Presentation by Jolene Jennings

Presenter Jolene Jennings provided thoughtful and helpful insight into the advantages of volunteering your professional expertise while looking for your next job. Ms. Jennings, site director of Jericho Road Project in Worcester, started by giving an overview of the agency's mission, which is two-fold: to match the professional skills of volunteers with the needs of community-based non-profit organizations to help with strategy and development for long-term growth, expansion and improvement, and; The Leadership Connection, which provides governance training for board development. 

Both job seekers and organizations benefit from skills-based partnerships--the job-seeker by remaining active in his/her profession while they're not working in a paid position, and the organization by receiving expert advice and guidance at no cost. Currently there are 30 non-profit organizations in the Worcester area which have projects in progress with the assistance of Jericho Road volunteers.

There are other benefits for job seekers as well. Through their volunteer work, job seekers can make good networking connections which can be very helpful during their job search. Recent statistics show that volunteers may increase their chances of finding a paid position by 27%.

Ms. Jennings, who holds a Master of Science degree in Nonprofit Management from Worcester State University, has twenty years of successful professional leadership in both the non-profit and volunteer arenas. Her presentation was truly inspirational and provided valuable information about the many ways in which volunteering can be a positive alternative strategy for job seekers while providing much-needed support to the area's non-profit organizations.
You can find out more information at  www.jerichoroadproject.org/Worcester 

Cynthia Carlson, WIN Coordinator