Therapy and Medical Electives - Volunteer in Hyderabad, India

Massively. Working in a start-up is a truly challenging, yet rewarding experience. You get to take charge of projects and test out your ideas without having to go through hierarchies. At the same time, you take responsibility for the success of your projects. This work has really pushed me to learn and grow.

The other aspect that really strikes me is the fine line that a social enterprise is walking on. You always have to find the balance between being a business and concentrating on sales and marketing and the volunteer experience. However, it is crucial to not forget your core values and impact you want to make -- and serving the local change makers who we partner with. And that's what I really admire about Skilled Impact. I think we are managing to really hit that balance.

Our programs are all about sharing skills and learning together. So my favorite story must be of a TEFL-qualified volunteer who completed an English Teaching placement in rural India. For three months, he stayed at the boy's school and taught English classes.

In his final reflection, he spoke about how this experience has helped him overcome his fear of public speaking. When we spoke to the boys, all of his pupils pointed out that they really appreciate how his teaching style would make them feel safe and confident in their own abilities. They now speak up actively in class, and don't mind presenting in front of groups.

Just hearing about how the volunteer and the beneficiaries grew and learn together to overcome the same fear was amazing!

I am passionate about social entrepreneurship, so the Social Entrepreneurship Internship must be my favorite.

But we have more placements coming out that focus on supporting social entrepreneurs. Out of them, I'd love to complete the product design internship. I love interior design and I sew some of my own clothes. So working with local artisans and using their craftsmanship to design contemporary products would be such an inspiration - and fun! Unfortunately, I don't have the necessary skills required, so I guess I will leave this placement for a skilled volunteer to take up.

From my perspective, it is our values and the way we prescribe ourselves to them that makes Skilled Impact truly special. With us, you can't simply put a volunteer experience in a basket and purchase it.

We are dedicated to finding the best volunteer with the right skills to support a local change-maker/organization expand their work and impact. So we vet volunteers and partners and make sure that both of them have a rewarding experience. I haven't seen another volunteer organization that has prescribed itself to responsible and impactful volunteering as we do.

I think there are two things that make us successful:

• We stick with our values. We say we are a responsible volunteer organization, so we are being a responsible volunteer organization. Even if it loses us sales. Each and every one of our team members is passionate about making volunteering sustainable and impactful, and I think it shows up in our work and with the volunteers.
• We treat our local partner as equals and give them most of the decision power. All our placements are responding to an organizational need that a partner has expressed to us. Together we work out the job description to make sure that the role is complementary to the team, rather than replacing local staff. They can decide on the necessary skills, and on the time frame. We are therefore responding to a local need expressed by the community, rather than creating placements to get volunteers to come out even though no support is needed.