Tips for Being Effective at Your Site

Student Working on Laptop

Assess Your Personal Skills

Assess your personal skills to share with your site supervisor.  Start by making a list of your skills and assets considering the following:

  • Work or service experience – any job or service where you gained some type of relevant experience
  • Special skills or expertise – any hobby or skill that you have and can possibly teach someone (i.e. sports, computers, art, music, cooking)
  • Personal qualities and characteristics – are you patient, flexible, organized? Do you have a sense of humor?  Do you like to learn from others?  Do you enjoy teaching others?
     

Make a Good Impression at the Agency

  • Be sure to greet those you work with.  An accepted norm could be shaking hands, nodding or smiling.  Respect your environment.
  • Be friendly, but cautious during your initial contacts with clients.  It may take longer for some clients to build a relationship with you.  In this case, you may need to let the client take the initiative.
  • Attend to the needs of others.  It is a very important part of your service experience.  Be a good listener, which sometimes means repeating what you are told in order to clarify information.
  • Show initiative.  Find opportunities to help out as often as possible.  If you don’t have anything to do, ask someone if you could help them.
  • Be shockproof.  Clients, particularly children, often show feelings, use language, or express ideas and demonstrate behavior that may seem startling to others.  Overreaction on your part may intensify this behavior or make it unduly important.  When you are not certain about how you should interpret such behaviors, consult supervisory staff.
  • Be consistent in your actions.  Be honest about your service commitment so that clients are not confused or disappointed when your service time is over.  Always be on time for appointments you make.  Be conservative and realistic about the promises you make.  The lifestyle of college students can make keeping promises challenging.
  • Maintain the confidentiality of the agency and clients at your site.  Do not give out your own personal information, along with the information about the client(s) or agency.  If you have any questions regarding issues of confidentiality where you work, speak with your agency supervisor, professor, or the Service Learning / Volunteer Coordinator. 
  • Talk with you site supervisor about any special skills or ideas you would like to share with the clients at your site.