Volunteering… Does it really worth the time and the effort?
By: Yashar Nasirli
Tags: Aiesec, Azerbaijan, University Life, Volunteering, Volunteer

It has been in my mind for months now to write something like that. I actually wanted to start a YouTube channel where I share things that happened in my life but obviously, I was not ambitious enough. Anyway, I will do that one day too but for now, let’s just write.

For a short answer, it depends on where you are headed and what kind of personality you have. For me, it totally worth the effort.

Here are the main reasons:

If you have a shy personality and not many friends, this is the best way to meet new people and widen your network. I came to know dozens of people throughout my journey and I still can talk or ask something from them anytime. It will give you your first “work experience” and you will have lots of things to talk about in your real job interviews. In some of them, you will actually use some digital tools that will be useful for you. Additionally, It will look good on your CV when you apply for a job or for studying abroad. Although not always, most people care about your social activities and emotional intelligence. And this is the best way to show it. You will see very distinct personalities. Some of them will be so annoying and some of them will be your best friend material. If you want to learn how to interact with people, this is the best practice. You will genuinely have fun. It is not like a university where you study for grades or a real job where you work for a salary. Everyone is there to do something useful for the community and improve themselves. You can play games, have parties and dance with your team) You will learn how to work with a team and if you have the opportunity to hold a leadership position, it will also be a major advantage. Nowadays leadership and team management are crucial in many workplaces. You will not have time when you work. Although it sounds depressing, you will work for years and will probably have no time to dedicate to things like that. It will make your university life more interesting too. Each experience will teach you something new. But you should be able to pay attention and take something from it. Some people will just say it was waste of time but some will tell it was a good experience. It also depends on how you want to represent that experience and yourself. Kind of selling your story.

I understood it when we were having a seminar at ASAN volunteering. The lady that talked about the topic had such a positive vibe and she explained with example how you can present your ASAN volunteering to others. For example, one volunteer says “It is very boring, we just write some documents and show citizens where to go” another says “We were working on documents that were very important for a person and at the governmental level. So we needed to be very careful and precise. We also managed citizens to where they wanted to go. We learned to interact with different kinds of people and manage our emotions as some of them were rude.” And yes, I use the second option too.

You may ask, will I be jobless if I have no volunteering experience?

Of course not. If your goal is to find a good job it would be better to invest your time in courses and learn something that you can implement. For example, it is not really important for an IT or designer to have volunteering experience. It would rather look better if they have some projects to show.

But you can actually do both. I know many people including myself, who maintained good grades, got some certificates, and be socially active.

Which volunteering projects I have been and which ones I recommend

Until now, I have engaged in several volunteering projects but I want to mention three main ones.

1. Enactus

It was my first volunteering experience ever and one of the most valuable. It is actually a global competition about social business projects. Every university has its own team, so if you want to join, you should approach your university. If your university does not have a team, you can create one. Why not?

Basically, you will try to create a start-up from scratch with the main focus being an improvement to the community. If your university’s team is organized enough, you will have the opportunity to work in different departments like finance, marketing, or research. At the end of the semester, with the ideas you came up with and implemented, you will fight for country finalist, and if you succeed you will participate in the global finale.

I get to know lots of successful people here, who are working in good places now or studying abroad. Again it is about how you will approach and what you will take. For me, highly recommended.

2. “ASAN School” volunteer

I guess everyone knows that one :)

Yes, I was one of that volunteers asking citizens “Did you like the service”.

As I told you before, your main duty will be to guide citizens, writing documents, and other administrative things. If it is your first experience, I recommend it but as it is a governmental structure, you will need to do routine things which may be boring for you. On the other hand, it has advantages like small payments, seminars on different topics, free entries to some events, and a community of volunteers. I am still part of ASAN and get updated about new projects. If you have an idea it would also be a great opportunity to implement. Maybe things changed a little now as I am 2018 alumni, it was 2 months of part-time volunteering.

You can apply through https://konullu.asanschool.az/

Here is a link to a video I made at the end of the period:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/12QWTNghSFeqZEcy2ws90BWGvYCX1yG_k/view?usp=sharing

3. AIESEC

AIESEC is the world’s biggest youth-run organization. Its main vision is to help people improve themselves by participating in volunteering programs abroad. And all those projects are based on Sustainable Development Goals.

If you have some money, you can go abroad with AIESEC. It will be way efficient than going on your own as they will provide a place to stay and sometimes meals for you. You can get more info from aiesec.org.

You can also be a local volunteer who helps people to go abroad or foreigners to come to Azerbaijan. There are departments as in a company like marketing, talent management, operations, partnerships, and so on. You can work in various departments and if you stay enough, you can be a team leader or head of the department.

One of the best parts of AIESEC is the culture and people. As it is an international organization, you should know English and improve it during the process. Everyone is a student, you should be a student to join. All people are very open-minded and energetic and know how to have fun.

There will be lots of meetings and conferences. Maybe sometimes you will get bored but the main thing is that you actually work for something useful and for young people like you. AIESEC is a not-for-profit organization.

There are other volunteering programs like Formula 1 or UEFA. Those will not really enhance your skills if you will just show people their way. If it is possible, try to be a team leader or do a more demanding job. On the other hand, they have other perks like clothes, bags, and other small gifts. Also again new people and “thank you” parties in the end. In the formula, they even give volunteers free tickets to concerts which would cost hundreds of manats otherwise.

There are other organizations like BIR Konullu and Ireli Public Union. They have interesting projects as well. Especially Ireli Public Union had projects in other regions or even abroad.

In the end, I would recommend being a volunteer only in your first and second years and even in school years if possible. It would be better to do an internship or take courses if you want to find a good job after university or go abroad. I will probably talk about my internship experience some other time.

The most important thing is to never stop doing something. When you see that you are just scrolling on your phone, just delete that app and do something different.

Stay safe and be open to challenges.