Becoming a community service coordinator requires experience in managing volunteers and community service projects. Relevant experience can be gained through extracurricular activities, school projects, and jobs with non-profit organizations, government agencies, and corporations. While an undergraduate degree may be preferred for some positions, it is not always necessary.
You can become a community service coordinator, gaining relevant experience and leveraging it into an entry-level position with a non-profit organization, school, government agency or corporation. Success in this field depends more on experience and a demonstrated willingness to work than on any specific type of educational background. Another common title for this position is a volunteer coordinator and is found in the fields of public relations, community engagement, community outreach, and human resources.
To become a community service coordinator, you must demonstrate proficiency in assembling volunteers, engaging the community, and managing community service projects. Churches, synagogues and other religious organizations regularly operate community service projects such as soup kitchens, clothing collections and health fairs. If you engage with these types of extracurricular activities in a leadership capacity, the resume will be flush with positions that demonstrate proficiency for this type of work.
Schools at all levels also have opportunities for students to develop their community service chops. Most school groups have service projects each year that require management. Even if you have a penchant for student politics, experience gained in recruiting voters, establishing a platform, and working on behalf of your peers on important issues demonstrates the basic skill set needed to become a community service coordinator.
The best way to develop a salaried track record for your community work is to apply for jobs with organizations that focus on community service, the community or large-scale public recruitment. All of these areas of work require the ability to be organized and involved. It’s probably easiest to look to nonprofit organizations, government agencies, and schools for the community service coordinator position, but other jobs, including political campaign workers and managers, often fill the same roles.
Once you have some experience on the community side, you can look into a corporate position at a large company in the community engagement department. Many large companies have employees whose job it is to organize employees to contribute to selected community service projects. These coordinators are usually part of the public relations or human resources department, but some companies have a community service department. From here, you can work towards the foundation of the corporation and set a strategic policy on how the corporation should invest in the communities in which it operates.
Service coordinators are likely to be expected to hold an undergraduate degree, particularly for the more stable positions in larger, not-for-profit companies. There are several courses that complement your goal of becoming a community service coordinator, such as marketing, business administration, public administration or public relations. Almost any field of study could be relevant to this position.
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