A dog crèche and a motorised washing line may have failed to impress entrepreneur James Caan in the Dragons' Den but he does admit to being rather taken by a graduate with volunteering experience under their belt.
The recruitment expert says when he's considering two graduates with CVs which read the same, it's activities such as volunteering which tip the balance for him.
One assumes instead of trying to dazzle the former dragon with business buzzwords and enthusiastic promises to drive profits skyward, then, you're better off talking about your summer spent helping out with the local Girl Guides group, for example. Why? James told Guardian Money that listening to a graduate talk about volunteering means employers can start to see their personality and it helps them visualise the candidate in their company.
On a serious note though, many savvy students and graduates are realising volunteering experience might be just what their CV needs to stand out in a competitive market. And there are a whole host of skills that can be gained this way to help give you impress a recruiter.
Take graduate Bernard Aidoo, who featured in the same Money piece. He founded a project which delivers workshops and one-to-one life coaching to teenage boys. Having gained £2,100 of funding, Bernard learned to budget, project manage, work in a team and develop his leadership skills - all while preparing for a master's.
So, to coincide with Volunteers' Week 2011, we've decided to take a closer look at how graduates can use volunteering to their advantage. So, if you want to know how your volunteering stint could land you full-time work, or you want to know more about the opportunities to get involved after graduation and the skills you'll gain, join our experts in a live Q&A on 1 June between 1pm and 4pm.
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Our panel:
Maryanne Burton is UK volunteering manager for the British Red Cross. Maryanne has more than 40 years experience within the voluntary sector, including four years on the governing board of the British Red Cross.
Fran Llewellin is events coordinator at The Mayhew Animal Home in London. Fran began volunteering for The Mayhew within the fundraising department in 2007 before being employed by the charity the following year.
Debbie Murray is an environmental science graduate from Bangor who now works with environmental charity BTCV. Debbie used the skills she'd learned as a volunteer to secure a paid job with BTCV.
Janet Compton is head of volunteering for veterinary charity PDSA. Janet works with a dedicated team to oversee all volunteering activity for PDSA.
Debbie Hill is volunteer support manager at CLIC Sargent, a cancer charity for children and young people. Debbie leads CLIC Sargent's Internship Programme, which last year gave six graduates the opportunity to gain experience of working for a charity for three months.
Pete Jones has been working in the third sector for more than 10 years. He is currently head of volunteering at children's charity Beatbullying.
Andrea Grace Rannard is the head the infrastructure development at Volunteering England, the national volunteering development agency.
Stephen Greene is a co-founder and the CEO of RockCorps, a music programme that sees voluntary work by young people turned into tickets to gigs by chart stars.
Helen Laycock works for CIC (Community Integrated Care) as a volunteer coordinator. Helen began volunteering at university, which led her to her current career path.
Natalie Watkiss is a student recruitment manager at PwC.
James Boyle is a student recruitment manager at PwC.
