In this series titled Volunteering Chronicles: Wild heart and helping hands, I will address the questions most often asked to me with regards to volunteering (or internships). Obviously, my experience is restricted to wildlife and environmental organizations.

How does one get to know about volunteering opportunities?

Enrolling in online forums or email mailing lists, or WhatsApp groups on topics pertaining to such work and organisations is a good start. There is no dearth of information on the internet. You have information about opportunities on your finger tips these days, thanks to social media. Apart from that, don’t miss opportunities to talk with experienced people. By interacting with a diverse group of people, you get to know of many organisations who do amazing grassroots work but who do not necessarily have an online presence.

Tip: Invest some time in researching your potential host institutions. This demonstrates your seriousness and professionalism since you did some homework, which is likely to increase your chances of securing an internship /volunteering opportunity.

Will volunteering lead to a career?

Many jobs offered in the conservation field do seek, appreciate and value experience on field and ‘hands on experience’. Thus one may find themselves to be in a better position if they have had some volunteering experience. However, I feel we should not be looking at volunteering only as a means to get a job or ‘build your resume’. Volunteering not only gives us the satisfaction of being able to contribute to conservation (or the cause you believe in) but is also enables us to build a solid foundation for channelising our interests. Volunteering gives an opportunity to hone skills like decision making, problem solving, communication, critical and creative thinking. It also helps you to understand what it means to be professional, how to manage time effectively, how to work with a diverse group of people, negotiate and indulge in conflict resolution, and develop a sense of discipline, self respect, and confidence. These kinds of skills may not be definable or quantifiable but they do count and go a long way in building a strong physical, mental and moral base for what we want to do in life.

Keep an eye out for Part 4!

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