Volunteering, A Skills Incubator for Future Organizations

Abstract

Volunteering represents an opportunity to learn continuously, to gain new work skills, qualifications and competences. It increases people degree of adaptability to the future demands of the labor market, taking into account the permanent changes from the economic and technological environment. A proper approach of this activity can create various opportunities regarding mobility or/and the professional insertion capacity of young people, but also a thorough preparation for new business models. The aims of the paper are to define the concept of volunteering and to show that volunteering, as a formal or informal learning method, can ensure a thorough preparation for the future organizations, by accumulating competitive advantages, professional skills and qualifications that meet the requirements of the labor market and facilitate the insertion into the labor market. The authors used a descriptive research method. The paper highlights that there is a strong relationship between the people competencies and labor market requirements, and emphasize that formal education and volunteering are viable solutions that can mitigate the socio-economical risks caused by the transition to the economy based on knowledge. Also, it shows that volunteering can enable the labor market access, by accumulating professional competences, skills and qualifications.

Keywords

• volunteering
• organizations of the future
• labor market