HOW and WHERE to volunteer?

[UBCvan]

---

Members don't see this ad.

Hi guys, i wanna do some volunteering and shadowing but i don't know how to begin or where to go?

should i go to hospital and look for a dentist???

or i could only do volunteering at their private offices?what should i tell them...how should i...........is it like i do 4 or 5 hours sitting and watching them do their job or i really do something.....or they wont even let me do 5 hours....

 

[toothy2112]

Hi guys, i wanna do some volunteering and shadowing but i don't know how to begin or where to go?

should i go to hospital and look for a dentist???

or i could only do volunteering at their private offices?what should i tell them...how should i...........is it like i do 4 or 5 hours sitting and watching them do their job or i really do something.....or they wont even let me do 5 hours....

Depends on the area, facility etc. I would just call or even better go in person and talk to the managers. Explain that you are planning to go into the field, you would like to volunteer, shadow and even gain hands on experience. Don't be disappointed if the first ones say "no" but hopefully someone will. I didn't bother asking to volunteer, I applied for jobs. I played up my resume and I was fortunate to get in with the first office I applied to. After, I took state mandated courses and well here I am applying a year later! So go for it, good luck, and stay motivated. I'm sure you'll be fine!👍

 

[Danny0230]

Hey,

I began by asking my advisor at school for the name of a good local dentist to shadow. He had a private practice and I basically shadowed him for 3-4 hours a day. I'd say 3 or 4 hours is a good amount of time to shadow... just watching for that amount of time gets a little monotonous.

After a month he reccommended me to go see a dental clinic for people without dental insurance where I saw some pretty awesome/nasty cases. From there they reccommened me to go shadow at a hospital to see some even crazier stuff. After all this I ended up with about 150 hours of interning/shadowing.

Basically I'd say to start out at a private practice... then network out to see a good variety of things. It'll give you some interesting things to talk about at interviews and give you a good feel at what you're most interested in.