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From Volunteer to Professional: Possibilities and Pitfalls
By; April H., MSEJ Writers Guild Participant
Few things are consistent during military relocation, but we can almost always count on connecting to our community through volunteering. I realized early on that there were long-term commitments and more short-term projects available at each duty station where I could use my professional skills and develop new ones. While there is lots of advice out there about working your volunteer experience to develop a career (see the May 2015 MSEJ!), it did not occur to me until years later that my volunteer experience could be highlighted in my resume.
From Volunteer to Professional
I was unaware in the beginning that becoming a phone tree caller for our Family Readiness Group, coupled with my education, would ultimately lead to parallel volunteer and professional desires to enter into government service with the very organization that serves as the platform for family readiness, the Fleet and Family Support Center, some years later.
I worked in private industry at three duty stations, but noticed that volunteer opportunities for Family Readiness increased with more experience. I started small, joining committees and learning more about the resources available to help military families. Sometimes, volunteering would involve organizing halfway boxes for Sailors to open during deployment. Other times it was a lot of physical work helping to clean up after a children’s party when, at that time, we didn’t have children. I was invited to apply to become a command Ombudsman and ultimately accepted the volunteer position. There was a lot of training, and the position was as demanding as it was rewarding, but it ended up being both fulfilling AND professionally meaningful.
I remained Ombudsman until I started my entry level position as an Exceptional Family Member Program Liaison for FFSC. My foot was in the door largely thanks to the volunteer and program experience I had as an Ombudsman. A month into the position, I applied to be on the training team for Ombudsman Basic Training, and a year later I assumed the duties as the Ombudsman Program Coordinator and Deployment Specialist as an Education Services Facilitator.