You’ve got a great education, you’re keen to learn, you want to work and contribute to society yet it seems that to get the job that you want you need work experience, which first means you need to get a job
The transition from study to the workforce can be difficult even when you know exactly what is is you want and how you plan to get there.
Yet it is the minority of students that emerge from study that well prepared. More often than not, our work prospects and aspirations are about as clear as mud.
Talent vs Degree
I worry that our education system does not adequately prepare people for the realities of the workforce and that the career guidance taken up does little to inspire in young people the pursuit of the dream.
In fact in some cases, being sent off to talk to the local branch of some national or multinational company that has a internship programme that matches your degree, might be the completely wrong direction in terms of matching one’s talents and values.
As was indicated during a conversation I recently had with a final year commerce student (FYCS) – Majoring in Economics
Renee: So you’re final year right?, what do you wanna do next year? Work?
FYCS : Not really sure yet,
Renee: You can do anything you want, you know
FYCS: I’m kinda interested in writing…
Renee: Yeah cool, I majored in journalism. What do you think is you greatest talent?
FYCS: I’m not really sure…
Renee: Everyone’s got talents [usual expectant pause] ok then …how about looking at it like this. If you could have any job in the world what would you do?
FYCS: Writing, or design, maybe advertising?
Renee: So I’m hearing, something creative right?
FYCS: Yeah, but its not really my major”
Renee: Your major doesn’t really matter, it shows that you have discipline and you’ve already learnt the most important lesson, how to learn. Being able to learn, being able to solve problems you can take those skills anywhere. You can choose to do a job you will love.”
FYCS: But I worry about my grades”
Renee: Your grades won’t matter what matters is work experience. Find a company that you want to work with and offer to volunteer. It’s a foot in the door and I reckon volunteer work experience will trump your grades
FYCS: Thinks about this for a nanosecond and smiles
FYCS: You’ve just made me shift my idea of what I could do from here to here (indicating with hands an expanded vision)
While the above tale is unlikely to be a completely accurate replay – there were umms & ahhhh’s, frequent head nodding and gestures - it’s the outcome that mattered.
It’s amazingly encouraging to have seen and heard someone gain even just an ounce more hope for the future. Score 1 to me! in favour of the pursuit of talent vs degree based career paths.
Volunteer Work Experience
We see volunteering as a highly effective means for young people to gain work experience, develop work ethic and build work skills.
Some of the skills volunteers can develop include:-
* Leadership & team building skills
* Relationship building skills
* Communication skills
* Negotiation skills
* Creative thinking skills
* Organisation & time management skills
Most importantly it is a testament to one’s willingness to work which, in my work experience, counts for a whole lot more than grades ever will. Welcome to the workforce people.
Four Simple Steps Towards Your Dream Job
It may seem too simple and idealistic but it’s worked for me. I love my job and would like to see more people living the work life balance that we enjoy
Identify you talents, your passion, your interest and values as it is these qualities when combined with work that will put you on the path to a job that you love!
Create you talent profile and list your talents, passion, interests and value and using the magik of the interweb we will match your talent profile with volunteer work opportunities
Put yourself out there to work and learn more about what motivates and inspires you
Gather references that testify to your work experience so you can expand your options & pursue the dream then repeat
Pretty simple really. It’s about mindset and taking action don’t let others define your future for you. Start working towards you dream job, begin now.
A recent study by researchers from the University of Konstanz (Germany) has found that volunteering can offer mental health benefits and may even help people to perform better in their paid work role.
Research was conducted via a 2-week diary study, with 105 employees to provide data for a total of 476 days. Research then examined relationships between the amount of time spent on volunteer work activities during leisure time, psychological non-work experiences in the evening, and work outcomes during the following working day.
Results confirmed the hypothesized positive relationships between the amount of time spent on volunteer work activities and psychological detachment from work, mastery experiences, and need satisfaction in the evening.
Positive relationships between the amount of time spent on volunteer work activities and psychological detachment from work and mastery experiences in the evening suggest volunteer work’s potential to provide a break from paid work and to offer opportunities for recovery experiences.
We, Gen Y, have the information, insight and connections to harness ourselves some rather impressive purchasing power.
Already we use tools like Trade me, to help establish market price and demand. Price Spy to inform us on competitive retail pricing and of course, there’s the ever present forms of social media (facebook, twitter, blogs) that we use to seek out recommendation from the people we trust.
Gen Y … are serious, independent information seekers who expect to interact with products and companies online as a matter of course,” … Their decision process begins and ends online, where they seek information, recommendations and validation…Collaboration is another Gen Y trait. As part of their consideration process, they seek recommendations and validation. Favorite tools include social networking, peer marketing, online support networks, text messaging and blogging. Source
There are always new tools or combination’s of existing tools entering the market. Tools like Bid Rivals, cashing in on the established Trade me culture and auction frenzy around low price deals. While here at Worknow we’ve set out to provide people a more cost effective way to connect with service opportunities.
In a world awash with online and mobile tools, it’s no longer a question about HOW to connect, it’s about knowing with WHOM we connect.
We humans are social creatures, so finding and connecting with other people – in part nature and in part need – is a process that is continually refined and enhanced.
Today’s online world has become a social space for seeking out and facilitating human interaction with the growing power of social search seen with the launch of twitter lists.
Literally, millions of lists created to organise diverse topics – Dunedin (location) Distiller (Group) Volunteering (Industry Sector) – as a collection of who, rather than what.
Worknow, connecting talented people with work opportunity
We’ve combined tools to help people find and connect with work opportunities based on their talent profile. A community marketplace using the familiar bid, buy and feedback system to help people find and bid for work on paying projects and offer time on volunteer work opportunities. As a community member you can use social networking tools to:-
Showcase your talents, skills and work experience, your values, interests and more…
Search and be found, based on the information you choose to share
Connect, communicate and collaborate with people of common purpose and vision
Build your online CV and living work history, a testimonial to your talents, skill and experience.
Letter to IRD Re:Tax obligations for volunteer work experience
Dear Sir / Madame,
Thank you for your letter dated 24th September outlining the legislation upon which your advice is based. I now seek clarification on two points please.
1. We intend time trade to be a tool to promote, support and encourage people to volunteer in the community. For example;
Sue Smith volunteers with the SPCA to walk a dog one afternoon. After the work is done the SPCA provides feedback for Sue’s online talent profile with the comment “Sue did a great job, she was on time and works well with animals” . They also credit Sue 1 hour for the 1 hour she volunteered.
If charitable organisations use time trade as a means to provide recognition of volunteer work and offer constructive feedback on volunteer contributions will such an exchange be liable to any type of tax or GST?
2. We want to facilitate volunteer work experiences for young people and believe time trade provides a means to promote, encourage and reward volunteer work experience. However, if a business offers students Volunteer Work Experience for example;
to shadow and learn from a business person
attend meetings and take minutes or
work with employees and contribute to a business project
And then use our time trade system to
place constructive feedback about the volunteer and;
credit the volunteer time in recognition of the time they volunteered
Would such activity be liable for Tax and GST?
Can you please clarify the treatment of these time trades for all tax or gst purposes. I appreciate your help to understand where our tax and legal obligations are on these matters. Thanks for your time.
Attn: K Anderson
Inland Revenue
P O Box 1247
Dunedin 9054
New Zealand.
IRD NUMBER: 96287028
REERENCE: DN / SER / KXA
Dear Sir / Madame,
Thank you for your letter dated 24th September outlining the legislatiojn upon which your advice is based. I now seek clarification on two points please.
1.We intend time trade to be a tool to promote, support and encourage people to volunteer in the community. For example;
Sue Smith volunteers with the SPCA to walk a dog one afternoon. After the work is done the SPCA provides feedback for Sue’s online talent profile with the comment “Sue did a great job, she was on time and works well with animals” . They also credit Sue 1 hour for the 1 hour she volunteered.
If charitable organisations use time trade as a means to provide recognition of volunteer work and offer constructive feedback on volunteer contributions will such an exchange be liable to any type of tax or GST?
2.We want to facilitate volunteer work experiences for young people and believe time trade provides a means to promote, encourage and reward volunteer work experience. However, if a business offers students Volunteer Work Expereince for example;
to shadow and learn from a business person
attend meetings and take minutes or
work with employees and contribute to a business project
And then use our time trade system to 1) place constrcutive feedback about the volunteer and 2) credit the volunteer time in recognition of the time they volunteered
Would such activity be liable for Tax and GST?
Can you please clarify the treatment of these time trades for all tax or gst purposes. I appreciate your help to understand where our tax and legal obligations are on these matters. Thanks for your time.
Kind Regards,
Renee Lee www.worknow.co.nz renee@worknow.co.nz
021 18 300 50
IRD Response Received 18 January 2010
On the basis that:-
volunteer workers are freely undertaking volunteer activity within New Zealand chosen either by themselves or a group of which they are a member and
volunteer activities do not form part of a business activity ordinarily carried on by the volunteer and
a benefit is provided to the community or another person for which there is no intention of private pecuniary profit for the person
NO TAX LIABILITY ARISING
the crediting of time to the volunteer and
the posting of feedback on their volunteer contribution
IS NOT considered to give rise to an INCOME TAX or GST liability to the volunteer undertaking the work.
The time credit is considered to be a form of reimbursement of time and or costs that may have been incurred by the volunteer in undertaking the volunteer work, which is accordingly TAX EXEMPT
Results from the 2009 New Zealand General Social Survey (NZGSS) show that over the year from April 2008 to March 2009:
One-third of people in the survey had undertaken voluntary work for a group or organisation during the previous four weeks, and about two-thirds had done unpaid work for someone living in another household.
People who did voluntary work had slightly higher levels of life satisfaction (89.5%) compared with those who didn’t (84.2%).
Two-thirds of both men and women undertook unpaid work.
Women were more likely than men to have done unpaid work at least once a week, whereas men were more likely to have done unpaid work only once in the preceding four week period.
There was a steady rise in the number of people participating in voluntary work by their level of educational qualification.
People aged between 34 and 75 years were the most engaged in voluntary work.
In our discussions with students we saw a mismatch between where they look for volunteer work i.e newspapers and their preferred forms of media, being online.
Without a doubt I believe the time I spent volunteering, after bailing on law school, helped me secure my first real job.
Working for the YMCA as a Gymnastic Instructor and Recreation Assistant was volunteer work experience in the traditional sense. Being new to the workforce it provided me with opportunities in leadership and team work and allowed me to communicate and work with people of all ages.
Personally, the experience is significant in terms of my lifelong aspirations, it highlighted the value of recreational education and the powerful, positive influence of role models on young people. It made me feel like a contributing member of society and in terms of my CV it reflected my willingness to work.
Volunteering for any of the many charitable organisations that support our communities is a great way to build basic work experience and skills.
But if you’re interested in developing more specialist skills, in line with you passions, interests or education then the potential to volunteer your time applies also to company’s that interests you.
It’s a great way to learn about the realities of the workforce to gain an inside look at an organisation and help you to acquire work experience. For a select few it can even lead to jobs.
Indeed several people that I have spoken to in local community organisations say that when taking on new team members they look first to those that have volunteered time with them. Which makes sense right.
Ideally, we’d all like to land the paid internships but in such a competitive market why let those fortunate enough to score places gain extra advantage when you can as easily build work experience alongside them in the same industry with the increased flexibility of a volunteer position.
By creating your Talent Profile here at Worknow, we can help you find and match you talent, skills and interests with both volunteer and paid work opportunities. Register today
With John Keys announcing a $152 million package to create new work, education and training opportunities for unemployed young people we’re feeling even more confident that our vision around helping the youngest working age generation transition into work will find support on many levels. Well, we hope that it does but at the very least we’re reassured to learn that our mission aligns with the concern of our current Prime Minister who said yesterday:-
I am concerned for our young people.Those aged 18-24 are the fastest growing age group on the Unemployment Benefit, representing a third of all those who receive it.
The number of young people who wanted a job but couldn’t get one has more than quadrupled in the past year, leaping from less than 4000 in June 2008 to nearly 17,000 by June this year.
My concern is that for a young person starting out in their working life, a long period of unemployment could be very damaging. Source
Quid Pro Quo: Using Time Trade to Encourage Young People to Volunteer
When we looked at solving problems relating to work it was quickly evident that young people are the demographic most in need of solutions. So we got together to identify ways we could help them transition from study to work.
Lacking the work experience needed to gain value from our contractors’ marketplace we focused instead on ways that we could help them build the necessary work expereince, skills and references.
By incorporating unpaid work into our formula and encourage volunteering through the concept of Time Trade, we identified ways to:-
1) provide a measure of value and recognition for the development of a peer mentoring scheme, using time credits.
Enlisting alumni to mentor upcoming graduates about work life and career paths. Those graduates, in turn, trade their time to perhaps tutor fellow students who in turn again volunteer in their community and build valuable work skills.
2) provide incentive and reward to encourage more young people to volunteer, using time credits.
We believe volunteer work develops a service orientated work ethic and skills that assist the study to work transition. Some of the skills we know volunteers can develop include:-
Leadership & team building skills
Relationship building skills
Communication skills
Negotiation skills
Creative thinking skills
Organisation & time management skills
As Social Development and Employment Minister Paula Bennett points out encouraging Gen Y to become involved in our communities creates win-win situations. Her comments about the Community Max Scheme could as easily apply to Worknow:-
“This is all about providing opportunities – we see this as a very positive approach to addressing youth unemployment while helping fund useful community projects… I believe this is a win-win situation.”
Where we differ is that we intend the growth of youth volunteers to be a permanent fixture of tomorrows communities hence the development of out Time Trade platform.
If asked “what did you want to be when you were a kid?”, I know the answer is – to help people. While I’m not alone in aspiring to help others am I just trying to compensate for my failings? or feel better about myself? Am I really just trying to help myself?
With time trade one’s own motivation to help others comes second. It’s about putting the needs of others before yourself by focusing less on the need to be needed – who can I help?, how can I help? – and more on outcomes that can only be secured by enlisting the time and talents of those we are trying to help – how can this persons talents, skills and time help others?
“…If we want to fulfill our own commitments to make a difference in the lives of others, we need to find a way to use our ability to unleash the capacity of the person we are helping…” Edgar Cahn
People are Assets
Every single person is gifted with talents that are of value in a Time Trade community.
“…it recognises the whole person, that your life experiences, your knowledge, is an asset – everything you are, what you know and what you don’t is valuable…”
For organisations with networks of people that they already help there’s the potential to vastly expand the work accomplished by employing the time and talents of the people they help. This in turn empowers the recipients and moves them away from dependence and potential helplessness towards a sense of contributing value to one’s own community.
For example enlisting university alumni to mentor upcoming graduates about work life and career paths and those graduates, in turn, tutoring fellow students who in turn help volunteer in their community, and build valuable work skills.
“…We have to find news ways, or very old ways, of putting people to use doing things for each other…finding ways for people who don’t think they have skills to discover their own strengths…” Edgar Cahn
Time Trade is simply about spending an hour doing something for somebody in your community.
In recognition for your contribution you receive one Time Credit which you can then gift or trade, with other members of the community, in exchange for their talent and time. It’s a simple idea, but it has powerful ripple effects in building community connections.
Here at Worknow we are building an online system to automate the transfer of time credits between Community Members. Our Time Trade system comes online August 2009 please register your interest today.
One of the most valuable life lessons learned while building this company is that “…money does not define the limits of what is possible…”
I would not be here today if I’d let a complete lack of funds prevent me from pursuing our vision of this new venture. Or if I feared the stigma of being “unemployed”. By choosing to build my future using the only resources that are truly mine – my time and talents – in collaboration with others, I’ve discovered the freedom to follow my dreams and trust my intuitions. While I may be poor in terms of money I’m undeniably blessed and rich in the things that money can not buy; love, happiness, hope…
Our company, Jamie Josh and I, are living proof of what can be accomplished when people are willing to invest time and talent in lieu of earnings. We hope time trade and the use of time credits will help us all to redefine the value of work to include some of the values that define us as humans; our capacity to love and care for other people, animals and our environment. To share knowledge, collaborate and stand up for the things we believe in.
Every time we reward an act of helping with a time credit, we are declaring that the monetary economy does not have the power to define what real work is, that market price is not the only measure of value and that money does not define the limits of what is possible. Edgar Khan in The Time of Our Lives
I’m inspired by thought leaders like Edgar Cahn because here at Worknow we break from the definition of work as either “employed or unemployed” choosing instead the role of aspiring, social entrepreneur and incorporating the idea of time trade – into a company built to help people find and connect with work – so as to give equal value to both volunteer and paid work opportunities.
We hope that our intention will become more evident when we launch the beta site because Jamie’s created some funky elements, in the navigation and site design, to allow people to easily switch and identify between time trade and paid work options. They are after all two sides of the same coin because as my father used to say “…there’s more than one way to skin a rabbit…”
Time Trade aka Time Banking is simply about spending an hour doing something for somebody in your community.
In recognition for your contribution you receive one Time Credit which you can then gift or trade, with other members of the community, in exchange for their talent and time. It’s a simple idea, but it has powerful ripple effects in building community connections.
Here at Worknow we are building an online system to automate the transfer of time credits between Community Members. Our Time Trade system comes online August 2009. For more information check out these links:-
