Corporate volunteering can be a powerful lever for transforming lives. And Coca-Cola Europacific Partners has demonstrated this once again with its labor speed dating initiative, an activity carried out in collaboration with Volies, which has traveled to five cities: Barcelona, Madrid, Seville, A Coruña and Bilbao, and which is part of its Corporate Volunteering program.
The activity, organized in collaboration with social entities in each city such as tCruz Roja, El Buen Samaritano, Superacció and Fundación Don Bosco, involved more than 40 volunteers from the company, who interviewed 50 job seekers, many of them young people with no work experience.
The dynamics of speed dating simulates quick job interviews, in which volunteers take on the role of interviewers and offer practical guidance, honest feedback and motivation to those who are preparing to enter the labor market. The goal: to improve their employability through the reinforcement of communication skills, self-knowledge and confidence.
Each meeting is a unique opportunity for participants to confront a professional environment, without judgment or pressure. It is a transformative experience for them and for the volunteers, who reconnect with the human dimension that is often lost in traditional selection processes.
Gaining confidence and self-knowledge: key to getting a job
Each person brings with them an invisible backpack, loaded with experiences, fears, concerns and circumstances. Beyond the advice and feedback that each job seeker receives, a fundamental aspect that interviewees take away is to gain greater confidence and self-awareness.
Some of the testimonies of the participants clearly reflect this:
“It had been a long time since I had interviewed and this has given me a lot of confidence. By applying the feedback from one interview to the next I gained confidence”.
“I have been to many interviews, but I have never been given feedback. Now I know how the person interviewing me sees me and what I can do better”.
“I've been to many interviews, but I've never been given feedback. Now I know how the person interviewing me sees me and what I can improve onI was surprised at how much all the interviewers valued positive things about me that I didn't see as such”.
“I had never interviewed before, as I am just entering the job market and it is a time of great uncertainty. Listening to people with more experience has given me peace of mind about what is to come”.
Voices that reflect the tangible impact of a brief but meaningful activity. The agile and direct format of speed dating favors progressive learning and immediate feedback, something that is difficult to find in formal recruitment processes.
A learning experience for the volunteer: a more conscious and empathic view of the world.
A learning experience for the volunteer: a more conscious and empathetic look. It is a shared learning experience, since volunteers also take something valuable away with them: a more empathetic and conscious look.
Although it is not necessary to be from the human resources area or to have previous experience in this field to participate, for those who are used to evaluating resumes, meeting again with the real stories behind each profile is a reminder that, beyond competencies, there are people.
Ratings from participating volunteers
“I love to help where possible and communicate who we are as an organization and how we are embedded in our community”.
“It created a great atmosphere and allowed us the opportunity to get to know other realities and share with colleagues from other departments”.
"Activities such as this one allow us to get closer to the reality of people in vulnerable situations and help them to face interviews to access the labor market".
“What I value most about the activity is being able to share, learn and teach. Giving that push to the young people that is often needed to start out on the road to success”.
Opportunities that transcend the professional
This type of experience brings us back to the essentials: connecting from the authentic, valuing effort, and understanding that employment is also built on mutual trust. In just one hour, bridges are built, motivations are awakened and new possibilities are opened. An experience that transforms volunteers in the way they relate to their peers in the workplace.
With initiatives like this, Coca-Cola Europacific Partners, in collaboration with Volies, reaffirms its commitment to youth employability and transformative volunteering. Because when people meet on a human level, opportunities arise that transcend the professional.
