Volunteering as hope labour: the potential value of unpaid work experience for the un- and under-employed

Abstract

This paper examines how voluntary labour is being reconfigured in precarious labour markets. I argue that like an internship, volunteering is increasingly construed as a form of ‘hope labour’, premised on the logic of investment. Hope labour promises that exposure and experience will possibly lead to employment in the future. In workshops for job seekers, experts reproduce a neoliberal logic through which the self is imagined as a portfolio or a bundle of skills that indexes one’s employability. These workshops present simple correlations between investments in one’s portfolio and enhanced employability, which tend to unravel in practice. The un- and under-employed, particularly immigrants, face difficulties accessing volunteer opportunities that develop appropriate skills and networks. They also struggle to present volunteer work as valuable ‘work experience’ in resumes and LinkedIn profiles. These difficulties reveal the ways in which hope labour is structured by and reproduces social inequalities. Although volunteer positions do not necessarily lead to paid work, unpaid work is simultaneously about filling one’s resume and chasing opportunity – prominent forms of neoliberal risk management in contingent and competitive labour markets. This labour creates potential affective and economic value, not only for individuals, but also for non-profit organisations and the state.