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Volunteerism: a good way to enhance your resume

Hansen said the center will accept volunteers of just about any age, 16 and over. Volunteers come from all walks of life and are individuals, members of church groups or even employees of area businesses. “Lexis- Nexis actually provides two paid days a year to all their employees to volunteer,” Hansen said. “That is huge.” Another example she gave was that employees of Fifth Third Bank plan to come in to decorate the center for the holidays.

All efforts are greatly appreciated by the CBC/CTS as well as the other 400-plus non-profit organizations in Montgomery County.

Hansen said that the nonprofits all need volunteers that are also willing to commit on a regular basis. They are finding those volunteers in the early-retired Baby Boomers and in women who are widowed or divorced and need to brush up on their skills.

But the largest group from which they draw volunteers is the 18-25 year-olds — high school and college students.

“This is a perfect opportunity for them to hone their skills in customer service,” Hansen said. In what the center calls its Guest Relations Ambassador program, volunteers greet donors, help them register, and show them around to where they are supposed to go. They also serve refreshments after the donation process. “It helps them understand what a big deal it is for someone who gives blood on an ongoing basis,” Hansen said. They do not do any drawing of blood or other procedures. “We try to keep our Guest Relations Ambassadors out of the donation area,” she said.

Other jobs for volunteers may include answering the phones, inputting data in a computer or myriad other jobs with which they may never have had experience. For those graduating from college, volunteer services — and the skills obtained therein — may be the deciding factor when two applicants for a job are otherwise even. For high school students, the center is happy to provide references or even a letter of reference to potential college admission departments or to employers.

“A lot of (nonprofit) agencies will also look at their volunteers if a (full-time) opening comes up,” Hansen said, “because they know what kind of a person that is, they have had some experience with them and they know how they work with everybody.”

Economically, most nonprofits could not afford to pay in wages for the services performed by the volunteers.

“You take our administrative assistant, Meghan Hart, who is a master’s-prepared college student and you would have to pay her $35,000- 40,000 a year so, if you get half-time out of her, that is a savings of $20,000 to this company if we had to pay for her superior-quality work,” said Michelle Pierce-Mobley, Chief Human Resources Officer for CBC/CTS. “But you can’t really put a dollar amount on a person who’s willing to come and work for you and give 110 percent and not have to be paid for it.”

“And every volunteer makes a difference for somebody,” Hansen said.

For volunteer information
CBC/CTS: (937) 461-3287
www.volunteer-dayton.org
www.volunteermatch.org