What is one place a business major student should consider volunteering so they can succeed in their career?
To help business students find the best volunteer opportunities, we asked business leaders this question for their best advice. From volunteering at local festivals to nonprofit organizations, there are several volunteer opportunities that business majors should consider pursuing to best prepare for a career in business.
Here are 11 places business major students should volunteer:
- Local Festivals and Community Events
- TEDx Conference
- Help Your Community Fight Covid 19
- The European Voluntary Service
- Tutoring
- A Youth Sports Club
- A Small Business
- Gain Specific Experience
- Startup Conferences
- Local Library
- A Nonprofit Organization
Local Festivals and Community Events
Volunteering for local festivals and similar large-scale city or region-wide events is a good opportunity for business students. These gatherings often need significant numbers of staff. Business students can make connections with local business owners and city officials and practice networking. These roles also offer valuable lessons in planning, organization, and logistics. Ideally, students can volunteer to help with services like marketing or vendor outreach to sharpen business skills more directly, however participating on any level can be a positive experience for a budding business career.
Michael Alexis, TeamBuilding
TEDx Conference
TEDx conferences are hosted locally and often seek volunteers to help with the organization. Business students can find their many thought leaders sharing their ideas. They can establish lasting relationships that often result in securing an internship or finding a mentor. It is also a fun experience and a great learning opportunity to help coordinate a large conference.
Michael Sena, SENACEA
Help Your Community Fight Covid 19
A great opportunity for business majors to volunteer at today is by helping your community’s efforts with COVID 19. You can help run free testing sites or even hand out PPE through your city. MBA programs and future employers will be attracted to your ability to interact with the community as well as your passion for being a great citizen. Look at your city’s website for any opportunities to help.
Brandon Brown, Grin
The European Voluntary Service (EVS)
The EVS is a program for young people (aged 18 -30). It covers all the costs that a candidate might have for up to 12 months and provides an incredible experience geared towards improving your soft skills.
While one can apply for a more humanitarian voluntary service, the EVS offers supports to a wide network of companies and NGOs, meaning there are always places for more entrepreneurship- or technology-oriented volunteering services. Whether you’re interested in teaching basic computer skills in beautiful Italy or want to do workshops about business in icy and glamorous Sweden, there is something for everybody in this program.
Natalia Brzezinska, PhotoAiD
Tutoring
Business majors should consider tutoring. Whether it’s college or elementary level students, it’s a great way to work off their strengths and give back to others. With any business, there is always a learning point, especially in the beginning stages. Tutoring allows business majors to work on their communication and patience skills in an effective way that can transfer over to their future business strategy. Not only does this build leadership skills, but also allows them to focus on strategy in more ways than one.
Dino Ha, Kaja Cosmetics
A Youth Sports Club
Business students should consider volunteering at a youth sports club, such as baseball or soccer, for example. These young players look to their coach for guidance and direction, and in the business world, it’s the same process. These business students can consider this as the initial step to running a company, as they have to show their players (aka future employees) how to succeed and thrive in their position, and support them through their journey to reach a mutual end goal. There will be tough days, just like the business world, but it helps students learn to communicate and problem solve for the real world.
Corey Ashton Walters, Here
A Small Business
A small business is the best place to learn just about everything to do with business. Even if the operations are on a smaller scale, the challenges are the same. What’s even more convenient for a business major is that in a small business environment, it’s all out there in a nutshell. This allows for quick and noteworthy lessons in almost every aspect of the same work environment. Moreover, the high-energy environment and constant demand for quick-thinking solutions are bound to further fuel a newly formed business mind.
Krista Haws, Dripped Coffee
Gain Specific Experience
If you want to show potential employers that you have a specialty, show them by volunteering at a company in a space that appeals to them. If you want to parlay your business education into a lucrative career, go work for a company that fits into a specific category. If it’s finance, volunteer at Edward Jones or Capital One. If you have aspirations to be a stock broker, get affiliated with Charles Schwab or Fidelity Investments. If it’s analytics, try Ernst & Young or IBM. If you’re seeking to be an entrepreneur, sign on with a fledgling start-up.
Over time, work experience matters more than your educational background, so keep that in mind before committing to any grad school. Get an early start and gain your work experience while you’re studying business. You’ll gather intel while making yourself more attractive to employers. But remember that education still matters. Alumni connections can be very beneficial to you.
Jon Carder, Vessel Health
Startup Conferences
Startups events, like The Next Web Conference or WebSummit, are the best places to volunteer there as a student. Although being a volunteer takes time and energy, it also allows students to attend significant events for business leaders. It is an excellent opportunity to feel the startup vibe and get many exciting contacts to their networks. Some of them may be useful in the future.
Besides networking and exciting speeches, there is one more reason to volunteer at business events; observing professionals may be beneficial to find the answer to one of the essential questions in human life – what I want to do. Therefore I firmly believe that volunteering is a great way to know oneself and the business environment somebody wants to join.
Mateusz Szarecki, Tidio
Local Library
Students should consider volunteering at their local library to acquire new skills and expertise. With any company, solid presentation skills are essential to success, from pitching investors to training employees. Business majors can strengthen their language skills and build confidence in their voice as they read to children in their community. The steady practice increases confidence and reduces nerves so students can develop communication and presentation abilities for the future.
Sara Slywka, Nestig
A Nonprofit Organization
Working with nonprofit organizations is a challenge that even seasoned industry experts can barely handle. And while the good that their volunteering work does is a great way to begin one’s career, the lessons a business major can learn in such an organization are indeed quite valuable. From defining and aligning funding sources to setting up projects and ensuring that the monies are being used optimally, nonprofits pose serious operational and process challenges. Exposure to these hurdles and learning how to tackle them is a great way to set the course for a successful journey in the business sphere.
Eva Taylor, WP Buffs
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