Career Building through Volunteer Work
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Valerie Wagner was kind enough to write about her experiences volunteering with ProNet, an organization in Northern Nevada that provides professionals with skills and opportunities that enhance their ability to connect with employers. ProNet Reno is a member-run, non-profit 501(c)(3) organization that prepares unemployed professionals to re-enter the workforce. Members are trained in the areas of resume writing, job interviews and job hunting to give them what’s called the ProNet Edge. While we are fans of what they do, it should be noted that YourVolunteers is not affiliated with ProNet Reno.
Giving back to the community, we all think about doing this especially around the Holiday’s. Giving back can evoke quite a few different emotions. We feel good when we are in a position to help feed the hungry whether it is through our time at a homeless shelter or a non-profit organization where food and cash donations are collected. Helping to keep someone warm on a cold winter night when we donate our gently used clothes and blankets can warm our own hearts. Sometimes we are a part of something even bigger when a family or senior is adopted for holiday’s, reminding them that the true meaning of compassion and love has not been lost during these difficult times. Northern Nevada is full of these wonderful companies and people who are there to help, and it is the compassion in our community that makes me proud to be a resident in Northern Nevada.
During these challenging and stressful economic times I have found other areas where there is an unknown and sometimes forgotten need within the community. It was 11 months ago I found myself active in the full time job of searching for my next dream job. Realizing 5 months later, I could not endure this task alone I entered the doors of ProNet. It was there I found more than I had ever expected, other professionals like myself, happy to share all their expertise and knowledge, where the only paycheck was the unselfish act of helping their fellow man. Sharing everything they have learned over the years in order to enrich the life of another human being in a non-monetary way. Something we have come to know by the phrase of “pay it forward.”
Upon becoming a vested member of this volunteer run organization and being someone who has enjoyed giving back to our community, I found myself drawn to the community partners committee. Suffice it to say my past volunteering never prepared me for the impact I was going to feel in this new capacity of volunteer work. Not to mention what it would be like being on the receiving side of someone volunteering their time for me.
I begin each Monday morning, dressed in professional business attire and attend a general meeting with other professional businessmen and women. This is the start of my work week, this is a place where I can network with other vested ProNet member’s and have the chance to meet and support the new group of professionals coming in who are beginning the process .
One of the most important aspects of our general meeting is the work done by someone in the community partner’s committee who seeks out and finds motivational speakers each week. These are the people who help kick start the new week with a fresh outlook on job seeking. A professional person taking time from his or her “day job”, to volunteer time to other professional members of our community who may be in need of valuable career information or a dose of motivation. After 2 short hours I head off to my committee meeting, and here is where it all begins.
Each committee is made up of volunteer’s, who have vested their time to the program and are active in their committees for a few hours a week. These volunteers search for careers not only for themselves, but for their fellow member’s and forward these opportunities on. This means you have at least 20 people in your corner and are seeking out career opportunities for you. They are the men and women of the Business Development Committee and in my opinion the backbone of ProNet.
Our IT committee maintains the computers and networks and will assist anyone in the program with laptop issues. These men and women can be extremely valuable to someone in need of computer services as well as making sure the network and computers within ProNet are in working order every week.
The Education committee is dedicated to teaching classes on creating resumes, working through career boards for those who are not internet savvy, and yes I refer to myself as well, coming from the day when putting shoes to the pavement and knocking on doors was how the job search was done. There are interviewing skill classes, mock interviews and numerous other classes available, all taught by someone who is volunteering their time.
Most of the same classes offered through ProNet are taken to other organizations or events where members of the community partners committee bring a wealth of knowledge and the philosophy of “pay it forward” to other job seekers.
The benefit I have received from being on the community partners committee and a part of this program which is unique to Nevada is the ability to reach out to others in one of the most gratifying ways. While I feel it is critical to be active in our community and giving back, “paying it forward” to those who have been most affected by the high unemployment rate is a need not addressed when one thinks of volunteering. There is a great need in our community, a need of giving someone back their confidence and their value. I do not want to remain a vested member of ProNet, I would rather become an alumnus, but regardless of where my path leads there is one thing for certain. My time vested here has been life changing. I will move forward in life looking for ways to share my valuable experience and seek out not only ways of giving back to my community, but also ways to pay forward to those who find themselves in need.
By Valerie A. Wagner
Accounting Professional
Community Partners Volunteer ProNet
http://valeriewagner.wordpress.com/
My passion in being a volunteer began in 1996 through hospice as a way of giving others the same support our family received in 1995. After 10 years as a hospice volunteer I made the choice of giving back to the community as a big sister through Big Brothers Big Sisters. It has been through my current situation I have discovered yet another area where volunteering can make a difference in the lives of others. It is volunteering my time, knowledge and offering support to professional businessmen and women in our community through an organization called ProNet.
Image: photostock / FreeDigitalPhotos.net
