Volunteering provides a chance to develop a skill set (think communication, teamwork, leadership) and increase your confidence, knowledge and experience, with flexibility to fit around your studies.

Your volunteering experience can then be used (on your CV and at interview) to provide answers to those tricky requests to demonstrate where you've built and used your skills, how you've gained experience of a particular environment, with whom you've networked etc. Who would say no thanks to that!

Did you know that employers are actually being encouraged to seek out details of an applicant's volunteering in order to better evaluate them for the job? Did you know that research by Deloitte confirms that 82% of hiring managers are more likely to choose a candidate with volunteering experience!

Take a peek at this fascinating article What Volunteering Reveals About You to Employers

And what's more, quite apart from its career enhancing qualities, volunteering also enormously benefits your wellbeing. The friends you make, the fun you have, that great feeling you get when you realise that you're making a positive difference to someone else's life. We hear time and time again from students how their volunteering has massively enhanced their student experience and made their time in Plymouth so enjoyable.

What does volunteering mean to you? Well how about land and habitat conservation, photography, marketing, social media, event management, special Olympics, driving, helping the homeless, the hungry, those sections of society less fortunate in material terms or those living with disability. And then there's befriending and retail experience. All that and more from our 65+ community partners. We even hear from students that their volunteering has opened up ideas of a future career.

And remember, volunteering is voluntary - and therefore flexible - it can fit around your studies - you can pause during busy exam periods and in the run up to course deadlines. And being voluntary, you can even stop altogether if you wish to. What's to lose?

And finally... it's free! (Our community partners will even reimburse travel costs.)

You can pop in for a chat with the Volunteering team in the Hive, SU building, or drop us an email on: volunteer@su.plymouth.ac.uk.

Click here to register with us (no cost, no obligation, just easy access to 170+ volunteering roles).