Post-Grad Volunteering

The top three reasons why so many recent grads are taking a gap year to volunteer before diving into a career.

Descending upon the seemingly vacant Mongolian province of Sükhbaatar in the night, Travis Hellstrom, a current Peace Corps volunteer, was about to begin his two-year assignment. He looked out the Boeing 737’s window among 63 other Peace Corps volunteers and approximately 115 other Mongolian passengers.

Hellstrom said the first thing he noticed about Mongolia is how shockingly simple life is there.

“When we landed it was absolutely dark,” he said. “All you could see were the tiniest little specks of light…the brightest lights were the stars in the sky.”

Hellstrom has been serving as a health volunteer for almost one year. Working in a hospital, teaching English to doctors and nurses, and helping in HIV and AIDS education only begin to describe the work he does. However, volunteer programs such as the Peace Corps have more to offer than community contributions.

The expectation to transition from college life to graduate school or the working world can be daunting. Consequently, more college graduates are considering volunteer programs during their gap year, the time between completing college and moving on to either graduate school or work. Even the number of students taking time off during their gap year has more than doubled at Swarthmore College, according to a 2008 National Public Radio report. These programs not only offer an opportunity to give to society and travel the globe, but they also offer financial, professional and personal benefits.

Financial Benefits

Becoming a member of the Peace Corps has more incentives than the desire to contribute to society. Volunteers are provided with a monthly salary that enables them to live like the people of their new community. Hellstrom, a 24-year-old graduate of Campbell University, receives about $115 a month and is provided with his own living space – a simply decorated, one-bedroom, one-bathroom apartment. The fact that the apartment is furnished with only the necessities– a wooden-framed twin bed, a sparsely covered black desk, a rocking chair, and a couple of sparingly lined bookcases seems to reflect the easygoing lifestyle Hellstrom first noticed upon his arrival to Mongolia. In addition to a monthly wage and residence, becoming a volunteer delays the repayment of federal student loans.

“Most lenders will allow delayed payment on loans and interest,” Joshua Becker, a Peace Corps recruiter in Chicago said in regards to commercial student loans.

Plus, volunteers are awarded approximately $6,000 after they complete their service. “The readjustment allowance helps newly returned volunteers get back on their feet and transition back to life in states.”

The Peace Corps is not the only organization providing its members with financial motivation. World Wide Opportunities on Organic Farms (WWOOF) allows people to travel internationally, working on farms in exchange for housing and food.

“By WWOOFing you are able to travel to another country and eat, live, learn and experience so much without any cost,” said Kirsten Clausen, who participated in Sweden for about two months after graduating from the University of Washington in 2006. “So long as you are willing to do the agreed upon amount of required work per day.”

AmeriCorps is another federal volunteer program that offers loan forbearance. “I received approximately $5,500 to pay for past educational loans or future payments for courses,” said Angie Casey Longwell, who worked for two years for a local nonprofit that served youth and families.

Volunteers may find the financial aspects of the programs modest, but the professional benefits the organizations provide are invaluable.

Professional Benefits

Noncompetitive eligibility is a bonus that both Peace Corps and AmeriCorps emphasize and offer.

“If volunteers returning from their service qualify for a government job, they don’t have to go through the competitive process for up to one year after they return,” said Louis Lopez, an Indiana state director for the AmeriCorps VISTA program.

In addition, AmeriCorps members gain one year of professional experience during their service. Volunteers, according to Lopez, do no manual labor or clerical work. Peace Corps volunteers can develop cross-cultural and language skills, said Becker. “There is a high demand for [volunteers] because only about 200,000 people have served.”

“The Peace Corps works closely with the U.N. in most places,” Hellstrom said. “I would like to work for the U.N. in some way and the Peace Corps is a good way to meet people." 

WWOOF also provides its participants with the opportunity to advance their professional careers. “It is certainly a great way to learn how other people do things all over the world in the agriculture profession,” said Clausen. “And without knowing it at the time, I now know that by having WWOOFed, I can put that as experience in applying for a job in the agriculture field.” Her WWOOF experience in Sweden made her realize she had a true passion for agriculture. Clausen currently attends the Michael Fields Agricultural Institute in East Troy, Wis.

The combination of financial and professional benefits available to Peace Corps, WWOOF and AmeriCorps volunteers can make the experience worthwhile. But many volunteers initially apply to reap the personal benefits of the programs.

Personal Benefits

Many students go on to join volunteer programs after completing their undergraduate coursework, observes Jim Gibson, a sociology advisor at Indiana University-Bloomington.

“It gives an opportunity to live some place different and to travel to another part of the world or country,” he said, crediting that as being the leading reason why students decide to volunteer. “And it gives students the opportunity right out of school to have a job. Then they have something to put on their resume.”

Helping others and her love of teaching are two reasons that led 23-year-old University of Texas at Austin graduate Megan Polansky to apply to the Peace Corps last July. “I think it would be fun to see what I do and don’t know,” she said of what she hopes to learn from her volunteer experience. “And to see what I really want.”

Both Clausen and Hellstrom found themselves with a lot of free time on their hands during their experience. Drawing, taking walks, horseback riding, going to museums, and hanging out with and learning about the owners of the farm were only a few of the pastimes Clausen took part in when she was not working. As a result of the amount of free time Hellstrom received, he has lost about 65 pounds since arriving in Mongolia. This has been a goal of his since middle school, but he did not have the time to do it, he said. Now he is able to workout every day.

“In America life gets so busy that you don’t get to focus on stuff you’ve always wanted to do,” he said. “We all know there are things we need to work on within ourselves and in the Peace Corps there’s time with yourself and you start to do it.”

However, some aspects of these programs to consider before applying consist of the fairly lengthy application process and selective acceptance rate. The Peace Corps recommends applying nine to 12 months prior to the time you wish to depart. Polansky applied to the program in July of 2008. Since then she has interviewed, but her application is still in review. On top of that, they have an acceptance rate of approximately 50 percent.

AmeriCorps, on the other hand, usually notifies applicants in two months but has a 25 percent acceptance rate. Both governmental and nongovernmental volunteer programs offer recent college graduates many benefits.

“When things really get simplified down,” Hellstrom said, like they are in Mongolia, “just being a really good person becomes achievable…and that’s what you can concentrate on each day and that’s a great part.”