"What Type of Volunteer Are You?": The Ultimate Quiz.
**Disclaimer: this is a satirical quiz. Each character group depicted herein is a stereotype of itself. With that being said, this personality quiz should provide you with a rough guide to some of the main categories of volunteering, and help you decide which one is right for you. Apologies in advance to anyone who has been on a gap year… you will probably be offended.**
With an ever-expanding non-profit sector, and an increasing number of keen beans wanting to give back to the community, now is the perfect time to seize the Malarone and get volunteering!
But there are thousands of volunteering roles out there, and the question is: Which one is right for you?
We have devised a fun little quiz to help you decide what type of volunteering best suits you. We have also listed some NGOs for each category that would likely fit your passions and personality.
Answer the eight questions listed below, and whichever letter (a,b,c,d,e) you pick the most corresponds to your optimum volunteer role. So lets get quizzing!
1. How do you greet your friends?
a) "Yaaaa, Archie, haven't seen you since Henley!"
b) “Hey maaaan" *peace sign*
c) ** a gentle pat**
d) “hey buddy, hows it hanging?" *high five*
e) Greetings *a polite handshake, or non-denominational wave*
2. You have a free day off work and the sun is shining! You are most likely to…
a) Head straight for the Laughing Magpie, the hippest, most expensive bar in town, where everything is served in jam jars. Later on, you spend 4 hours waiting in a queue to get into a techno club.
b) Head to the allotments and chill with your mates. Kaya has just found a new swarm of bees, and Benji is making vegan falafels.
c) Take your dog for a long walk around the lake, and then invite some friends over to watch the new Blue Planet- pets are invited too of course.
d) You promised your little brother that you would play with him at the park. Later when you get back home, you bake some cupcakes and watch the new Paddington Bear film- it’s his choice, but hey, you like it too!
e) You use your free day to go to your local co-working space, write some blog posts and catch up on all your political podcasts. Later on you go to your fave bar to play pool, and end up getting into a heated drunken discussion about new wave feminism.
3. You decide to get a tattoo. You choose one of the following..
a) Some Sanskrit on your arm. You don’t know what it means. But hey, it looks pretty!
b) The tree of life covering your whole back
c) A picture of Sooty. Your beloved deceased Labrador. RIP.
d) The names of your family
e) A portrait of Malcom X
4. It’s school break. You are...
a) Busy goofing around with your mates on the hockey pitch
b) Sneaking off to smoke with your friends down the bottom of the playing fields
c) You rescued a baby bird from the basketball courts. You think it has a broken wing and phone the RSPCA.
d) You are mentoring one of the younger kids. They are having a difficult time, and you use your break to speak with them, and offer them some sage advice
e) In the library making an Excel spreadsheet for the upcoming Spring Ball (you are chairman of the commitee ofcourse).
5. Your favourite movie is:
a) The Hangover
b) Cheech and Chong
c) Free Willy
d) Cool Runnings
e) Erin Brockovitch
6. It's nearly Christmas! You ask your parents for a...
a) Range Rover (you crashed your old one) b) Your very own craft-beer making kit c) You don't want gifts- you would rather they donated to your local Animal sanctuary d) Tickets to Frozen on ice e) The flight to New York to go and meet Hilary Clinton at her book signing
7. You favourite saying is..
a) "Yaa, and then I chundered everywhere"
b) "Make love not war"
c) "A dog is a man's best friend"
d) "Children are our future"
e) "Know Your Rights"
8. Your preferred holiday destination would be..
a) Ibiza
b) Goa
c) Pony trekking through Canada
d) Disneyland!
e) Washington D.C
If you scored mostly A's: The Gap Yah One.
Congratulations! You are the Gap Yah one. This basically means that you have dabbled in volunteering, most probably on a gap year, for mainly UCAS-boosting reasons. You had an awesome time: learnt a couple of choice phrases in the native language of wherever you went, took a billion selfies, unwittingly offended a lot of locals, and drank too much Konyagi. You arrived back home a stone lighter, riddled with mosquito bites and a deep sense of fulfillment.
Suggested NGOs:
If you hail from the UK, then a 3-month ICS program will let you dip your toes into the volunteering waters. (You may even like it and move on to more long-term voluntary positions). There are equivalent programs in Europe such as EU Aid Volunteering or European Voluntary Service, and The American Gap Association in the U.S.
If you scored mostly B's: The Eco Warrior
You are a spiritual Nomadic being (or atleast you like to think so). You feel a strong connection to nature, and a deep sense of outrage at the destruction of the natural world. You try to lead a vegan zero-carbon lifestyle (except when you're jetting off to India, and importing all of that quinoa), and you think capitalism is the devil.
At some point in your life you will have had any of the following: dreadlocks, harem pants, an Etsy account, multiple pieces of silver jewellery, a dotwork tattoo, a bong, a hula hoop or poi, Buddhist inclinations.
Suggested NGOs:
Head to your local Greenpeace my friend!
If you scored mostly C's: The Animal Lover
You love animals and consider them equal to, or even higher than human beings in terms of their spiritual and emotional depth. When Black Fish came out, it sent you into a really dark place. When Harangue was shot, ditto. You cried as you watched all the baby turtles crawl towards the beguiling lights of the city, in the recent Planet Earth, only to be crushed under the wheels of the cars and stuck in the storm drains. Battery farming, ivory hunting, whale culling, trophy hunting... you think human beings are sick, and you wish there was something you could do to stop all the needless pain.
Suggested NGOs:
WWF, Peta, The Dog's Trust, or if you prefer a more hardcore direct-action approach to saving animals, then Sea Shepherd is definitely the one for you.
If you scored mostly D's: The Youth Worker
(this is a picture of our Head Youth Mentor, Caroline <3 )
You have an affinity with kids- they just like you! You know how to talk to them on a level, and you genuinely love spending time with them. You have a very nurturing side, and love to teach, play and be creative. Young children are endlessly curious and have boundless energy; this makes working with them super tiring, but also super stimulating. They have a natural urge for creativity and self-expression, and encouraging and interacting with this can be a wonderful experience.
Suggested NGOs:
The Flying Seagull, Artolution, and ofcourse.... Pass the Crayon ;)
If you scored mostly E's: The Human Rights Activist
You are smart and savvy, with a passion for politics. You like to keep up to speed with global news, the latest political gossip and social media trends. Your twitter profile is Active AF, and you tweet at least a million times a day. You adore Hilary Clinton and Angela Merkel. You love to troll people like Milo Yiannopoulos and Bill O'Reily-- and of course Trump.
Suggested NGOs:
** We hope you enjoyed this fun little quiz, and it gave you a bit of an idea about the different areas of volunteering, and some potential NGO choices.
On a serious not: ALL volunteering is worthwhile (even a Gap Year), and as somebody who has done a Gap Year, and volunteered and worked long-term for three of the NGOs mentioned above, I can attest to how important their work is, and how valuable volunteers are to these organisations. If you haven't already tried it, then please give it a go!
For more information on volunteering and its related benefits, check out PTC volunteer Babi's recent article: 'Why Doing Good is Good For You'. If you enjoyed this article, don't forget to 'like' it and share it on social media :) **
