Volunteers build networks - and make a difference

Finding a job during a recession is difficult: For recent university graduates, it's harder still. With résumés showing little or no work experience, they are sometimes up against accomplished candidates with decades of experience, willing to take junior positions.

Majeed Mogharreban, 24, has an added complication. An American new to Canada, he is not legally allowed to work. After he followed his Canadian bride to Ottawa last year, the Illinois transplant faced the prospect of a gap in his résumé while he awaits permanent residency status.

He majored in marketing, international business and entrepreneurship in university, but without a social insurance number, he cannot start a business, something he has done four times before. Knowing that employers frown on large résumé gaps, Mr. Mogharreban knew he could not afford to do nothing.

So he began volunteering. He chose his volunteer positions with consideration as to how his efforts would pay off later, when he is able to look for paid work.

Mr. Mogharreban approached Volunteer Canada, which facilitates and encourages businesses to set up corporate volunteer programs.

"I'm willing to give you professional services, and you can't beat my price. It's free. But I want to be up front and tell you it's for networking," he told Wendy Mitchell, manager of corporate citizenship and fund development.

He presented a business plan to Volunteer Canada's board to maintain and expand a pilot program that helps to match corporations with small, local non-profit groups. In turn, he gained both job-related experience and made contacts that could one day provide that key link to a job.

Volunteer Canada is supported by prominent names in Canadian business, including some of the firms that Mr. Mogharreban would like to work for one day. The organization's Corporate Council on Volunteering includes the heads of Deloitte & Touche, PricewaterhouseCoopers and KPMG, along with Bell Canada, Future Shop and Molson Coors Brewing Co.

Ms. Mitchell wishes more people thought about volunteering in the same way as Mr. Mogharreban, who has subsequently received a job offer, but who is still awaiting a work visa.

People can give back to the community while they build new skills, make valuable contacts and test the waters volunteering in an area to which they might want to make a career switch.

Few volunteers have these goals in mind, Ms. Mitchell said. Instead, workers are too stressed at the end of their work day, work a second job, or are looking for more work, she said.

Employers, on the other hand, are increasingly interested in setting up corporate volunteer programs.

"They are recognizing it is not just 'a nice to have or do,' " Ms. Mitchell said. "It can have a significant impact on HR strategy, skill development, morale, team building ..."

Many employees could use a morale boost these days, when business is slow, colleagues have lost their jobs and survivors are doing more work without pay increases. By volunteering with co-workers, colleagues can foster connections between departments and people at different levels - from the administrative assistant to the department head.

Corporate volunteer programs in Canada take a variety of forms. Accounting firm PricewaterhouseCoopers, which created a foundation with a staff to manage its community giving and volunteering programs, organizes many events itself, and also provides grants to recognize the individual volunteering efforts of its employees. Those who volunteer 50 hours or more each year earn a $300 donation to their charitable organization or community sports team.

While that may not seem like a lot of money, said Andrea Dicks, programs manager of the PricewaterhouseCoopers Canada Foundation, $300 means a lot to small non-profit groups, and those payments have totalled more than $350,000. Among other things, she said the money has funded transit tokens to help at-need families get to school, work and other appointments; arts and crafts supplies for children in hospital; and supplies of baby formula.

Ms. Dicks acknowledges that PwC benefits, too. Not only do employees feel supported by their employer, they bring back new and enhanced skills. To that end, PwC takes time to help employees figure out where they would like to volunteer, and offers sessions on topics such as how to be an effective non-profit board member.

Many firms with corporate volunteering programs anchor their efforts with a high-profile, one-day event intended to get as many employees as possible involved. At Deloitte's Impact Day last year, 5,679 people, or 79 per cent of employees, participated at events across the country. Individual offices arrange events for their employees, which included sprucing up a community living home, sorting food at a crisis shelter, building a skating rink for a youth-at-risk shelter, and helping new immigrants with résumés.

At Deloitte's Impact Day two years ago, Leila Fenc, director of corporate responsibility and the Deloitte Foundation, built squirrel cages for the Toronto Wildlife Centre, affording her a rare opportunity to sharpen her experience with power tools. While she doesn't expect that to lead to a new career, other employees can strategically choose their volunteer opportunities to boost their experience.

In Britain, Deloitte put together a matrix to help employees choose opportunities that will help meet personal skill-building goals. Helping employees build new skills through volunteer work can often replace training programs that Deloitte would otherwise pay for, Ms. Fenc said.

While volunteer programs aren't cheap, said Sean McConkey, Deloitte's national talent lead, "the benefit far outstrips the costs." When you consider the boost such programs give to employee engagement, retention rates, and the business culture, "it works for the firm. It works for the individual."

Just as Mr. Mogharreban chose his volunteer roles carefully, Deloitte takes a pragmatic approach to seeking out volunteer opportunities for its employees. The accounting firm is building a framework to seek out future projects that will showcase its intellectual capital and thought leadership, with an eye to landing clients.

"Intellectual capital within the firm is a strong selling point," Ms. Fenc said.