Volunteering and competences

 

 

On the 5th of December we celebrate International Volunteer Day, a holiday for of all volunteers. If you're one of us there surely was a thank you note from your organization, waiting in your inbox. It is a day when organizations highlight our strengths and thank us for the work we invested, for our time, effort, knowledge, energy, and above all hope that we give to the people in difficult times. And so on that day Slovenian Philanthropy organized a forum on volunteering titled Recording and recognition of competences acquired through volunteering. And as a volunteer of HI Slovenia I also attended. The forum presented the functioning models to record your competence and a view on the informal competences gained in various sectors of society.

 

Tjaša Arko from the Slovenian Philanthropy was the first to present her volunteering experiences. She has been a volunteer since elementary school. How? In a way we are all already volunteering at that age, by helping our classmates with homework, for example. Ms Arko pointed out, that her volunteering experiences helped her acquire her job. She is a program manager of volunteering and volunteer training at Slovenian Philanthropy. Her job also being her passion makes her happy and is not even perceived as work. Next up was Dr. Eva Boštjančič from the Faculty of Arts, University of Ljubljana. She explained what the competencies really are. Understanding the competencies for many people still represents a difficulty. Competence is a combination of will, ability, skills and individual characteristics. So where to acquire those skills? EVERYWHERE! And when to acquire them? Everyday! Dr. Boštjančič recommended us to use the website https://psihologijadela.com/, which was created in association with students of psychology and can help us build and understand our competencies and even bust our job search. I also recommend the video Stand out of the crowd - Personal brand, which was prepared by students of psychology.

 

MEPI model was presented by Neda Kajfež from the MEPI Institute. MEPI – The International Award for Young People – is a world-renowned youth program for young people between 14 and 25 years. It enables them to develop their potential also with a non-formal education and in different areas. Learn more about MEPI on their website: http://mepi.si/. Also presented was the Youthpass and its 8 key competences. Youthpass is obtained by anyone who is involved in Erasmus +. You can get it for EVS, youth exchanges and training for youth workers. More about Youthpass can be found on the website www.youthpass.eu/sl/.

 

Sara from Voluntariat presented a new application IMPROVE, which was developed in cooperation with the Czech organization INEX-SDA. The application changes the description of our competencies using fancy words. Personally, I was very impressed by the app. Very practical and easy to use, it allows the recognition of competences with concrete examples. Application can be found on the website http://improve.inexsda.cz/. And as last the most recognizable model of recording informally acquired competences – Nefiks – was presented. It can also help us with the career development and job search. Competencies can be recorded via the Internet portal e-Nefiks or by entering into a library. All information can be found on the website http://nefiks.si/.

 

 

After that Nika Sebič Koračin, psychologist and project manager in the Human Resources Management company and Ksenija Špiler Božič, advisor for the Director of Steklarna Hrastnik explained how they as counsellors perceive informally acquired competences. They claim that informal competences are a big advantage while seeking employment. Both also noted that, in principle, recruitment consultants first notice the name, qualifications and previous job of the applicant. But what do the competencies tell about an individual? They represent the values of the job seeker. Volunteering can tell a lot about motivation and interests of the candidate. Both speakers gave a few tips, namely that CV should be personal and it should read as a story, containing also those own "pearls" that surely every individual has. Only those are the ones the HR is really interested in. It is important, not what one knows, but who that person is, therefore informal competences holds additional importance and influence. Ms Božič cooperates with Steklarna Hrastnik, a company that is a good example of taking into account the informally acquired competencies.

 

Development of personal, social and civic competences is important. With that we are strengthening our potential and personality. Each informal competence is also formal. The value of competences acquired through volunteering is increasing in finding employment in the various sectors of the economy. But it all depends on us, the volunteers! We are the ones who have to consistently document our competencies, require reference document from our mentors and obtain proof of voluntary work.

 

And what I learned? Until now I have not recorded competences, but now I learned their value and proper way to record them. I realized how many competencies volunteers gain (when you start to write them down you are actually surprised)! I decided to start accumulating competencies constantly and regularly and I recommend this to everyone! Happy competencies hunt and successful recording!