Voluntary Work Is it Important or not?

                Voluntary work is something, which is appreciated by the majority, but in actual situation, there are not as many people to offer their services for voluntary work. It is quite interesting to see this contradiction between thinking and taking action. There could be various reasons like people don’t have time or will to go for voluntary work. But regardless of what people do, it is a fact to keep in mind that voluntary work is something, which is extremely crucial for every society around the world. There are needy people in every underdeveloped or even in developed societies, and they need help from their community. Moreover, voluntary work is not about just helping the needy ones, it is also an important concept to bring in positive vibes in a society, where people do good deeds for no rewards. They try to volunteer in different ways so that they can play their part in developing progressive and growing societies, which allow majority of people to enjoy their lives with at least basic needs. That’s why there are various organizations around the world, which are involved in volunteering work and non-profit organizations also operate with the help of voluntary work. When people are out there to help each other in different circumstances, it is most likely that they will develop a great society, offering so much to everyone. That’s why voluntary work is not only good, but it is extremely important for every society, as it shapes the positive direction for people to play their part in making this world a better place to live for all.

Why Voluntary Work is Important?

            It is crucial to understand for everyone that why voluntary work is important in so many ways. Keeping this importance in view, students are the most critical ones, who must participate in different voluntary works during and after their studies. It can be beneficial for them for so many reasons. There are various motivations for students to go for voluntary work. First of all, they must participate in volunteering efforts as it would significantly increase their chances of employability. The volunteer work in different private and government sector organizations can help them to understand that how they can develop more skills to get jobs in such different institutions. They get to know about more opportunities about jobs and learning. It also helps them to increase their networking they meet with different experts and professionals of the field. It is a great positive activity for students to know more about problems of their societies and analyze that what they can do to minimize the miseries of others. The students can also learn that how things are being done in real world situations. So, it shows that there are many motivations for students to participate in voluntary work during their studies in particular, and in general they should keep doing it after their studies as well (Holdsworth, 2010)

            It is also important to understand that positive and responsible civic behavior is very crucial for every society. If citizens especially the youth of a society are engaged in positive civic behavior, it means that outcome will also be positive for everyone. The students are the youngest ones in every society as they are considered most important resources for every community because they have energy and passion to do various things, which elder people may not be able to do. Keeping these facts in mind, various researchers have tried to gain insights from real world about voluntary work of students. A study was conducted in 2010 for the students from five different countries including United Kingdom, Canada, United States, New Zealand, and Australia. The research revealed that rate for voluntary work done by students is at a good percentage level, which shows their participation in volunteering. The students were involved in different kind of voluntary works like occasional, regular as well as non-volunteers events. Different students did volunteer work to make their CVs stronger, and some of them did it to make more contacts. Few students were motivated by helping others as they saw value in doing so (Smith, Holmes, Haski-Leventhal, Cnaan, Handy, & Brudney, 2010)

            The volunteers can enhance their skills and capabilities with the help of voluntary work as it allows them to experience so much professional and practical knowledge, and gives them the opportunity to learn from the professionals. The other great thing that students or any other volunteers can learn is leadership skills. Many people lack the essence of taking initiatives in their lives, and they can never get it, until they face practical real world situations. When people indulged in voluntary work, it allows them to enhance their personal capabilities including leadership skills. It allows people to identify that what leadership skills they have in their personality and they are given the chance of showcasing those abilities during any volunteering tasks. The people are influenced by the groups as well as people, whom they work and interact with. Those positive influences come on their own personality and they are able to know their own limitations and capabilities. The voluntary work can create an environment, which allows people to excel and polish their skills including leadership skills. This is how things bring in more personality development especially for youth, who are trying to learn the traits of being skillful professionals (Lockett & Boyd, 2012)

            It has been observed that volunteering work is very much beneficial for individuals, but the great thing about volunteering is that it is also beneficial on collective level as well. When individuals pay their part by doing volunteering activities, then it results in different great things like igniting active and responsible citizenship, and foster knowledge for people to build their progressive communities which flourish along with individuals. The voluntary work is something, which affects the life of others, and brings some positive social changes, and when social change is achieved, then it means that society is also benefiting from the voluntary work as a whole. There can be various examples to show that how communities can benefit from voluntary work. For instance, there is an area, where poverty is much more than the other areas and people are even not able to arrange their food. In this situation, the people along with any volunteering organization can arrange food for the poor people of that area. With this collective effort, the whole society will achieve the good, by doing some good. The poor people will get food at least to satisfy their hunger (Metrics, 2014)

            The importance of volunteering can also be gauged with the help of analyzing the relationship between well-being and volunteering. There is certainly a positive relationship between the two. The people cannot only achieve well being of others, but they can also achieve well being for their own with the help of volunteering work. It means that young ones are not the only one to get benefits from voluntary work, but elderly people can also achieve a lot.  A study was conducted in year 200, which tried to analyze the relationship between well being and voluntary work keeping elderly people in context. The results from the study showed that level of life satisfaction achieved by elder people through voluntary work was more as compared to the satisfaction level of young ones. The older adults did not only help the well being of others, but they also felt more fit and healthier after doing any voluntary work. It is quite amazing to see these results that voluntary work can have such great influence and affect even on the elderly people. It also shows that voluntary work should be done with some dedication and commitment so that one can achieve well being on all levels (Willigen, 2000)

Conclusion on Voluntary Work

            After looking at different important and critical aspects of voluntary work, it can be said that voluntary work is indispensable at all levels including individual, collective as well as society level. A society may be facing various issues, and government may not be able to deal with all issues. Here it is a point, where importance of voluntary work comes in. The people can do it on their own by engaging people from the community, or they can do it with the help of voluntary organizations like NGOs. The other great aspect which makes voluntary work and important one is its ability to help students in so many ways. The students can get great learning experience as well as they can enhance their practical knowledge and skills. The other great thing of voluntary work is that it allows people to learn leadership skills. When people indulged in community service through volunteering, they have to do lot of tasks, and working with a team of volunteers can create a positive environment, which is good for people to showcase their leadership and other skills. The people as well as students can also polish their various skills through volunteering. The society can also take so many benefits from voluntary work, which means that voluntary work is very important on all levels.

References of Voluntary Work

Holdsworth, C. (2010). Why Volunteer? Understanding Motivations For Student Volunteering. British Journal of Educational Studies , 58 (4).

Lockett, L. L., & Boyd, B. (2012). Enhancing Leadership Skills in Volunteers. Journal of Leadership Education , 11 (1), 233-244.

Metrics, P. (2014). The Importance of Volunteering. Journal of The American Society of Echocardiography , 27 (10), A13–A14.

Smith, K. A., Holmes, K., Haski-Leventhal, D., Cnaan, R. A., Handy, F., & Brudney, J. L. (2010). Motivations and Benefits of Student Volunteering: Comparing Regular, Occasional, and Non-Volunteers in Five Countries. Canadian Journal of Nonprofit and Social Economy Research , 1 (1), 65 – 81.

Willigen, M. V. (2000). Differential Benefits of Volunteering Across the Life Course. The Journals of Gerontology: Series B , 55 (5), S308–S318.