One of the most common pieces of advice in job hunting and work in general is: never work for free.
Well, watch out because I’m going to give some really counterintuitive advice today.
Try giving it away.
So hold on. I know that it feels like everyone wants to get something from you. And there’s a worrying trend in applying for jobs where prospective employers will ask you to do spec work for them, supposedly to prove yourself with real challenges. Then those people turn around and use your free labor, even if they don’t hire you.
That’s terrible. But that’s not what I’m talking about.
What I’m talking about is volunteering. While you are doing all the traditional work to find a job, and especially if you’re not getting the traction you expected, identify some places in the community where you can offer your expertise as a volunteer.
In my case, I emailed a long list of nonprofit organizations in the area, offering to do writing and editing for them on a volunteer basis. But this could work for pretty much any profession; every community needs help. If you’re an accountant, look for organizations that provide financial assistance to small businesses. If you are a home inspector, contact places that help low-income people secure their first house.
It’s sort of like information interviewing, in that it gets your name out there to new people and demonstrates your expertise in a low-stakes way that can pay off in the future.
But it’s better, because who is going to turn down free help? That sort of an offer can open doors in a way that other approaches don’t. And it can give you pieces for your professional portfolio or entries on your focused resume.
Not everyone will respond, even to an offer of volunteer work. People are busy, and you’re still an unknown quantity until they’ve worked with you. But they are much more likely to respond to a pitch where you help them out than one where you’re asking for something.
Obviously, there’s a danger of giving too much away. If you find yourself putting in a fair amount of hours with any one volunteer gig, you should begin to strategize about how to convert that into a gig that pays. But spreading around the help can be a virtuous cycle, letting you make the world a slightly better place while expanding your contacts and keeping your skills sharp.
So what are the benefits of the volunteer strategy, as a component of your job search?
It gets your name out there. You meet new contacts in your field who might not give you the time of day if you were asking something of them, rather than offering something of yourself.
It’s good for your mental health. It’s a great antidote for the constant rejection that is often part of job hunting, since the people you are helping will be all the more appreciative of your efforts. And it’s a tonic to make the world a better place, however you can.
The effect can build on itself. Once you have a couple of volunteer gigs under your belt, you can use those as leverage to expand your network even further, and hopefully transition into paid work.
This isn’t meant to be the centerpiece of your job search efforts. But I’ve found it to be a great boost in multiple ways. Give it a try and let me know how it goes.
Thank you so much for being here in the early days of Mighty Forces. I hope this content is useful for you. Please let me know in the comments, or just by replying directly to this email, what topics or questions you would like me to write about in future issues.