moment to write down exactly what comes to mind without editing yourself. It is important that at the brainstorming stage practicalities are not a consideration.
Questions to ask yourself:
- Who am I working with?
- What actions am I performing?
- Where am I, indoors or outdoors?
- When during the day am I working?
- Why do I like this kind of picture?
Actualize Your Vision by Finding a Way to Practice
Be creative when deciding what kind of volunteer position excites you. Try to match as many of your answers from the questions above as you can. It is also important that you are completely honest about what you would like to do. Volunteer serving organizations want to know how you can best be placed to meet both yours and their objectives.
Not Ready to Shake Up the Comfort Zone? You Can Get Help
Contact a local volunteer centre and they can match you. Many communities have a centralized volunteer serving organization that matches organizations and your interests. They can also help you discover the wide range of volunteer positions that are available. For example, positions could be 2 hours a week continuously throughout the year, a 2 week project overseas during vacation and everything in between.
Research any organizations that look interesting. Generally, websites have information about the volunteer job description, mission and value statements of the organization, and some stories from volunteers, staff, and other people that are served.
Check with your employer to see if there are any programs for staff. Employer-supported volunteerism is becoming popular because of all the benefits received by employers. Namely, extending human resource development and image building for corporate social responsibility. Not surprisingly, other benefits include increased employee retention, and improved employee job performance.
You may find that the opportunity to pursue and engage your interests is enough. Not all job ruts require expensive training solutions or turbulent mid-career stream change. Sometimes, new friends, giving back to the community, and a new perspective is just what is needed. If more is needed, and a bigger change is desired, then these first two steps can serve as a way to test out a different environment and make new contacts.
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