Volunteering: A Route To The Students Professional Development

The young people involved in volunteering have greater chances to find a job. They acquire knowledge and skills that they can use in their future job. Therefore, their chances of employment will be higher than those of young graduates who have no work experience. The purpose of this paper is to determine if students’ involvement in volunteering has a positive influence on their future professional career. This paper examines the linkage between volunteering and professional development, by analyzing the students’ opinion regarding the impact that volunteering has on their personal development, skills, qualification, work experience and future career perspectives. For this purpose, during the academic year 2016-2017 the research was conducted using a questionnaire on the population of 197 students of the Faculty of Administration and Public Management from the Bucharest University of Economic Studies. In order to reach the survey's goal, descriptive statistical analysis was performed. A strong correlation between volunteering and students’ professional development is observable in all explored aspects. Gaining work experience, acquiring communication skills, adapting to new work environment and developing one's personal curriculum vitae are considered important for the students’ future professional career. These results should be used as a base for promoting volunteering in the academic and business environment.