Making a Difference: Is LinkedIn Making It Easier?

I was excited to see LinkedIn's newest venture into the volunteer world, connecting non-profits with interested volunteers. Using a crisp, clean interface, their latest development is aptly called LinkedIn Volunteer Marketplace.

But why, might you ask, am I touting a volunteer-matching service when I am a career- not volunteer- coach? 

Because volunteering applies to just about everyone.

Donating one's time to a favorite cause offers so many rewards, beyond the good feelings that serving others brings. Here are three great reasons to go pro bono:

1. Volunteering allows you to test out a career to see if it's something that might be worth vying for professionally. 

While volunteering certainly requires commitment, it doesn't necessarily take as much time as would a paid position, and allows a person to sample "days in the life of" said career without jumping in full-time. And you can see if you have the necessary aptitudes to make a difference in that particular way.

Bonus: Like to save money? 

Maybe that graduate degree in Social Work you've been considering isn't what you need after all. Or the $5K, 100 hour certification turns out to be far less important than a certain kind of experience. Both insights exemplify the kinds of information to be gleaned through volunteering.

2. Volunteering gives you a chance to meet people who care about the same cause you do. 

Finally, you get to talk to someone who understands your passion for childhood nutrition! The environment! The tragic plight of the common backyard mosquito dying needlessly from monstrous bug zappers!

(Hey, I don't judge a person's passions.)

You'll gain access to insider information, such as what kinds of people seem to thrive in that particular environment. You may also uncover how positions are filled within that slice of the non-profit world.  

Bonus: New to a community and want to meet someone who you connect with? 

Maybe as a friend... or perhaps you have romantic ambitions? 

Volunteering is a wonderful opportunity to increase time with like-minded individuals who share that particular passion of yours. 

"Follow your passion and find passion!"  

Hmmm... maybe I'm on to something here....

3. For the working professional, volunteering broadens your life experience.

And it allows you to keep growing, learning and innovating. In fact, countless studies have shown the positive effects of letting your mind take occasional breaks from problem solving at work. Creative breakthroughs tend to occur when, after continuously chipping away at a problem, an employee shifts gears to focus on something other than work.

Likewise, volunteering in say, a soup kitchen, can help get you "out of your head" and into using your hands. Then you can go back refreshed, with a new perspective on your problems. 

Bonus: Crave variety? 

Just as a significant other can only satisfy so many needs and fill so many roles in your life, so it goes with one's career as well. 

Even those who find an exciting, sustainable and intellectually fulfilling career path will always have other causes that they care about and towards which they want (and need) to contribute. 

And in giving ones talents outside paid work, a person can fulfill other roles that they enjoy playing in life. It takes the pressure off of feeling as if your paid work needs to be your end all, raison d'etre.

Reid Hoffman, Co-Founder of Linkedin, describes the benefits of the LinkedIn Volunteer Marketplace to working professionals this way:

"... while busy professionals who love their current gigs may not necessarily be looking for a new position, these are often the very people who are most actively engaged in “meaningful searches” – a volunteer opportunity that will enhance their life in ways beyond what their primary vocation provides."

Read more on Hoffman's introduction to volunteering via LinkedIn here.

Go on, check it out!.