Volunteering opens doors
Lillia Cherkasskiy had volunteered for years as a tutor, and spent one year teaching literacy at the YWCA. Her volunteering wasn’t strategic; it simply provided a much-needed break from her studies.
Things changed around the time she was completing her PhD in psychology and realized she wanted to apply to medical school with the goal of becoming a pediatrician.
“Once I realized I wanted to work with children, my volunteering became much more strategic and I took specific positions with hospitals to get a wide range of experiences.”
Cherkasskiy’s story is a great example of how volunteering can help individuals pursue their goals, says Valerie Millette, coordinator of the Leadership Initiative Volunteer Engagement (LIVE) Centre at Concordia.
“We often think about strategic volunteering in a career-related way, which of course it can be, but it can be any objective,” she says. “Any volunteering in which somebody takes the time to think about their goals and sets out to find opportunities to achieve that goal is strategic.”
After spending a year volunteering at the Shriners Hospital for Children while she wrapped up her PhD, Cherkasskiy took another volunteer shift working with adult patients in the emergency room of the Montreal General Hospital.
“I'd been there for maybe a year, and I thought, well I actually like working with kids the most, so then I added [a volunteer shift at] the Montreal Children's Hospital as well.”
Helping out in hospitals exposed Cherkasskiy to the day-to-day realities of her future profession and provided her with invaluable knowledge and experience.
“I'm not speaking in hypotheticals about some ideal of medicine,” she says. “I've been there, I've seen it. I've been in the emergency room when people come in with a trauma. I've been able to help, and I know how it works and who does what. That's extremely valuable.”
Cherkasskiy has also been able to build a strong network around the profession she wants to pursue. During her shifts at the hospital, she met other aspiring medical students who shared their knowledge about the medical school application process with her. She also met a doctor who allowed her to shadow him for a day.
When it comes time for her interviews for medical school, Cherkasskiy will be able to call upon the specific knowledge, skills and contacts she has acquired as a volunteer. However, as Millette points out, strategic volunteers also gain a host of important transferable skills.
“In an interview setting, employers will note that many applicants have the same technical skills and will look for the candidate who is able to communicate, work with a team, show initiative, and leadership,” she says. “Those skills make a big difference in whether people are hired or not, over and above technical skills.”
Cherkasskiy agrees that volunteering is time very well spent in the pursuit of one’s professional career. “As a volunteer you're not just giving your time, you're also getting a lot of training and information that you can use elsewhere in your life.”
Summer volunteering opportunities
Consult the LIVE Centre’s drop-in hours online to plan a visit (Room H-608-1 of the Henry F. Hall Building) to learn about summer volunteering opportunities available right now. No appointment is necessary.
Related links:
• LIVE Centre
• LIVE Centre drop-in hours
• LIVE Centre Facebook page