Top Skills You’ll Gain from Volunteering Abroad in 2025
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Volunteering abroad will soon emerge as a global travel trend in the next few years, with more and more people opting for meaningful vacations. Needless to say, a volunteer trip is not just about giving back to developing communities, but it’s also an immensely powerful way to gain new skills as well as international work experience.
No matter whether you are a high school, college, or university student looking forward to creating a positive impact in society or a gap year traveler, planning a meaningful journey abroad, you’ll get ample opportunities to learn and grow, both personally and professionally.
These new skills will not only boost your resume, but they’ll also change your perspective and shape your worldview, making you more adaptive and empathetic.
If you’ve been thinking of taking a volunteer trip in 2025 and wondering which skills you’ll gain from volunteering abroad, then here’s a detailed list:
Hard skills gained through volunteering abroad:
These are a set of specific and teachable abilities or knowledge patterns, that you can acquire through education, training, or hands-on experience while volunteering abroad.
1. Language skills
This is undoubtedly one of the top skills (and a valuable one) that you’ll gain during your volunteer trip abroad. When you choose to travel to a new country, you’ll invariably pick up the basics in their native language – like hello, good morning, how are you, etc. Although in today’s date, English is widely spoken globally, there are still some pockets in developing nations where people speak the local language.
I remember when I was volunteering in Kenya at the childcare center, the kids often spoke to me in Swahili, and for the first few days, I barely understood what they meant – but slowly, I ended up picking one or two new words every day. By the end of the month, I could speak little things and of course, my favorite word was ‘Nakupenda’ (meaning, I love you!).
Volunteering Solutions also offers one-week language courses in several countries, for volunteers who are keen to spend time and learn the language properly. Knowing a foreign language will always help you in your career and make you stand ahead of your peers.
2. Administrative skills
In various volunteering placement sites, you’ll observe that there’s inadequate staff to manage the admin work, and thus, volunteers are often needed to manage basic duties like data entry, managing spreadsheets, etc.
For example, if you choose to volunteer for the food waste management program in Portugal, you might also have to look into details like where the food is coming from, what’s the availability of food, how many people to serve at one go, etc. A detailed record of these is to be maintained, which is the task of the admin. And while you’ll be doing this here, you’ll also learn the tricks and hacks of the job, which will definitely enhance your CV.
3. Vocational skills
This is the most important skill that you’ll gain through hands-on work from volunteering abroad, depending on the program you choose. Vocational skills are directly related to the work you’ll be engaged in, hence it’s also very important that you choose your program wisely.
If you are a pre-med, medical, or nursing student, you can choose to be a part of a healthcare program abroad, where you’ll be shadowing professional doctors and nurses, learning valuable medical skills from them.
Similarly, if you opt for a conservation volunteering program abroad, you’ll be working with professional conservationists, who can teach you about the major causes of environment degradation and also, ways to protect them.
4. Management skills
No matter which program you opt for, you’ll surely brush up your management skills while volunteering abroad. As a volunteer, you’ll be working with a bunch of like-minded people, focusing on a similar cause.
As you start working, you’ll slowly gain an understanding of project management, which includes many different skills, like understanding and reviewing what’s needed, assigning tasks to people, organizing information, and making sure everything gets done on time.
It’s our aim to make all the programs sustainable, creating a long-lasting impact on the lives of the people and helping them to have a brighter future – hence, volunteers must understand and value the project as much as we do.
5. Writing skills
Similar to administrative skills, writing (or written communication) skills are also considered to be extremely important. During your volunteering journey, you can opt to create social media profiles for the volunteer project that you’re a part of or create a fundraising website to help the people – all of which will require strong writing skills.
You don’t need to be a professional writer for that, but once you’re a part of the program, you can slowly weave stories around your experiences, to share the word. You never know, you might end up inspiring others to follow your footsteps!
Not only that, but you’ll also gain writing skills that will help you in your career ahead. People with good written communication skills always stand ahead of the crowd, and your potential employers would greatly value your skills.
Soft skills gained through volunteering abroad:
These are a different set of skills that are considered to be personality traits and behavioral patterns. Soft skills are considered valuable as they help you to bond with others, build strong relationships, and contribute to a positive workplace environment.
1. Communication skills
While we talked about language learning and written communication skills above, it’s also important to understand the importance of general communication skills, like how we speak to people, how we express our emotions, etc.
As a volunteer abroad, you’ll be meeting people from different parts of the world, and communicating with them daily while working together. Good communication skills will help you to build better relationships and enhance your teamwork, which will make it easier to solve problems and reach goals together.
You’ll also have to communicate with the locals of your host country, and being able to share your thoughts in a way that others understand is an important skill you can learn while volunteering overseas.
2. Leadership skills
While some people have a strong personality and leadership qualities naturally, others have to work for it. During your volunteer trip, you’ll be working with a bunch of people, each of whom has different skills to contribute to the program.
Although nobody gets to be a formal leader at the project site, you can always try and understand the strengths and weaknesses of your peers, and direct them to perform their best. This will not only ensure the success of the project but it’ll also hone your leadership skills.
3. Adaptability and problem-solving skills
Volunteering abroad isn’t a leisurely trip, but it involves some serious work and commitments. Hence, adaptability is a major skill that you’ll gain. As you travel abroad, there will be language barriers, culture shocks, etc., but how you thrive and outshine is what will matter in the end.
Also, there will be several problems (majorly lack of resources and planning) at the project site, which you and your peers will have to resolve. As a team, you’ll have to focus on solving those problems, to ensure that the people you’re working for, don’t have to struggle at the end of the day.
Quick thinking, swift actions, and coordination among the team members are some things that will help you hone your problem-solving skills.
4. Time management skills
Of course, you won’t be there at the volunteering project site forever – and thus, it is extremely important to manage your time, while making the most of it. As a volunteer, you’ll need to plan your schedule, set timelines for each work, manage the resources, and also ensure that you have enough free time to explore and enjoy.
Time management is a skill that’s immensely valued by employers, and if you can stick to your deadlines and perform your best, then you obviously have a chance to stand ahead of your peers. Volunteering abroad will surely imbibe those skills, helping you to plan, organize, and prioritize your tasks.
5. Teamwork skills
As a student, you can do most of the things by yourself. You can make your own notes, do your projects and assessments, appear for the exams, and get promoted. But as you step ahead in your career, teamwork becomes important.
As a volunteer, you’ll always have to work with your peers and the locals, to achieve the goals. There will be a good mix of people, and not everyone will have the same outlook as yours, neither will everyone have the same pace at work. It can get challenging at times as well, but it’ll surely uplift you as a team player.
At Volunteering Solutions, we always say that you need to step out of your comfort zone, to experience what lies ahead of you. Volunteering, in general, is a wholesome experience and you’ll never return the same as you had left.
Whether you’re looking to improve your resume, build a new career, or simply grow as an individual, the experiences and skills you’ll gain from volunteering abroad will have a lasting impact on your life.
So what are you waiting for? Write to us at [email protected] to learn more about our volunteering programs abroad, and our Program Advisors will connect with you.
Also, follow us on Instagram to know more about what our volunteers are up to, and connect with our past volunteers to learn about their experiences.
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