Why volunteer? 5 professional benefits of giving your time
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Volunteering your time, effort and skills can have big benefits, not only for those around you in the community, but for your own career and personal satisfaction. It also doesn’t have to be hard – we work to make volunteering easy, worthwhile and flexible for our members.
There are many ways to volunteer, but all of them come with some huge benefits to your professional life. Volunteering in a professional capacity allows you to:
1. Build networks.
Everyone has heard some version of the old saying that boils down to ‘who you know matters just as much as what you know’. Having strong professional networks is important not only in finding future employment opportunities, but for collaborating with colleagues on tricky cases, furthering your understanding of the tax landscape and building your own practice.
Being a member of The Tax Institute already means you are part of a network of passionate tax professionals. Volunteering with us takes it one step further, allowing you the chance to work with and strengthen connections with people from all around the profession, including senior professionals.
2. Shape your personal brand.
Your personal brand as a tax professional is not about the kind of suits you wear or a signature haircut. It’s about building your reputation as a trusted source of information – whether that’s as an expert at client communication or a subject-matter expert on a particular topic.
The most important thing about an effective personal brand is that it’s proven. Volunteering gives you the opportunity to develop your personal brand in real-world situations, which is a great way to expand or target your CV, depending on your goals. For example, by joining a Superannuation Committee, speaking at superannuation focused events and sharing news updates about super on your LinkedIn, you’ll start to gain a reputation as a trustworthy expert in the super space.
3. Develop leadership skills.
Want to prove that you have the leadership skills for that next big promotion? Volunteering, particularly on an ongoing basis, is the perfect way to gain experience as a leader and demonstrate that you have what it takes.
Whether you’re leading thought as an event speaker or article author, or you’re leading a team as an event organiser, you’ll have hands-on experience to help you become comfortable in a role with real responsibility.
4. Explore different career paths.
Volunteering gives you the opportunity to be involved in different areas of tax and different roles within the tax profession, such as advocacy, thought leadership, public speaking and event organisation. That means you can explore potential career paths before making big changes to your employment.
It also helps you to build skills, experience and connections within those new areas, so that if you decide on a career shift, you’ll hit the ground running with an up-to-date CV and a network already in place.
5. Get involved in making a difference.
For some of us, while our job pays the bills and gives us satisfaction in a job well done, it can be hard to see how we’re impacting the big picture. Through volunteering, you can step outside the day-to-day and help influence change that touches the economic and social lives of everyone in Australia.
Tax touches everything and becoming a thought leader or getting involved in advocacy efforts allows you to join the move for positive change in a way that utilises your professional skills and knowledge. For an idea of our advocacy efforts, check out our recent submissions.
How to volunteer with The Tax Institute
So, volunteering is good for your career satisfaction, personal brand and CV – how do you get started? It’s easy:
- To volunteer, you’ll first need to become a member if you aren’t one already
- Members can check out the different options for volunteering, from writing for our publications to organizing and speaking at leading CPD events.
- Register your interest and let us know your experience and interests. We’ll be in touch to discuss volunteering opportunities for you as and when they arise.
- Volunteering with us is super flexible to fit into your schedule – you might make an ongoing commitment, or sign up to help out with specific events, tasks or advocacy work that falls into your area of interest.