While most companies are dedicated to giving back to their communities through various charitable and philanthropic efforts, often it means communicating with a charity only to organize volunteer times or donation drop-offs. Limiting these communications can actually be a missed opportunity for more ongoing, and enriching giving as well as professional networking. At Amotec we are dedicated to working alongside our community partners to ensure we support their efforts year-round, and in turn, Amotec is able to network and grow in spaces we may be missing in a traditional business plan. Here are a couple of ways to help local organizations in your area:
Help Educate
As businesses, we are made up of various departments, divisions, and business units that each require their own competencies and areas of expertise. Allow your employees the opportunity to take their existing knowledge and provide guidance and information to local groups and schools who may benefit from that information. By taking the time to educate about your industry, you are providing information that may not have been given otherwise. For example, a marketing agency may want to partner with a local school to teach an introduction to graphic design while an accounting firm may want to partner with a shelter to provide information about financial resources.
Why it helps?
You not only are giving back to your community, but you are also highlighting your company’s area of expertise with a group of individuals who may become future partners, vendors, or even clients in your area.
Host Mock-Interviews
At Amotec, interviews are one of the core elements of our work. However, almost every company hires someone at some point. That experience can be used to help others. Partnering with a local community group, church or school to provide mock interviews allows members who are nervous or have never interviewed before the chance to experience, practice, and refine their own interview strategy while also highlighting your company’s employer branding.
Why it helps?
You are able to practice your interview style too! If you’ve only interviewed a couple of times throughout your career, you may be nervous too! Mock interviews can help not only candidates but employers as well by providing a variety of responses, personalities, and challenges you may face in an interview.
Provide Resources
Many times, traditional community giving efforts rely on a set request: material donations, money, or volunteer time. Often though, non-profit groups are in need of skill-sets that require a full-time employee they just don’t have the budget for. Partnering with a community group to donate a set number of hours of expertise is a great way to give back in a way that not everyone is able to. For example, your marketing department may be able to do 10 hours of free work a month for a charity who needs advertising help while your IT department could do one-time support set up for a charity’s new computer system.
Why it helps?
You get to show off! Highlighting your company’s skill set by providing donated work-time allows you to show your company’s quality of work to those who have connections they can refer to you! Word-of-mouth is always more likely to turn into a sale than a cold call. By providing something that is not easily accessible to many organizations, you are able to build a genuine connection with professionals who then can advocate for your work.
