May 11, 2010

By: Jen Lo

            Believe it or not, a lot of youth who are looking to enter a professional program later in life believe that they should only volunteer for positions that are related to their dream career.  I was once like this; I wanted to be a physician in the future, so I looked for positions in hospitals where I can directly help doctors. But guess what, these opportunities are very scarce for youth, if not non-existent, because as a youth in secondary or post-secondary school, you simply don’t have the knowledge and mindset to deal with those difficult tasks yet.

     And guess what, the professional firms or schools that you want to get into aren’t even looking for those related volunteer experiences.  What they are really looking for is that you are a well-rounded person who can handle new, challenging, demanding situations and tasks in a proper and efficient way, because this is what you will be doing for the rest of your life in that career.  Being a physician’s assistant directly in the wards isn’t the only, and likely not even a sufficient, way where you can learn to have such a “capacity” to deal with difficult situations; I actually find that volunteering in a number of different positions and experiencing different conditions is the way to go to obtain these communicational, interpersonal, organizational, time-management, and other skills that can get you into your dream job. Experiences with numerous other volunteer positions and the skills that you learn from those will definitely show your employer or the program entrance selection committee that you are comfortable handling a new and foreign situation.      

    In my case, I was a wayfinder for the University of Alberta hospital, meaning that I delivered documents to the wards and helped visitors navigate through the hospital.  Even though it was a hospital volunteer position, I had no direct contact with the doctors, but I was able to greatly increase my communication skills.  I also overcame my fear of striking up a conversation with strangers because I had to talk to both visitors and sometimes even with patients.  My summer volunteer position at the Telus World of Science as an assistance camp leader not only further added to my communication abilities, as this time I was dealing with young children, but I also learned to be a leader to guide the children through their camp tasks.  So, volunteering in various positions can help greatly with the development of skills needed later in life, even if those positions are not related to your dream job at all.  And not only this, but volunteering can also help you determine whether your particular dream job is actually the best for you and can help to refine your career goals.  For me, talking to the patients at the hospital really made me want to become a doctor so that I can use my abilities to treat those patients, and interacting with children at the camps made me want to direct my future medical education towards pediatrics in the future.

            Since all volunteer positions can have benefits towards personal development needed in later entrance into school programs and careers, first start with those positions that sound both interesting and fun to you.  The keyword here is interest.  You are always more likely to continue with something you’re interested in.  Never think of volunteering as only a mean to get into better schools or careers, but think of it as an opportunity to learn, to have fun, and to do some meaningful and helpful to others at the same time.  Take on one or more volunteer positions that fit your schedule and personal preference, and commit to that position for at least a few months.  This not only lets you experience a sufficient amount of that volunteer position, but also shows that you can keep a commitment to a task.  If you have more free time, try out other different positions as well so that you can have a variety of exciting experiences.

One excellent place to search for volunteer positions is this website, the official website of Alberta YouthVOLUNTEER! Society.  I myself have used this resource as a youth in the past looking for volunteer opportunities and also as a representative of an organization looking for volunteers.  I found my volunteer positions at the hospital and at the Telus World of Science by browsing through this website.  A year ago, as the Vice President of the University of Alberta student group of the Canadian Liver Foundation, I posted up information to recruit volunteers for my group, and since then I have received many calls of interest.  This clearly shows that youth in Alberta are coming to our site for volunteer opportunities and that organizations are posting those positions.  Both procedures of searching up positions or volunteers are easy and take no time.  You just have to sign into the AYV website, and you can find a perfect volunteer position that matches your preferences and let you spend your summer or spare time in a meaningful way!