Volunteer work is prostitution

[ronki23]

I have worked as a volunteer in several positions hoping to use it as a springboard to get a decent job and i'm often asked "What was your previous salary?" and have even been asked "Have you done any paid work?" Even careers advisors say DON'T say it was voluntary.

These companies you work for use you like a slave and it doesn't help you in securing a paid job in the company you are working for as a volunteer let alone another company. It's prostitution

 

[Revoltingest]

If someone is working for free at a job
they dislike, I have some advice....
Quit.

If a prospective employer wants to
know how much you were making
before, I have some advice....
Just give them your expected wage.

 

[Jayhawker Soule]

These companies you work for use you like a slave and it doesn't help you in securing a paid job in the company you are working for as a volunteer let alone another company. It's prostitution

Painting with a broad brush is best reserved for barns and such.

 

[Quintessence]

So... to add something slightly more useful as someone who networks with career advisors as part of their job...

... the reason why a career advisor will caution you against talking about salaries and pay scales is because there is unfortunately some very hard evidence that pay disparities occur (especially the male-female wage gap) in part because of using previous work experience pay as a benchmark for what the employee is worth paying now. I was pretty disgusted at the data that showed students who took unpaid internships, for example, entered into the work force with worse salaries than those who took paid internships. And that the amount they were paid very early in their careers followed them for years and years after. Women, who would enter fields that more often had unpaid experiences, suffered from this disproportionately in the data.

It's not that volunteer experience is bad. It's that you do not want to permit the employer to anchor your value based on it, or any of your previous salaries in other jobs. If you can at all omit talking about previous pay at all, do so. It is almost never to your benefit to talk about that openly.

 

[Nakosis]

I have worked as a volunteer in several positions hoping to use it as a springboard to get a decent job and i'm often asked "What was your previous salary?" and have even been asked "Have you done any paid work?" Even careers advisors say DON'T say it was voluntary.

These companies you work for use you like a slave and it doesn't help you in securing a paid job in the company you are working for as a volunteer let alone another company. It's prostitution

I've heard that to break into broadcasting, the only way to do so is to start out by volunteering at a radio station. This from a guy who became a news broadcaster. So in some cases, if it is something you want to work at, it gets you known around the company.

 

[Dan From Smithville]

If someone is working for free at a job
they dislike, I have some advice....
Quit.

If a prospective employer wants to
know how much you were making
before, I have some advice....
Just given them your expected wage.

I agree, though it sounds like the dislike is for the disparity between result and expectation rather than the work itself.

 

[Dan From Smithville]

I have worked as a volunteer in several positions hoping to use it as a springboard to get a decent job and i'm often asked "What was your previous salary?" and have even been asked "Have you done any paid work?" Even careers advisors say DON'T say it was voluntary.

These companies you work for use you like a slave and it doesn't help you in securing a paid job in the company you are working for as a volunteer let alone another company. It's prostitution

I wish you luck. I know how job seeking can be. It sounds like you may need to reconsider and revise how you present those types of work experience to optimize the value and divert from the unnecessary information.

I would think that it is less like prostitution and more like your description of slave labor for the negative you describe. At least with the former, there is compensation.

 

[Twilight Hue]

I have worked as a volunteer in several positions hoping to use it as a springboard to get a decent job and i'm often asked "What was your previous salary?" and have even been asked "Have you done any paid work?" Even careers advisors say DON'T say it was voluntary.

These companies you work for use you like a slave and it doesn't help you in securing a paid job in the company you are working for as a volunteer let alone another company. It's prostitution

Reminds me of college football players that want to be paid.

 

[Shaul]

No it isn't. Prostitutes usually charge for their services. Volunteers could be suckers or the wealthiest paid of all if non-monetary compensation is considered. It really depends on the individual case.

 

[Estro Felino]

Most of us have done it in their life. Me too.
When it's voluntary work, your boss treats you much more fairly, because he admires that you work for free.
And it's always something you like so much, otherwise you wouldn't do that voluntarily.

I think employers should value such things. It should be a plus and not a minus in the resume. But in today world anything is commodified and monetized. Even feelings are monetized.

 

[Dan From Smithville]

Reminds me of college football players that want to be paid.

That might help with those student loan issues.

 

[Heyo]

I have worked as a volunteer in several positions hoping to use it as a springboard to get a decent job and i'm often asked "What was your previous salary?" and have even been asked "Have you done any paid work?" Even careers advisors say DON'T say it was voluntary.

These companies you work for use you like a slave and it doesn't help you in securing a paid job in the company you are working for as a volunteer let alone another company. It's prostitution

Nope. Prostitutes get paid.

 

[HonestJoe]

I have worked as a volunteer in several positions hoping to use it as a springboard to get a decent job...

I would argue that isn't really volunteer work by the conventional sense since you're hoping/expecting to get some concrete reward from it. You're really talking about an unpaid internship (and, inadvertently, some of the disadvantages of that system).

These companies you work for use you like a slave and it doesn't help you in securing a paid job in the company you are working for as a volunteer let alone another company. It's prostitution

From the companies point of view, it could be "These people do a couple of months busy work and then expect they'll just be able to walk in to a paid position over all the other qualified candidates. It's arrogance."

If you don't have a clear agreement on what options a successful period of "volunteer" work will open for you (even spoken, preferably written), they don't automatically owe you anything just as you don't owe them anything either.

 

[ronki23]

I would argue that isn't really volunteer work by the conventional sense since you're hoping/expecting to get some concrete reward from it. You're really talking about an unpaid internship (and, inadvertently, some of the disadvantages of that system).

From the companies point of view, it could be "These people do a couple of months busy work and then expect they'll just be able to walk in to a paid position over all the other qualified candidates. It's arrogance."

If you don't have a clear agreement on what options a successful period of "volunteer" work will open for you (even spoken, preferably written), they don't automatically owe you anything just as you don't owe them anything either.

So... to add something slightly more useful as someone who networks with career advisors as part of their job...

... the reason why a career advisor will caution you against talking about salaries and pay scales is because there is unfortunately some very hard evidence that pay disparities occur (especially the male-female wage gap) in part because of using previous work experience pay as a benchmark for what the employee is worth paying now. I was pretty disgusted at the data that showed students who took unpaid internships, for example, entered into the work force with worse salaries than those who took paid internships. And that the amount they were paid very early in their careers followed them for years and years after. Women, who would enter fields that more often had unpaid experiences, suffered from this disproportionately in the data.

It's not that volunteer experience is bad. It's that you do not want to permit the employer to anchor your value based on it, or any of your previous salaries in other jobs. If you can at all omit talking about previous pay at all, do so. It is almost never to your benefit to talk about that openly.

The only time I was asked "Have you done any paid work" was when I was applying for a commission-only job. I didn't realise this until afterwards and didn't even bother going for the second interview.

Regarding previous salary, I HAVE said it was hourly pay in some positions and voluntary in others. Still didn't get the job.

Volunteer companies use you and don't give you anything to take away if companies are now asking if you were paid and how much

 

[lewisnotmiller]

So... to add something slightly more useful as someone who networks with career advisors as part of their job...

... the reason why a career advisor will caution you against talking about salaries and pay scales is because there is unfortunately some very hard evidence that pay disparities occur (especially the male-female wage gap) in part because of using previous work experience pay as a benchmark for what the employee is worth paying now. I was pretty disgusted at the data that showed students who took unpaid internships, for example, entered into the work force with worse salaries than those who took paid internships. And that the amount they were paid very early in their careers followed them for years and years after. Women, who would enter fields that more often had unpaid experiences, suffered from this disproportionately in the data.

It's not that volunteer experience is bad. It's that you do not want to permit the employer to anchor your value based on it, or any of your previous salaries in other jobs. If you can at all omit talking about previous pay at all, do so. It is almost never to your benefit to talk about that openly.

Yep...

In my industry, and when hiring, it can be legitimately hard to know what pay someone is expecting, and working out how quickly they'll be able to generate revenue (which is obviously important in determining what you can pay them). We try to standardise wages over time to a degree (mostly as a way to guard against bias in assigning salaries, or oiling the squeaky hinges) but the initial salary setting is hard.

People who have told us their existing wage, and have told us a lower wage get a lower starting wage. It's not that we're trying to stitch them up, just that we get to try them for a year, then raise their wages more quickly over time, which tends to make them happier (weirdly) than someone who really forces a high wage, and then has stagnation over the next few years (reverting to mean in both cases).

It's pretty industry specific, I'm sure, but previous salaries absolutely become anchor points. 100% agree.

 

[lewisnotmiller]

In a more general response to the OP, it is much more specific than is being presented. I have a paid job. And I do vounteer work. And that volunteer work has now led to a (very, very small) wage. But I donate that back to the organisation anyway.
The two things (my paid job and my voluteer work) are entirely divorced from each other.

My wife also has a paid job and does volunteer work, and again, it's entirely divorced. It's just ways we can invest back into our local community, basically.

If you're motivation in doing volunteer work is to get a paid job, then you'd need to be much more targeted about it, and treat it like a job, including talking to your boss about promotions, and how to achieve them.