Business volunteering

Business volunteering is an awesome career break for anyone who wants to share their professional knowledge - and learn something from another professional too!

You don't always need experience for a business volunteering placement though. Some only require basic skills that can be learnt on the job.

What sort of work does business volunteering involve?

Almost anything you can do as a day job can be done as a volunteer - even jobs that you don't think are needed in poorer parts of the world!

You can work in:

• Law, such as human rights law offices. If you're not a qualified lawyer, you can still volunteer if you want to help out on human rights cases.
• Marketing, raising awareness and fundraising. A lot of community development projects require marketing assistance, and health and medical ones have awareness raising and communications as an essential part of their work.
• Entrepreneurship - helping others set up their own businesses and seeing them flourish.
• Consultancy - using your particular skills to benefit another person, business and their community.
• Research, such as market research. This is useful to both businesses and organisations who want to find out what local needs are.
• Sales - particularly useful in helping young entrepreneurs in poorer parts of the world, to sell their products and services.
• Finance. Money is obviously an important part of business volunteering, and you can use your skills to help out on micro-finance and other projects.
• Management. Help new businesses or organisations abroad develop and maintain a sustainable structure, and ensure personnel are managed effectively.
• Administration - sorting out paperwork, setting up efficient systems and helping people deal with other organisations.
• Training. Whatever your background, if a person or community abroad can benefit from your professional experience or skills, you can help by teaching them.

Who will I be working with?

You may be working with a team of other volunteers, or you could be working largely on your own.

There'll be a team abroad which will include a support worker or supervisor for you, who can help you find your feet. They will be there throughout your placement - how much supervision you have depends on both the placement and your level of experience - and confidence!

Some business volunteering placements involve working one-on-one with a business person or entrepreneur abroad. Others involve working with a much larger group of people - such as processing refugees.

What will I get out of a business volunteering placement?

Most business volunteering placements involve some element of cross-cultural working, which means learning from the people you're volunteering with, as you're sharing your skills with them. Some people call this a skills exchange.

You'll learn about different ways of working, and your communication skills will develop enormously. You might even learn a new language!

Whether you're looking to grab the next rung of the career ladder, or you want to move into a new career, business volunteering can help you get the extra skills you need - whether they're specific to one industry or they're soft skills that can be useful in any job. These skills, and the experience of volunteering in business abroad, will put you head and shoulders above other job-seekers, or other people applying for a promotion.

It's not all about you either! You'll have the satisfaction of helping get a new business off the ground, or helping a worthwhile project become efficient, sustainable and more effective in its work. You'll also make life-long friends, both with your other volunteers and the people you are working with.

Sounds good, doesn't it? See a list of organisations offering business volunteering here.