{"id":8661,"date":"2026-03-11T12:11:28","date_gmt":"2026-03-11T12:11:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/careers\/?p=8661"},"modified":"2026-03-11T12:11:28","modified_gmt":"2026-03-11T12:11:28","slug":"find-your-purpose-by-volunteering-like-natasha","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/careers\/?p=8661","title":{"rendered":"Find your purpose by volunteering like Natasha"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/careers\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/Natasha-curve.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright wp-image-8670\" src=\"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/careers\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/Natasha-curve.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"215\" height=\"205\" \/><\/a>OU student Natasha shares how her voluntary experience with Action Tutoring has improved her employability skills, boosted her confidence and even helped her mental health and wellbeing. Find out <a href=\"https:\/\/help.open.ac.uk\/voluntary-work\">how volunteering can help your career<\/a> and increase your chances of success.<\/p>\n<h4>Volunteering boosts confidence and skills<\/h4>\n<p><span data-contrast=\"none\"><strong><em>\u201cI think the most valuable skill I\u2019ve developed is being a more reflective communicator,\u201d<\/em>\u00a0<\/strong> Natasha says, reflecting on her time as a volunteer Tutor.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>Voluntary work can:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/help.open.ac.uk\/build-your-future-with-career-confidence\/how-confident-do-you-feel\">Build your confidence<\/a> and self-awareness, enabling you to talk to employers about your skills more effectively.<\/li>\n<li>Improve your skills and develop new ones such as communication, problem solving, self-management and resilience.<\/li>\n<li>Increase your knowledge of a new sector, helping you to develop commercial awareness.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h4>Unexpected positive effect on mental wellbeing<\/h4>\n<p>Natasha also discovered some unforeseen benefits:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p><span data-contrast=\"none\"><em>\u201cVolunteering has had several unexpected positive effects, especially on my mental health and wellbeing.\u201d<\/em><\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<h4>Connection and confidence unlimited by disability<\/h4>\n<p>Natasha strongly advocates for volunteering and has found the experience freeing:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p><span data-contrast=\"none\"><em>\u201cThe sense of purpose I get from contributing as a volunteer has\u2026 improved my confidence, has made me feel less isolated and more capable. Most importantly, it reminds me that having a disability doesn\u2019t limit me.\u201d<\/em><\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<h4>Volunteering improves job prospects<\/h4>\n<p>Research carried out by volunteering charity Timebank through Reed Executive found that:<\/p>\n<p><strong><em>&#8220;73% of employers would employ a candidate with volunteering experience over one without&#8221;<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong><em>\u201c94% of employers believe that volunteering can add to skills\u201d<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n<h4>Next steps<\/h4>\n<p>Read more about <a href=\"https:\/\/actiontutoring.org.uk\/student-volunteering-week-finding-purpose-and-poetry-in-tutoring\/\">Natasha\u2019s experience of volunteering<\/a> on the Action Tutoring website.<\/p>\n<p>If you\u2019d like further support to explore volunteering opportunities or your career plans in general, <a href=\"https:\/\/help.open.ac.uk\/book-a-careers-appointment\">contact Careers and Employability Services<\/a>. We\u2019re here for you throughout your studies and for 3 years afterwards.<\/p>\n<div class=\"ou-box ou-box--info\">\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft wp-image-7109\" src=\"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/careers\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/JE-STEMA-wall-wordpress-150x150.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"89\" height=\"90\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/careers\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/JE-STEMA-wall-wordpress-150x150.jpg 150w, https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/careers\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/JE-STEMA-wall-wordpress-296x300.jpg 296w, https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/careers\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/JE-STEMA-wall-wordpress-1011x1024.jpg 1011w, https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/careers\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/JE-STEMA-wall-wordpress-768x778.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/careers\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/JE-STEMA-wall-wordpress-1516x1536.jpg 1516w, https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/careers\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/JE-STEMA-wall-wordpress-2022x2048.jpg 2022w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 89px) 100vw, 89px\" \/><em>Julie Emery is a Development Coordinator in the OU\u2019s Careers and Employability Services. She supports careers-related activity both within the service and across the University, helping students to achieve their ambitions and fulfil their potential. Explore the rest of our blog for more articles from your careers team.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>OU student Natasha shares how her voluntary experience with Action Tutoring has improved her employability skills, boosted her confidence and even helped her mental health and wellbeing. Find out how volunteering can help your career and increase your chances of success. Volunteering boosts confidence and skills \u201cI think the most valuable skill I\u2019ve developed is [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":49,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8661","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-career-planning"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/careers\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8661","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/careers\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/careers\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/careers\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/49"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/careers\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=8661"}],"version-history":[{"count":21,"href":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/careers\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8661\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8683,"href":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/careers\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8661\/revisions\/8683"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/careers\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=8661"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/careers\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=8661"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/careers\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=8661"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}