Volunteering is Good for Your Career! - and how it relates to FIRSTers

[Jessica Boucher]

So, I stumbled upon this article today:
Volunteering Can Boost Skills, Advance Careers

What did I think of right away after reading that article? FIRSTers, at every level, are adding something very unique to their resume by volunteering. But, not only do you need to be able to articulate the skills that you have acquired through volunteering, I would like to dig deeper and add specifically to FIRSTers (especially to the non-technically focused) that it is also crucial to have an "elevator speech" about FIRST handy.
Many a time have I been in interviews with companies, especially companies that already sponsor FIRST teams, and heard: "So...tell me about this FIRST thing...I've never heard of it before...". Of course, on the inside I'm screaming, "What is wrong with you? You sponsor three teams!!!", but on the outside I'm calmly giving my elevator speech about what FIRST is and about the skills I've gained through my experiences within the program.

I had an interview yesterday with a Product Manager who turned out to have volunteered with the Tyngsboro team in 2003 and knew exactly what I was talking about when it came to FIRST, but that's not always the case. As teams, not only is it important to have our elevator speech ready for ourselves, but to articulate the program to all areas of the company so that everyone can see where their money is being donated.

As FIRST grows, if the percentages of "students going into science and technology majors" (which is at about half) paired with the high "percentage of graduates that want to work for a sponsoring company" stay relatively proportional to what they are now, FIRST involvement will be reaching into more areas of the company than ever before. And in the long run, it benefits ourselves because "that new-hire in Operations that used to do FIRST" is not only an easier sell to become a mentor for your team, but also has a signifigantly less steep learning curve because of their past experience.

So when you boil it down, what am I trying to say? Volunteering for FIRST is great on your resume, but there is sometimes a disjoint between the donation dollars of a company and the knowledge of the program throughout all areas of the company. As teams, we should not only prefect our "elevator speeches" if we run into this situation, but we can also be proactive in closing the gap by getting people fron all areas of the company involved.