The Returning Volunteer

Abstract

By the end of this decade as many as 50,000 United States citizens may have served in the Peace Corps. The contribution of these former Volunteers to society in the United States and in the world will constitute a major impact of the Peace Corps. Half of all Volunteers change their career goals during Peace Corps service. To assist them with voca tional and educational planning, a Career Information Service has been established. This Service orients Volunteers through monthly career bulletins; overseas career libraries; consultants in various academic and vocational fields; and rosters of Volun teers interested in continued education, government service, in volvement in the War on Poverty, and business and industry. National organizations and leaders in many professions have expressed their interest in recruiting returning Volunteers or have established special programs for them. The widely dis cussed "re-entry" period faced by former Volunteers is to be anticipated in view of the differing society in which the Peace Corps worker served overseas and his total involvement in his job. Volunteers are changed by their Peace Corps experience and return searching not merely for a job, but for work which will carry some of the same responsibility, satisfaction, and room for initiative which most Volunteers experienced overseas.