There is no "I" in Team but there is a "u" in volunteer!

About 8000 community organisations in Quebec are responsible for all the hours of volunteer done in the province. The young people’s biggest motivation for volunteering (91%) is because they believe in the cause or organization they support. Others say they volunteer because they want to use their skills and experiences (73%), to explore their strengths (49%) and to improve job opportunities (47%)…. [1] When people do service learning they have the obligation to do the work and when people do volunteer work, they choose whether they want to do the work or not. When people choose to do the work their intentions are good and the work they do will be done right. People should be able to make the choice to get involved or not. The only right way to help someone is when you do it for the right reasons. When someone volunteers, they are giving some of their time. In other words, volunteering is like making a present of your time to someone or an organisation. In order for a present to be real, it has to be given because someone truly wants to offer it. You cannot force someone to make presents to people.

  

For many reasons people choose to do volunteer work. Unfortunately many choose to not get involved. The ‘’millennium generation’’ born between 1980 and 1995 are now taking over the job market and slowly replacing the baby-boomers that are now more and more retiring. The way they think and do things is different from the past generations. Even though, they are hard workers, they focus more on their success and on themselves. For many, their own interests go before the company they work for or the community’s interests. [2] Because the ‘’millennials’’ are busy, taking care of their own business, they don’t spend time volunteering and giving some of their time to community organisations. This generation is more individualist than the ones before, this would explain why many wouldn’t ‘’waste’’ their time helping 

other people.

I think lots of people think volunteering will take lots of their time but the truth is that organisations know you have many other things to do in your life. If you can’t be there on one day they need you, they will find someone else. They know that when someone volunteers, they do it on their spare time and usually most people don’t have that much spare time which means they won’t be able to be there every time organisations need them. This is another reason why organisations need many volunteers in order to be able to function normally and to be able to always have enough volunteers while not putting pressure on people to always be there.

I think the best way to incite people to volunteer is by making volunteering accessible to everyone. People won’t search and try to find somewhere to volunteer but when it is offered to them or easy to find, they will be more inclined to volunteer. Another way to make people volunteer would be to make them feel good when they do it. Helping people makes you feel good and useful. It is important that when people volunteer, that they are in a positive environment and thanked for what they have done. Most people have lots of things to do and if they don’t feel appreciated where they volunteer they might just keep their time to do something else. I believe people are more inclined to volunteer when they are with friends. Volunteering associations should try to recruit people when they have group activities this way volunteers would be able to be with friends and even make friends while volunteering. This would make the volunteering experience more enjoyable to volunteers. Generally, when people volunteer once, they start doing it on a regular basis. I believe it would be a good idea to try to have as many people to try volunteering once. This would probably make them like it and want to do it again.

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[1]

Giving and Volunteering in Quebec survey of 1997, http://www.givingandvolunteering.ca/files/giving/en/rp_1997_g_and_v_pq_en.pdf

[2]
http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=4126233n&tag=contentBody;storyMediaBox

Turning interest into passion

As a child I knew that one day I would become an adult and have a job just like my parents. When I was young I wanted to do all sorts of things but never really knew what job I would choose because there were so many different choices. I always thought the moment I would need to make my choice was in a long time and it never really bothered me not knowing what career I would do later. It is really important for me to love my future career because I am going to work for a long time. The most important is to be passionate about what you do because when you are, your job doesn’t feel like one.

Since I didn’t know what do after high school and didn’t want to stop studying, I decided to go to cegep and study in sciences because I was told I could do anything after having studied in sciences. In the past years I have discovered a new interest for business management. I have always admired people who have worked hard all their life and were able to make their business a successful one. The other thing I like about business administration is that you are your own boss. I would really like to be, as much as possible, able to make my own decisions in my future career.

Every time I go to Quebec city, I visit my uncle who owns a big furniture store. I usually work there when I visit him and do all the things he doesn’t have the time to do. Since what he does interests me, he often shows me how he does things. For example, last time I visited him, he made me do his accounting and his price changes in his computer system. It was really fun to act like a boss and experience his job.

Last year, I was also chosen to be part of a business program and received one hundred hours of business courses. I was also in charge of a business this summer and worked really hard since I had to do everything a boss usually does. The business was a home cleaning company. The main things we did were window and gutter cleaning. I was in charge of the employees, the clients, the accounting, the production, the equipment etc… This experience made me learn so much about business management. I really think this is what I want to do later. This new interest really changed for a passion after experiencing business management for real this summer. After cegep, I will probably go study in something that has to do with business or finance.

According to a report by the Ministère du Développement économique, de l’innovation et de l’Exportation (MDEIE), Quebec will soon face a shortage of entrepreneurs. They say that businesses in Quebec usually live shorter lives and less people are actually starting businesses in Quebec that in the rest of Canada. This will be a major problem when the baby-boomers get retired because there will be no one interested and capable of taking over their business.[1] This is good for me because entrepreneurs will have lots of opportunities in the future.

In conclusion, whether I go study in business management after cegep or something else, all I want is to love what I do. I know I will find something that suits me and that I will love doing for the rest of my life. Even though I have to know for next year what I will study in at university, I am not stressed because I know I will find what I want to do. There are no bad choices and it doesn’t matter if choosing what I want to do takes a few years. It is better to take my time choosing and be sure of my decision when I will make it than to realize that I want to do something else in ten years and to regret all my life the choices I have made when I was young.

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[1] http://www.lifeinquebec.com/news/entrepreneurs-needed-quebec-facing-shortage/