In the past several weeks I’ve spoken with a half-dozen job seekers with surprisingly similar situations: They’re volunteering too much and not getting enough out of the experience.
That’s my diagnosis, by the way, not theirs. These folks aren’t whining about how no one appreciates them, or trying to balance an accounting ledger with each hour they “donate.” But as their advocate, I see how the situation impacts their job search, and it isn’t pretty.
The issues range from the mildly irritating to the nearly devastating. On the lesser side of the scale are the volunteer situations that interrupt a job seeker’s day so that actual job search can be difficult to schedule. That’s mostly a matter of setting boundaries, which is the job seeker’s responsibility.
But on the devastating end of things, there’s some real manipulation going on -- sometimes intentional and sometimes oblivious. One job seeker found herself giving more of her time in a semi-professional capacity in hopes of rebuilding her resume after a job loss.
The problem was that the more she gave, the more the agency took, with seemingly no regard for her unemployment situation. Again, you could say the boundaries are primarily the job seeker’s responsibility. But I can’t help notice how her volunteer supervisor, who knew of her job search efforts, made no outreach on this individual’s behalf.
If the supervisor didn’t feel comfortable vouching for this worker, I’d have to ask: You feel comfortable having her work for free, but not recommending her for a paid position?
As a rule, I don’t look for evil intentions when things take a disappointing turn. In most cases good people are just dropping the ball, or somehow missing all the cues. Mostly, they’re not trying to hold others back.
Occasionally, however, I see a kind of obliviousness that raises my suspicions. Chief among these are situations where a capable volunteer has asked for a paid role, either on staff or as a contractor. While this very frequently works out well for everyone, sometimes the reception to a volunteer’s proposal will seem warm but be glacial in its actual movement.
So the volunteer will up the ante, perhaps by offering to find the funding for the position. Meanwhile, he or she will continue to volunteer, bringing forward good ideas and even making contacts for the organization. In a perverse twist on co-dependency, the more helpless the organization acts, in the form of not moving this ball forward, the more needed the volunteer will feel, and the harder he or she will try.
Eventually things fall apart, since the volunteer can’t sustain the effort. Sometimes volunteers feel so burned by this situation they hesitate to even ask for a reference. At this stage, they realize a frank “no” early on would have been so much better than chasing a pseudo-opportunity all these months.
Much of this can be avoided by taking better control of the situation from the beginning. If you think this could happen to you, here are a few questions to consider about your volunteering assignments:
-- Am I developing skills that will help me get a job elsewhere, if not here? Assuming yes, when will I have learned enough to launch a broader job search in the field?
-- Have I given myself a deadline for this opportunity to come to fruition? Assuming yes, have I communicated that to my would-be boss, so he or she knows there's a limit to this arrangement?
-- Have I continued to actively job search? If yes, have I honestly tried to improve my search or am I effectively putting all my eggs in one basket?
-- Have I specifically asked to have my volunteer work compensated? If not, why not?
You have to set some boundaries and determine what you can realistically expect from your volunteering.
That said, don't feel you need to shut off the volunteer pipeline altogether. Being needed and using your skills productively are very real goals and outcomes of volunteering.
But do remember: The only person in this equation truly watching out for your interests is you.
Amy Lindgren owns Prototype Career Service, a career consulting firm in St. Paul. She can be reached at alindgren@prototypecareerservice.com or at 626 Armstrong Ave., St. Paul, MN 55102.
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