volunteer

Working at a for-profit and non-profit agency one after the other gave me the unique opportunity to compare and contrast the two work environments. Although there are many similarities between the two sectors, the differences are also stark.

Jenna Marynowski, a third year commerce student at the University of Alberta, completed a work-term as a project co-ordinator with Volunteer Alberta in Edmonton.

Finding a meaningful volunteer opportunity can sometimes be as much work as finding a meaningful job. Check out these tips to help you determine which non-profits, companies and positions will help you launch your career.

Tears began to well up in my eyes. The more I tried to resist them, the more they accumulated. After seconds of hovering, tiny drops spilled over my lower eyelids and slowly trickled down my cheek. The words “organizational restructuring,” “downsizing” and “financial constraints” echoed in my ear minutes after I hung up the telephone.

On an internship facilitated by AIESEC and sponsored by the Shastri Indo-Canadian Institute, Curtis Riep (right) volunteered in Gujarat at the Research Foundation for Governance in India, a non-government organization conducting research on civil rights, proper governance, and other socio-political issues.

Vicky Zhao, a student in the University of Toronto co-op bachelor of business administration management program with a specialization in marketing, competed in the Canada’s Next Top Ad Exec competition this spring. Zhao describes herself as highly organized, dedicated, scrupulous and an avid list-maker. She grew up in China and South Africa as well as here in Canada.

Community service learning (CSL) is experiential education that combines classroom learning with learning in the community.

As university degrees and college diplomas become more common, it is often a student or recent grad’s on- and off-campus volunteer or work experience that can make the difference when employers have to choose between candidates.

For the past eight months, I have been volunteering at the Wilfrid Laurier University career centre as a student career leader.

Question: I’ve never had a “real” job before, but I now have an interview and don’t know who I should use as references. Please help!

McMaster University communications studies professor Alexandre Sévigny explains the importance of having an “in” with your professors so you can get to know them, so they can provide career advice and industry contacts, and so you can ultimately ask them for a reference letter.