Adult Extra-Curricular Activities That Can Expand Job Opportunities

For those seeking more job opportunities, easier access to certain industries, and enhancing their own personal skills, why not dive into adult extra-curricular activities? If you have a spare hour each evening or at the weekend, you can spend your time wisely by sharpening or adding new skills to your portfolio. These can make you more attractive to employers and can be so easy to attain. Here are the best extra-curricular activities adults can take on to expand their job opportunities. 

Learn a new language

Learning a new language will help you be more communicative at work. Many companies appreciate employees knowing more than one language and can often land you a job easier than someone who only knows one language. Also, jobs that require such a hard skill as foreign language knowledge are constantly on the rise and usually pay better.

There are many options for an online English tutor on Preply, which will meet your learning and budget needs. You can enjoy and enhance your language skills from the comfort of your own home at any time. The benefit of face-to-face online classes is that you do not lose the sense of personal teaching. You can still get instant communication and feel like you are with that person. The only difference is that you are not physically with that person. It is great to learn online for your own convenience and maximizing your time. 

Have fun with your own exhibitions

Setting up an exhibition will show loads of skills which employers look for, like teamwork, initiative, organization, self-motivation, and timekeeping. There are a lot of different factors you’d have to think about, like hiring an exhibition space and sourcing, transporting, and looking after the artworks/artifacts. With this in mind, it’s a good idea to not do it completely by yourself, especially as revision and exams are still a priority. 

Universities with a big focus on art will often have a society for curating exhibitions, so be sure to get involved if you can. If there isn’t a relevant society to join, you could always get a group of university friends together to work on it as a team. You can each have your own roles and responsibilities, and work together to organize an exhibition to be proud of.

Get involved with sports

Being involved with sports or a sports team shows you are great at teamwork and being driven. Most sports rely heavily on teamwork and constantly improving yourself as well as a lot of dedication. Most employers would love to see that same dedication applied at work.

It also shows an employer you have a committed work ethic and are great at time management. Sports involve teamwork as much as it does being timely, which are all desirable personality traits that employers look for.

Work at art galleries and museums

To get a good graduate job in the art and culture industries, it will really help if you not only visit art galleries, museums, and stately homes in your spare time but also work or volunteer at them.

Although a lot of cultural work opportunities for students are (annoyingly) voluntary roles, paid part-time jobs occasionally pop up. Keep your eyes peeled for job adverts on big institutions’ websites, and reach out to smaller places directly to ask about vacancies.

If you work at a museum or gallery, you’ll likely get invited to fun events like exhibition openings and talks. These events are great opportunities to meet industry leaders and get your name out there. Networking could land you your dream job or get you to the next step.

Travel more

Who wouldn’t want to travel more whilst enhancing their skills? This one might sound too good to be true but traveling actually makes you more employable – one of the reasons being that it encourages you to learn new languages.

The most effective way to learn a language is to immerse yourself in the country and culture. In cover letters and interviews, talking about your traveling experiences could really help you get noticed. So, you can improve your language skills over a cheap summer holiday, on a study year abroad, or even a gap year. It’s the perfect excuse for a getaway if you ask us.

Volunteer with children

If working with young people is your goal – perhaps as a social worker or teacher – then gaining some experience working with children is essential.

Head to your local school (primary or secondary, depending on which is more appropriate for the age you want to work with) and ask if you can help out. This could be at after-school clubs, as a supervisor at an event, or perhaps as a class assistant during PE lessons.

Again, you’ll likely need to complete a DBS check before being allowed to work with children.

Write about what you love

You can write about what you love online, share it with like-minded people, and enhance your skills on your own blog. There’s a whole wealth of online writing opportunities that will look great on your CV – it’s just a matter of seeking them out.

Using Twitter to find opportunities can really pay off, and it’s also the perfect way to start building your professional profile (which will help you land a job once you graduate).

Joining writing communities on LinkedIn is also a great shout, as businesses often post there when they’re on the hunt for contributors. Check out our full guide to using LinkedIn to get a job for more tips. And as a nice little bonus, you can make money as a blogger too.

Teach others

If you have a desirable skill set, why not share it with others? By peer tutoring, you can show your future employers that you are willing to help people learn. This displays you are great at teamwork and offering your time. 

Peer tutoring shows recruiters not only that you are knowledgeable in a given area, but are willing and able to share that knowledge and help others grow.