Hi,

Another post on this board made me think about this. Have you found paid work (full time, part time, contract, whatever) as a result of unpaid volunteer work?

I took a few years off and did a lot of unpaid volunteer work. I wanted to have something to do, meet new people, etc. I also thought that it might lead to some paid work at some point. I wasn't actively looking for paid work but wanted to keep my hand in things.

My name was certainly passed around as someone who could help with IT and web projects ... as a volunteer. I landed one paid gig through a contact I made while volunteering, but had many, many requests for free work.

Have other people had more luck getting a job this route? It seems like it should work in theory, but maybe if people know you are willing to do work for free, they don't want to pay you?