VOLUNTEER TO CAREER
TIPS FOR YOUR PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT
TABLE OF CONTENTS
All Hands and Hearts’ Alumni
Career Development Toolkit
Arm yourself with tools to leverage your experience with
All Hands and Hearts to get the dream job you deserve.
SHARE YOUR STORY
If you have questions about how you can further your career with All Hands and Hearts or another organization, or if you would like to share your personal employment success, email us at: alumni@allhandsandhearts.org
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RESOURCES
LEVERAGE YOUR EXPERIENCE
Volunteering offers many benefits to a career, whether you’re just starting out, looking to switch or continuing to grow. Use this guide and the Alumni Network to turn your volunteer experience with All Hands and Hearts into your next career move!
Identify your skills - All Hands and Hearts programs push volunteers to learn and apply new skills. Take some time to reflect on your roles in the field, how you assisted with the project(s) and tasks where you felt challenged. Make a list of these experiences and translate the tasks into skills. For example:
Every facet of being involved with All Hands and Hearts gains you experience working cohesively within a diverse team often in pressurised or emotive situations. By agreeing to follow the code of conduct, you also learned to understand the importance of safety procedures and policies, promoting a harmonious working environment.
Check out The Alumni Skills Matrix to match roles you may have held while volunteering or working with us to transferable skills you can market on an application or in an interview.
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NETWORK
Using the Directory on the Alumni Network
Research the type of roles our alumni are employed in. Reach out to people registered as ‘willing to help’ for advice on how they got started in their industry.
This will help give you a goal to work towards and an idea of what skills and experience are most relevant. Whoever you network with might also keep you in mind when opportunities come up in their organization. If you can, ask to have a call with them. Be prepared with information you want to discuss. Ask them about:
Talking to people about the organization they work for can tell you a lot about the culture there and if it’s a good match for you.
Joining Clubs and Groups
Professional sports clubs and groups are excellent networking tools. Membership also shows another level of dedication to a certain cause on a resume.
Making the Most of a Networking Opportunity
Our Alumni Relations Manager, Siobhan MacRae, and our Director of Principal Gifts, Mariangela Anzalone, hosted this webinar on networking and leveraging your volunteer skills.
Here’s 60 questions you can ask in a one to one or group networking event.
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RESOURCES
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JARGON BUSTER
RESOURCES
JOB SEARCH
Resources to Find Jobs in the Humanitarian Sector Around the World:
Humanitarian Roles for U.S. Residents
Humanitarian roles for UK Residents
Humanitarian roles for Australian and New Zealand Residents
Job Search Websites for General Roles
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MARKETING YOUR SKILLS
Knowing how to communicate all of your qualifications and career goals is difficult — especially when you need to capture a recruiter's attention in just a few seconds. Luckily, we can help.
Create a Winning Resume
Check out these Resume Writing Tips & Tricks.
Remember to split your skills, experience and education into clear sections.
Write a Stand Out Cover Letter
Check out these 10 steps to writing a Dynamite Cover Letter
Whether you’re creating your resume, completing an application form or writing a cover letter, be sure to use the Leveraging Your Experience section of this guide and remember to sell the skills you learned with All Hands and Hearts.
Get the Most out of LinkedIn
Watch this recording from our Virtual Career Fair where LinkedIn Account Executive Terry Peppers shared advice on marketing yourself using LinkedIn.
Terry also provided this Cheat Sheet on how to build a powerful LinkedIn Profile.
RESOURCES
RESUME
COVER LETTER
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Interviewers like to hear tangible examples of times when you applied a skill set. These are called Behavioural Questions. E.g. “Have you ever made a mistake? How did you handle it?” or “Give an example of a goal you reached and tell me how you achieved it”.
Answer Behavioural Questions with the STAR technique, keeping answers to less than 2 minutes:
(S) Situation Describe the situation in which the event took place
This article explains the STAR technique in more detail and provides some great examples.
INTERVIEW PREPARATION
Committing time to fully prepare for an interview will help you feel more in control and less apprehensive about how you perform on the day. It’s natural to be nervous about being interviewed, especially by a panel. When you feel fully equipped to give an interview your best shot, you will appear calm, cool and collected in front of your prospective employers.
An interview is also an opportunity for you to gain a better understanding of the role and organization and confirm it aligns with your career goals and preferences — make the most of it.
RESOURCES
General Interview Resources
Preparing for an Interview for a Humanitarian Role
Check out this resource to gain a broader perspective on current international crises and the major relief agencies around the world.
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Even if you don't need technical expertise to do your job today, understanding what skills are most in demand will help you stay in touch with the technology and tools that may improve your workload. LinkedIn's research identified these as employers’ most desired hard and soft skills in 2019:
TRAINING OPPORTUNITIES
Whether you’re looking for a training course as the first step towards a career in a new field or to enhance the skills you already have, the right training program can make a difference in enhancing your career.
Online Humanitarian Training Course
General Online Training Courses
University Courses
Several alumni and staff from around the globe have undertaken the following UK-based courses:
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RESOURCES
VOLUNTEER OPPORTUNITIES
Continuing to volunteer with All Hands and Hearts and other organizations provides a great opportunity to develop your skills and gain more varied experience. We recruit most of our staff team from our alumni community and many nonprofits do the same. As an intern or volunteer for an organization, you are more likely to know when they’re looking to hire new employees. You can then leverage the knowledge you’ve gained about the company ethos and team dynamics to improve your chances of being considered for a paid position.
Resources to Find Volunteer Opportunities
Volunteer Opportunities for U.S. Residents
Volunteer Opportunities for UK Residents
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MENTORING
Using the Mentoring Facility on the Alumni Network
The Mentoring section of the Alumni Network allows users to:
Whether you’re new to All Hands and Hearts or looking to put your wealth of volunteering experience towards securing a paid position with us, the mentoring section is the place for you.
When you sign up to the Alumni Network, you’ll be asked which areas, if any, you would appreciate help in or areas you can offer help in.
The most well suited mentors for you based on your volunteering, work experience and areas you’re seeking help with will be suggested to you. You will also be able to browse available mentors by location, All Hands and Hearts experience, work experience or, if you are seeking a specific person, by typing their name in the search bar.
You will be able to send private messages to your mentor / mentee and if they’re comfortable with it, you can connect via Skype, Google Hangouts, Facebook Messenger or WhatsApp for voice or video calls.
CLICK HERE TO START USING THE MENTORING SERVICE
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SUPPORT FELLOW VOLUNTEERS
You’ve followed the steps in the toolkit and bagged yourself a dream job, now share that knowledge to help fellow alumni.
If you’d like to share how you leveraged your volunteer experience to obtain a relevant role, please contact us at alumni@allhandsandhearts.org
alumni@allhandsandhearts.org
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