Dear Diary, here’s my resume boosters

Hey hey everyone!

Sorry, it has been so long since my last post. Right now my life is like a cauldron and its brewing with 3 assignments per week, 20 contact hours and 12 hours of part-time work. Nevertheless, I’m here (finally) to discuss what I do in my spare time. But beware, this is a lengthy post (thus the bold subtitles).

Socialise? You ask. No. Even better.

Volunteering!

Today’s blog was initially going to be about the best ways to make friends at uni but I was feeling inspired by my ventures yesterday as a volunteer at the Teddy Bear Hospital at Chadstone. Being a volunteer at the Teddy Bear Hospital is a great way to talk to kids about health and safety and also make some great friends while having loads of fun. The Teddy Bear Hospital is run by Melbourne University Students, so if you’re a student who’s interested you can sign up by checking out their facebook page and sending an email.

Now let’s talk about other things you can do to make the ‘community’ section of your resume that little bit more impressive.

 

AT UNIVERSITY

There’s a bunch of ways you can get involved in all the Uni Action that looks great on your resume. I suggest checking out the UMSU (Uni Melb Student Union) website and seeing what volunteering listings they have available. Currently, I am volunteering at the Welfare Breakfast every morning. Yes, that’s right. If you get to Uni between 8-10am you can get a free brekky every morning at the Ida Bar.

Another way to find some opportunities within the campus is by being on the committee for UMSU. They do general elections annually and if you think you have the skills to run for one of the positions, go for it! Similarly, if you join a club, all UniMelb clubs have a general meeting where you can run for one of the executive positions of that club. Maybe even become a president if you have the right skills. One of my friends has recently joined the committee of the Melbourne Arts Student Society and is involved with running all of the special events and balls.

 

OUT OF UNIVERSITY

If you feel like you don’t want to spend all your free time at University then there are heaps of places to volunteer outside of University. For example, it can be as easy as calling your local aged care home and expressing an interest in volunteering once a week with the elderly. When I did this, I was tasked with taking care of an Alzheimer’s patient. Having this experience with this woman really helped me to deal with my own grandma’s dementia and really opens your eyes to how they’re feeling.

Another way to volunteer outside of University is to help out at a second-hand store like Vinnies, Salvos or Helping Hands. These stores get hundreds of donations per day and they could really use your help to sort through all the donations. Did you know that the Helping Hands store has its own community kitchen with $3 buffet lunches to help out the unemployed or financially disadvantaged?

RAISING MONEY

So far all I’ve talked about is doing good with no rewards; altruism if you will. But how about making a difference through donating to charity. There is always an opportunity to donate to charity so nothing is stopping you from making your own fundraiser. Maybe you could do a 10km walk, or wash cars, or sell chocolates? If you’re not feeling like starting your own fundraiser, you can easily raise money through someone else’s. One that’s always really fun and I’ve been apart of for a few years is the 40 Hour Famine. It started off as a fundraiser where you would fast for 40 hours to raise awareness for those who are starving in third world countries, but now the fundraiser has expanded to various challenges. You could give up speaking for 40 hours, give up technology or even give up your home. The latest challenge, the backpack challenge, raised awareness for people who are forced to flee their homes due to natural disasters or war. Another popular fundraiser is Carries’ Beanies 4 Brain Cancer, where you can run your own campaign to sell beanies and raise money for brain cancer.

 

BENEFITS

So why should you do anything that I’ve listed above? Despite the title of this blog, I don’t do any of those things for my resume. I find helping people a lot of fun. When you take a step out of your daily life and step into someone else’s you really expose yourself to a world that the media doesn’t really show. The people you meet through volunteering, whether its other volunteers or just people that need your help, everyone is so genuine and caring. There’s a lot of stigma around homeless people and you may typically associate them with beggars on the streets, but there are so many families out there who are just like yours but without money or without employment. We’re lead to believe that everyone has fair opportunities and that equality exists but you don’t realise how untrue that is until you meet someone with a disability or their family that has to give up full-time jobs to care for them. When you volunteer at an organisation your not just giving up a few hours of your day, you’re giving those hours to someone else.

Of course, a benefit for us is that we can put on our resume “volunteered at ___”, but the satisfaction from that is minuscule to the satisfaction you get from seeing the smile on the faces you’ve helped. Another way you can record these hours is through Melbourne University’s Leaders In Community Award. This is an award that you work to achieve throughout your degree. Basically, it involves volunteering in the community and at university, and also undertaking leadership positions in the university. The award is a great encouragement to keep you volunteering throughout your years at Melbourne.

 

CONCLUSION

Alright, so that was a long post. Congrats if you actually read it all. In summary, this post was just me trying to convince you to volunteer. Trust me, it’s worthwhile. You may not keep in touch with the people you meet, but as you get older you’ll always remember them as the people who changed your life.

 

Thanks for listening to my Ted Talk,

SpiderPig out x