Volunteering and taking a gap year
What is volunteering?
Volunteering after leaving school can help you to gain valuable skills and experience which will:
- look great on your Curriculum Vitae (CV) or university application
- help you decide if that industry or role is right for you
Volunteering benefits the young people involved. It helps them develop skills, knowledge and experience that can be useful when they move into paid employment and other environments.
Young people who want to volunteer usually choose an activity they are interested in doing.
Volunteering is something young people do without being paid. Sometimes volunteering can be seen as:
- helping somewhere or someone
- being neighbourly
- taking part at a community group
- coaching a sports team
For more information about volunteering:
- Inspira Volunteering - does it really help build your skills?
- Volunteering advice | National Careers Service
- Student Volunteering Opportunities | Royal Voluntary Service
- What volunteering is and how it is changing — Vision for Volunteering
- Volunteer for Soldiers' Sailors' Airmen's Families Association | SSAFA
Taking a gap year
Many young people choose to take a gap year once they finish school or college.
A gap year is not a year off. It is a way for young people to develop yourself their skills and themselves before they take the next step in their education/career.
A gap year can help you get a young person into certain careers.
What are the benefits of a gap year?
Taking a gap year might give a young person the opportunity to work unpaid to gain experience of a particular role.
A gap year can help young people when they apply for jobs or courses. This includes:
- thinking about their career plans
- travelling and experiencing other cultures
- earning money to support themselves in future study
- improve their Curriculum Vitae (CV) by doing work experience
- getting skills, they cannot learn in a classroom
- becoming more mature, focussed, and motivated
What activities can young people do on a gap year?
Young people should choose activities that will build the skills they think they need in their future career.
Popular skills include:
- teamwork
- leadership
- problem solving
- independent learning
Depending on a young person’s circumstances they could:
- get a paid job
- volunteer or do work experience [Article: How to get work experience]
- do a year in industry placement
- travel or work abroad
- learn a language or take a course with the National Careers Service
- resit exams