Why encourage students to volunteer?

1. Employers value volunteering

Volunteering greatly enhances the employability potential of students. Employers now actively look for evidence of volunteering when they are selecting candidates for interview. As Hawkings and Gilleard (2006) point out, 'A degree is no longer a meal ticket to your future, but simply a licence to hunt'.  Employers seek graduates who have something interesting to say on their CVs and they want to know whether candidates have challenged and stretched themselves above and beyond getting a degree as evidenced by the comments below.

'Volunteers are amongst those who are more likely to have 'sparkle', the self-aware, unafraid individuals who look at your face when you are interviewing them as they have more confidence and more to talk about.'
                                                                                                                          (Graduate Recruiter, Network Rail)

'With over 180 applications and only 3 places available, it's down to looking at what students have done with their free time.  Volunteering is of special interest to us.'
                                                                                               (HR Manager, Wright Johnston & Mackenzie, solicitors)

'73% of employers said they would rather employ someone with voluntary experience than someone without. 58% of employers say that voluntary work experience can actually be more valuable that experience gained in paid employment.'
                                                                                               (Timebank Survey, Association of Graduate Recruiters)

2. Students develop and grow from volunteering

Volunteering is personally rewarding and offers students an invaluable opportunity to enhance their skills, knowledge and experience alongside their university studies. Students who build up generic skills outside of the subject they study fit into the workplace more easily. Through development of skills like reflection they are able to recognise where their strengths in practice lie. Volunteering also contributes to the development of Edinburgh Napier University Graduate Attributes.

'Volunteering is a wake-up call for my students - it helps them to identify for themselves what the gaps in their skills are.'
                                                                                                                 (Lecturer, Edinburgh Napier University)
'As a student mentor over three years, I feel my confidence has grown. I transferred transferable skills to my student mentees. For example, I helped a mature college leaver with essay writing.'
                                                                                            (Lyn, Biomedical Sciences Edinburgh Napier University)

Other examples of how students use volunteering to enhance employability skills can be found in the NSA case study.
 

3. Volunteering helps develop Employability skills

Edinburgh Napier ranks the development of employability skills highly in all of its programmes. Employability skills are divided into five main areas in the Student Employability Model:

• Intellectual skills; e.g. apply theory to practice; challenge taken‐for‐granted assumptions
• Personal skills; e.g. time management; personal networking
• Personal attributes; e.g. adaptable/ flexible;  pro‐active
• Understanding of professional practices; e.g. commercial awareness; professional behaviours and accountability
• Personal and professional development planning
   

All of these can be developed as part of volunteering.  By reflecting on their experiences, students can build skills and attributes that help to make them stand out from their peers.
Through careful choice of the volunteering experience, students can gain highly valued workplace skills (Hawkings & Gilleard, 2006), for example a nursing student who volunteered to work with elderly people could enhance their nursing practice and develop team working, oral communication, flexibility, adaptability, customer focus and problem solving, all attributes that recruiters value. 

4. Volunteering can help students meet learning outcomes

Volunteering can help students develop skills such as the ability to:

• analyse complex situations
  
• critically reflect and apply cognitive concepts
  
• solve problems and deal with setbacks
  
• apply knowledge of how organisations work
  
• put theory into practice

All of which feature in every level of Edinburgh Napier University module learning outcomes and employability competences. Volunteering, for example could give students studying towards the module below valuable prior experience and skills in service delivery which could be useful in meeting learning outcomes.

5. The University benefits from student volunteering

According to Volunteer Development Scotland volunteering has the potential to:

• Reduce student drop- out because students engage with the wider community with added purpose to their lives.
  
• Produce more employable graduates through practical experiences.
  
• Create a sense of belonging to the institution, especially where the volunteering takes place at the University.
  
• Improve the public and ethical profile of the university. Students who give up their time for free to help others add to the positive reputation of Edinburgh Napier.
  
• Build external links and partnerships with employers and the wider public.

Volunteering links in to the University's objectives as outlined in the Academic Strategy and the Learning, Teaching and Assessment Strategy 2009-2015, whose aims include:

• To develop confident individuals with quality achievements, skills and attributes that are valued by students, employers, the sector and the community
• To support our students in realising their full potential academically, as individuals and as active citizens and autonomous lifelong learners

6. The Community benefits from student volunteering

There are a number of benefits listed here.