Community · Leadership in practice
Share What You Know: Grow as a Leader Through Volunteering
Your experience can help someone take a next step. Explaining that experience, listening carefully, and giving useful feedback can stretch your own skills too.
Volunteering with re:WORK TRAINING connects professionals with candidates building a career strategy and a professional network. You do not need to arrive with a keynote or a long-term mentoring commitment. A focused conversation, a practice interview, or thoughtful feedback can be a meaningful first contribution.
We call volunteers Champions because they make room for people to learn and demonstrate what they can do. The relationship starts with curiosity about the candidate’s goals and experience.
Watch: Mark Hendrickx on learning from the people you mentor
Read the video transcript
Lightly edited for readability. Mark describes his experience at the time of recording.
Visual description: The opening card reads “Volunteer Spotlight: The People Who Open Doors for Others.” Mark sits in an office lounge wearing a blue striped polo. His introduction identifies him as Mark Hendrickx, CVE at TransUnion. The camera alternates between front and side views, with two question cards. The video ends with the re:WORK TRAINING logo.
Meet Mark
Mark: Hi, I’m Mark Hendrickx. I’m based in Chicago, Illinois, and I’ve been a volunteer with re:WORK for seven years.
What’s your favorite thing about volunteering with re:WORK TRAINING?
One of my favorite parts of volunteering with re:WORK is just the variety of different people I met. And I’ve learned something from each one of them. It’s been rewarding to me to just kind of remind myself of some of the things that I can work on, or some of the strengths that I wouldn’t even realize that I have.
But all these folks who join re:WORK, they have these different strengths and they just think, “Oh, I haven’t been in tech sales,” but they have all these other skills.
So I think if you’re considering volunteering for re:WORK, you’re going to make a huge impact on that person. The advice that you’re going to give them is going to change their life by helping set them up for success in that interview, helping to build that confidence.
And it’s going to make an impact on you as well, because you’re going to meet someone from a background that you’re probably less familiar with. And I guarantee you that you’re going to learn something from the person that you’re mentoring.
What have you personally gotten out of volunteering with re:WORK?
One of the ways that re:WORK has helped me recently, tangibly, is I was exploring new career opportunities last year. Noticed that someone who I had mentored at re:WORK about five years ago—we were connected on LinkedIn. We hadn’t talked since 2020 or 2021 or so. I reached out to her. I was interested in an opportunity at TransUnion, and she referred me in for the role.
Didn’t know anyone on my team, but did an internal referral. I ultimately got an interview, and then ran through the interview process and secured a role at TransUnion. And I’ve been there for eight months now, and it’s been going great.
So this is, I think, one example where you don’t necessarily know who can help whom, and how you can help each other out in a community. If you’re thinking about volunteering for re:WORK, come get this work.
A place to practice leadership
Giving useful feedback requires more than knowing the right answer. You need to understand where someone is starting, explain a skill in a way that makes sense to them, and leave room for another attempt. Those are practical leadership behaviors.
A mock interview can help you practice asking clearer questions. Reviewing an outreach message can make you more precise about what earns attention. A conversation with someone from a different background can reveal strengths you might otherwise overlook. Volunteering creates an opportunity for that learning; the value comes from how you participate.
Turn expertise into something another person can use
Thought leadership can begin with a useful contribution. Explain how you prepare for a first conversation with a prospect. Walk through an interview answer and why it works. Show how you organize follow-up without losing the human connection.
A focused lesson is easier to use than a list of general advice. Choose one skill, give a concrete example, and invite the candidate to try it. Their questions can also help you sharpen how you explain your own work.
If you later share a reflection publicly, focus on what you learned and the skill you practiced. Ask permission before sharing someone else’s name, image, story, or work.
Choose a contribution that fits
Mentor / Career Coach: offer one-to-one support with professional development, resume reviews, mock interviews, outreach strategy, and mentorship.
Workshop Facilitator: facilitate group learning that strengthens the technical and professional skills candidates need in BDR and SDR roles.
Community Member: join the professional network that candidates can engage for real-world networking and outreach practice. This is a flexible way to take part.
The Champions page explains these roles. Preparation and timing depend on the activity; the team can help clarify the first step.
Build a community where people can help one another
In his story, Mark describes learning from the people he mentored. Years later, a former mentee referred him for a role he went on to secure. It is a concrete example of how relationships can develop in unexpected directions.
That possibility is not a transaction to demand from someone. A healthy professional community makes room for people to contribute at different stages of their lives. Start by being helpful, reliable, and open to learning.