Volunteer Travel is Good for Your Career, Too

We’ve talked about the benefits of volunteer travel before, but this article from Forbes claims that a volunteer vacation can be just as good for your career or business as it is for your soul.

More and more business professionals and executives are taking volunteer trips in hopes of enhancing personal satisfaction. It’s no secret that people yearn for deeper meaning in their lives and for ways to make a difference. And not everyone gets that satisfaction from their nine-to-five.

“A lot of people are used to the daily grind, and they’re questioning the direction of altruism in their careers,” says Marie Antoniotti of Cross-Cultural Solutions. She notes that executives often find trips more fulfilling than just donating money, and that some take their families as well.

“The cliché now is prosperity with a purpose,” says Wood, a former Microsoft executive who traveled to Nepal for leisure and ended up doing extensive volunteer work there.

According to the article, foreign volunteer travel is also great for business. “Voluntourism” fosters a deeper understanding of the world as a whole and certain countries in particular that you may be doing business with — either now or in the future. Some international companies are offering volunteer trips to employees in hopes of enhancing cultural literacy.

Besides feeling great and looking good on your resume, volunteer travel is the best way to immerse yourself in a culture and get to know the local people. Making new friends and helping out in less fortunate parts of the world helps break barriers and remind us that we’re all in this together.

For more information, visit Cross-Cultural Solutions or i to i Meaningful Travel.

Photo credit: J Marshall / Tribaleye Images