My Nonprofit Reviews

I attended a workshop on skills-based volunteering given by the Volunteer Center of United Way (Westchester). I had been unemployed for 18 months at the time and decided that since I wanted to look for a job in the non-profit sector, the best way to do that would be to gain some experience as a volunteer - my previous jobs were all in Corporate America. The workshop helped me to understand what kind of a volunteer that I would be - programmatic or operational and what types of opportunities were associated with each. I took the advice of Judy Douglas who recommended meeting with a Volunteer Specialist at the Volunteer Center. I had identified a couple of places that I was interested in on their web site and at the meeting the specialist called those organizations on my behalf. I interviewed with 2 and spent all of last summer volunteering for both of them. By the end of the summer, one had offered me a full-time job! I can't say that would have happened had I not connected with the Volunteer Center and their very determined staff.