proteanmix
Plumage and Moult
- Joined
- Apr 23, 2007
- Messages
- 5,514
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I'm curious to know who here has done any long-term, continuous volunteer work and what your experiences are. How did you choose your area to volunteer in? Did you have prior training or did they train you? Are there any good volunteering websites you can recommend?
I've basically confined my searching to idealist.org and I'm kind of mad because I'm finding a lot of organizations I'm interested in make it difficult to volunteer, and these aren't orgs that require specialized training like disaster relief or medical skills. When I say difficult I mean they want you to write essays, writing samples, and letters of recommendation (sometimes a min. of three!). I'm willing to turn in my resume, submit to a background check/drug testing, give references, and go through training but that other stuff makes it feel like more of a chore.
Maybe they're trying to find really dedicated people and use those measures as a screen, but the process is too labor intensive. Although you want high quality volunteers it shouldn't be so difficult that capable people are turned away because they didn't turn in a writing sample to sort clothes or go canvassing.
Yeah, I mad. I was rejected for something because I didn't turn in a writing sample.:steam:
I've basically confined my searching to idealist.org and I'm kind of mad because I'm finding a lot of organizations I'm interested in make it difficult to volunteer, and these aren't orgs that require specialized training like disaster relief or medical skills. When I say difficult I mean they want you to write essays, writing samples, and letters of recommendation (sometimes a min. of three!). I'm willing to turn in my resume, submit to a background check/drug testing, give references, and go through training but that other stuff makes it feel like more of a chore.
Maybe they're trying to find really dedicated people and use those measures as a screen, but the process is too labor intensive. Although you want high quality volunteers it shouldn't be so difficult that capable people are turned away because they didn't turn in a writing sample to sort clothes or go canvassing.
Yeah, I mad. I was rejected for something because I didn't turn in a writing sample.:steam: