"Voluntary work, casual work or part-time work - that's not real work."

We really do think you should think again! You seem to say that unless you're fully paid for doing something it isn't work? What about all the work it took to bring you up? Were your parents paid for looking after you? Wasn't that hard work? Society holds together largely because a lot of people who aren't paid to do so, work voluntarily for love or a sense of duty or because they believe in a good cause. The people who get paid and the things they do are really only the tip of the iceberg.

So if you're unemployed and you aren't busy with job searching - which can be a full time unpaid job in itself - you can still be very useful to somebody. Of course, the catch is that you can be thoroughly exploited this way - and that may be the truth in what you're saying. Casual and part-time workers are sometimes exploited and paid low rates with less protection for their rights than full-time workers to whom an employer feels more commitment.

So that's the risk - you give a lot and get nothing back ? It's a fine balance perhaps, but there is plenty of work around in the world that needs to be done. The problem is that there aren't enough people willing to pay enough for all of it to be done as a full time job,

• experience that will look good on your CV when you next apply for a job.
• an opportunity to practice, maintain and improve your skills and even to learn some new ones.
• a sense of purpose in life, a reason to get out of bed in the morning.
• social contact - sometimes with people who might help you find a job or who might know someone else who can. It is said that every person on earth knows everybody else through a chain of no more than seven other people - the person who could offer you a job, in other words, may be the friend of a friend of a friend of a friend of a friend of a friend of a friend of yours. And a stranger is a friend you just haven't met yet!
• something for yourself - by exchanging your skills with someone else, they may be able to do things for you, while you do others for them. Networking, swapping skills, co-operating, working together can be good for your psychology and your bank balance at the same time.