Developing and Demonstrating Initiative

Have you ever started a project or activity on your own? That’s a great way of developing your initiative – even if things don’t turn out how you expect you can talk about what you learn from the experience. The key thing is that you’re driven to do things, and have the determination to follow through on ideas.  Always wanted to write a blog? Sign up to a free blogging site and start one. Have an idea for a fun activity to do with your friends? Plan an outing and record the day so you can remember the time you took the initiative and made great memories too.

Volunteering at a charity shop or reading with your little sister every week shows initiative as you understand the value of service to others.

Working in a partnership to complete a task or project will prove your initiative – by learning from someone else and contributing your ideas you will both grow.

As we’ve already mentioned, becoming a YEUK Young Professional shows a great deal of initiative, and you can supplement this by doing your own research and further learning on the skills and ideas we talk about in the training.

To demonstrate your initiative, you should have a few great examples of things you’ve done to develop it. Remember to use the STARR model to talk about your experience.

For further reading:

https://www.plotr.co.uk/advice/articles/why-is-volunteering-good/

https://www.youthemployment.org.uk/volunteering-using-gaining-transferable-skills/

 

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