give back | Journey

What Giving Back Can Do for Your Career

By Job Journey on Wednesday, June 1, 2016

Volunteering is a rewarding way to make a positive difference in the lives of others. And, the benefits of giving back are countless. The fact is giving back not only affects your community, but your professional life, as well. From enhancing your resume to establishing new connections to growing leadership skills and more, take a look at what giving back can do for your career.

Networking Opportunities
Volunteering brings you into contact with people you may have never crossed paths with otherwise. Thus, the opportunity to build your professional network is an important benefit of giving back. You will be working with people who are interested in the same causes as you. When you make connections like that, the relationships you build are likely to last longer and lead to job opportunities. Someone you meet volunteering could become your co-worker, boss, or mentor.

Leadership and Other Skills
You can gain invaluable experience through volunteering. First and foremost, you can develop leadership skills if you give your talents to the board of an organization. You can also become a better leader by heading up one of the volunteer projects in your community. Finding an opportunity to lead in these instances is a great transferable skill for the workplace.
Additionally, giving back to your community can help you work on skills like time management, communication, confidence, and teamwork, to name a few.

Better Job Performance
Experts at Glassdoor.com suggest that employees who spend time giving back to their communities often feel more fulfilled. Making a positive difference in someone’s life can help you feel content and translate into your work life, where you’re bound to also be more productive. Just be sure to choose a cause that you’re passionate about.

Resume Building
Aside from the skills you’ll get from volunteering, you can build your resume through giving back. One way to do that is to find a skills-based volunteer opportunity where you can use your expertise to make a difference. You can then include that experience on your resume, highlighting how it’s relevant to your career goals. Check out sites like Catchafire.com to get started.

More Attractive to Employers
All things considered, volunteering simply makes you more attractive to employers. Be sure to include it on your social networking sites, resume, or anywhere else a potential hiring manager might come across it. According to Forbes.com, “Employers like to hire people who can demonstrate they’re motivated and hard-working, even if they haven’t been getting paid for their efforts.”

How do you give back to your community? Let us know in the comment section below.

Movin’ On Up is brought to you by Express Employment Professionals.

The Job Search

Poll: How Do You Give Back?

By Job Journey on Friday, May 27, 2016

If you lead a busy life with a packed schedule and never-ending to-do lists, finding time to volunteer may be the last thing on your mind. Yet, the benefits of volunteering are numerous! While the biggest value of giving back is the impact on your community, it can also aid in your job search. When you volunteer, you gain new skills to add to your resume, find networking opportunities, and become a more attractive candidate to employers.

Because there are multiple ways to give back in the community, we want to know what you’re doing to make an impact and be involved.

Movin’ On Up is brought to you by Express Employment Professionals.

Millennial Monday

Millennial Monday: Community Engagement

By Job Journey on Monday, May 16, 2016

Express Employment Professionals recently teamed up with the School of Media and Strategic Communications at Oklahoma State University (OSU) in Stillwater, OK, to conduct research about Millennials and their attitudes toward the American Dream. Also known as “Gen Y,” Millennials were born between 1979 and 1995 and make up 30% of the population. As they enter the workforce and establish career paths, it’s important to understand the motives and desires behind this robust generation. To help you get to know “Gen Y,” Movin’ On Up is bringing you an eight-week series titled “Millennial Monday.”

In this week’s installment of “Millennial Monday,” Express and OSU students surveyed Millennials, the majority of whom are working full or part time, to examine this generation’s commitment to their communities.

Community Involvement
The importance of community involvement is evident across all generations. When asked if community involvement is important, 96% of Millennials responded that it is important and 97% of Non-Millennials agreed. While zero Non-Millennials answered “no” to whether or not community involvement is important, 2% of Millennials said it’s not.

Charitable Giving
According to the survey, 85% of Millennials are likely to donate to a charity or nonprofit in the next 12 months, and 85% believe their donations are helpful.
As technology has increased, the ways in which people can give to charitable organizations have also increased. When asked to rank in order of frequency the ways in which they give to charity or nonprofit organizations, Millennials responded:

In person
Online
Mail
Text
Email
Phone

Items Donated
According to the survey results, Millennials may be more willing to give their time rather than their money because time is something they have more of. In fact, one survey participant said, “You can gain and give a lot more when you actually put time into something. I don’t have a lot of money, but I have a lot of time.”

How You Can Give Back
On Saturday, June 11, Express Employment Professionals offices across North America will gather together for Brand It Blue Day. The event is a day of service aimed at helping in the fight against hunger, and you can be a part of it! Whether you’re a job seeker who just graduated or someone who has been out of the workforce for an extended period of time, volunteering adds valuable experience to your resume. Not only does volunteering help set you apart from the competition, it can also provide a sense of fulfillment as you give back to your community. Visit ExpressPros.com to learn more about this event and find out how you can participate.

How do you give back to your community? Do you think community involvement is important? Share your thoughts in the comments section below!

Keep checking Movin’ On Up every Monday for more insight on this important generation.

Miss a week of our Millennial Monday series? Click the links below to check out previous topics in our series.

Movin’ On Up is brought to you by Express Employment Professionals.

Events

Brand It Blue Day Is Almost Here!

By Job Journey on Friday, June 12, 2015

On Saturday, June 13, Express Employment Professionals offices across North America will gather together for Brand It Blue Day. The event is a day of service aimed to help in the fight against hunger, and you can be a part of it!

There is value in volunteering–both in your personal life and your career–and Brand It Blue Day is a great time to join a good cause. If you’d like to be part of the big day, contact the Express office in your city and ask if they are participating in Brand It Blue Day. You may be able to volunteer your time at a food bank or bring in donations for a food drive. Contact your local Express office and find out if they’ll be joining this day of service so you can help!

Movin’ On Up is brought to you by Express Employment Professionals.

Reader Surveys

The Results Are In: How do you give back?

By Job Journey on Friday, June 5, 2015

Giving back can be a great feeling, help you network, and make you more employable. Being a volunteer can set you apart from other job candidates and give you an entirely new set of skills. Because of this, we asked Movin’ On Up readers how they gave back to the community through charitable citizenship.

What the Survey Revealed
The survey revealed that nearly 42% of readers give back by volunteering their time and talents. The rest of the respondents give back in the following ways:

Donating food, clothes, or other needed items to organizations 30%
Donating funds to charitable organizations 9%
Donating blood 2%
Other 17%

Although the majority of respondents spend time volunteering, a third donate tangible items to organizations in need, nearly 10% of respondents pull out their wallet to give funds to various charities, and 2% donate blood.

A number of respondents selected the “Other” option and provided their own responses to the poll. Of the 17% who selected “Other,” responses included:

All of the above
Walk-a-thons
Wild land search and rescue
Volunteering at the local hospices

Keep Giving Back
The results of the poll indicate that people give back in a variety of ways. The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics found that people most often volunteered with religious (33%), education or youth-service related (25%), and social or community organizations (14%). This leads us to ask, what are your favorite ways and places to volunteer? Let us know in the comments section below!

Movin’ On Up is brought to you by Express Employment Professionals.

Reader Surveys

Poll: How Do You Give Back?

By Job Journey on Wednesday, April 29, 2015

Whether you’re volunteering at a local food pantry or donating clothes to a shelter, giving back is a great feeling. And it can help you in your job search too. Adding volunteer experience to your resume can help separate you from the crowd of people applying to the same jobs. When you volunteer, you have the opportunity to make connections and network, and you can learn new skills that enhance your resume. A report by the Corporation for National and Community Service recently found that “volunteering was associated with 27% higher odds of employment.”

Aside from making you more employable, giving back is also a wonderful way to be a part of your community. So, we want to know how you give back through charitable citizenship.

Movin’ On Up is brought to you by Express Employment Professionals.

Current Affairs Leadership Networking Work/Life Balance

Brand It Blue Day Provided More Than 55,000 Meals

By Job Journey on Friday, June 27, 2014

On Saturday, June 14, in communities across North America, Express Employment Professionals offices came together to serve and give back as part of the second annual Brand It Blue Day.

More than 200 Express offices, from California to North Carolina to Canada joined with 1,000 volunteers to provide more than 55,000 meals for those in need. If you were able to be a part of this amazing effort in any way, thank you for your support and hard work.

As we recently shared, volunteering and serving with a local nonprofit or charity can help you find your next job. But giving back to your community doesn’t just impact your job search. Research shows volunteering is connected to an increase in well-being and lowered depression, both of which are often impacted by the loss of a job.

Helping others, whether it’s through serving alongside a group of volunteers on a Saturday morning, or by doing pro-bono work from your home for a nonprofit, has a positive impact on your attitude on life and hopes for your future. The London School of Economics conducted a study that found the more people volunteered, the happier they felt.

We hope that Brand It Blue Day gave you an opportunity to serve in your community, increase your happiness, and possibly, make some new connections that will help you soon find a new job. If you didn’t have a chance to join Express for this year’s event, make sure to check back with your local office for information about Brand It Blue Day 2015 and how you can be involved.

Check out some of the photos from Brand It Blue Day events from across North America!

Olive Branch Express Office

Grand Rapids Express Office

El Paso Express Office

Raleigh Express Office

Movin’ On Up is brought to you by Express Employment Professionals.

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