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Volunteer Experience On Resume Examples

How To List Volunteer Experience On A Resume

How to Write a Volunteering Section for Your Resume in 2022 [Resume Examples Included]

Lets face it – first impressions matter. And when it comes to job search, your resume will be the first impression a potential employer will have of you.

This begs the question: how do you make your resume stand out in a pile of job applications?

You try to make every section count. And a particularly beneficial one to have in this regard is volunteer experience.

A volunteer experience section can be a great way to showcase your skills if youre just starting on your career, or even if you have a work experience gap on your CV. It is also an indicator that you are not just any other money-driven applicant, but also someone who cares about giving back to the community.

But what is the best way – and time – to include volunteer experience in your resume? Thats exactly what this article will show you.

Read on to find out:

  • What is a Resume Volunteer Experience Section?
  • When to Include Volunteer Experience in Your Resume?
  • How to Include Volunteer Experience in Your Resume?
  • How to Get Your Volunteer Experience Section Right?

Useful Tips For Listing Volunteer Work On A Resume

Here are some useful things to do when writing your volunteer section.

  • Tailor your application

Always ensure that your volunteer skills and qualifications match the role you are applying for by examining the vacancy announcement thoroughly. Moreover, you can gather some information on the organization you want to work in to find out the qualities required for the employees.

  • Include keywords from the vacancy description

Identify essential keywords from the positions description. Then, ponder on your volunteer work to see how you can phrase the skills you have gained from it using the keywords that are present in the description.

We all tend to be mistaken thus, do not forget to proofread or find someone to help you out.

Sample Resume: How To Add Volunteer Experience To An Entry

If you’re currently employed, you don’t have any employment gaps to fill on your resume, and you’re not trying to parlay your volunteer experience into a new career, then your relevant volunteer activities can be placed in a separate section toward the bottom of your resume, either right before or just after the Education and Professional Development section on your resume. This is the only instance where you don’t necessarily need to include many details about your volunteer work it’s enough to simply state the organization and your role within the group.

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How To Write Your Resume With Examples

Our step-by-step guide is filled with helpful suggestions and practical examples so you can write a compelling volunteer resume in four easy steps.

1. Write a convincing summary statement or career objective.

Resumes use two types of opening statements: the career objective or the summary statement. While the summary statement displays a brief account of your experience and skills, a career objective is used to highlight your individual goals and aspirations.

You could choose the career objective for a volunteer position to describe why youâre eager to work in this role. If you have matching work experience or related education in social work, you need to mention them to support your application.

Below are two examples of a poor and a good career objective for better understanding.

Poor example:

âTo work as a volunteer in low-income areas and provide aid to children and adults. I would like to gain first-hand experience working with the underprivileged community.â

In this example, though there is an explicit mention of what the volunteer wants to achieve in this job role, the skills or experience that makes them suitable are not listed. Without a solid skill base, the career objective is incomplete.

Good example:

This is a good example of a career objective because it provides insight into the candidateâs skills and experience, supporting their interest in volunteer work.

Here’s what you need to know if you decide to go with a summary statement:

Skills

Volunteer Services Officerresume Examples & Samples

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  • Relationship Mgmt and Community Outreach: Participates in communication/civic activities and events to promote volunteer opportunities. Develops and cultivates professional relationships with key internal and external partners/organizations. Attends regional and community meetings and events and facilitates exchange of information and resources within jurisdiction. Develops and conducts presentations to promote Red Cross services and programs to community
  • Staff and Volunteer Management: Provides strong leadership, develops and sets individual and team performance goals and manages/drives change. Hires, manages, trains and evaluates staff and volunteers. Designs, develops and implements a targeted volunteer management recruitment plan for the region and proactively outreaches to business leaders and others to support volunteer needs. Implements recruitment plan with particular attention to diversity and inclusion goals of the region and ARC strategic plans. Oversees curriculum design for volunteer training modules and recruitment presentations. Creates performance review process to accurately assess volunteer performance and adjusts performance as and when needed. Finds and implements ways to improve or increase the quality and production for the work directed
  • Produce and implement a plan for assessing the organizations needs, recruitment of volunteers and engagement of volunteers

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What Does A Volunteer Do

Volunteers can do anything within an organization. Sometimes volunteers work only on special events, but in other cases they perform vital tasks and make a commitment to either work on a longer-term special project or on regular, daily work.

Many nonprofits use volunteers to supplement their paid workforce so that more resources go to the cause for which they labor. That means you have a chance to broaden your skill set while working on a cause you are passionate about.

There are 1.54 million non-profits in the United States. In 2017, the last year for which statistics are available, 64.4 million Americans, or about 25% of the population, gave their time. Thats up from 61.8 million in 2008, according to Statistica.

The pandemic seems to have increased volunteering efforts. LinkedIn data shows that in 2020, members added 110,000 volunteer experiences to their profiles. Thats about 2.5 times the monthly average in 2017.

Millennials are most likely to volunteer and women volunteer at higher rates than men, according to the U.S. Labor Bureau.

If you are wondering whether volunteers are worth the training time to nonprofits, the answer is yes. The Independent Sector values volunteer hours at $28.54.

Because volunteers may be doing any type of work in any industry, you may find inspiration in any number of our resume examples. How to choose volunteer opportunities

  • What skills or knowledge can I offer?
  • How much time can I commit to?
  • How to find volunteer opportunities

    Volunteer National Advisory Committee Memberresume Examples & Samples

    • Ability to analyse and report on complex written information, including data about the financial health and governance of organisations
    • Understanding of issues facing disadvantaged children and young people in Scotland
    • Knowledge of the voluntary and statutory sectors, especially relating to children and young people
    • Good interpersonal skills, good English literacy, and a strong ability to communicate in writing
    • Good skills working as part of a decision-making group, including the ability to present well verbally, weigh evidence, and argue for a position
    • Good IT literacy
    • Ability to respect confidentiality, given the sensitive nature of the issues presented
    • Commitment to attending grant allocation meetings and to participating in the training provided to support good performance in the role

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    How To Include Volunteer Experience On Resume

    Check out this comprehensive guide on how to use resume action words and power verbs to learn how to strategically use them in your resume.

    Try to be as detailed as you possibly can while you are describing your volunteer work on resume.

    Instead of saying

    Volunteered at the Care Shelter Home for Boys as an English Teacher

    Write something along the lines of

    Taught Communicative English to 10 children-at-risk and improved their monthly BAT scores by 16%

    Following qualities are usually displayed in a volunteer experience on resume. And the best part is: The hiring managers love it!

    • Team Management & Leadership

    The volunteer resume checklist is here!

    Adding volunteer experience on resume makes it stand out like the Sword of Durendal.Just follow these important tips:

    • If it is relevant, add volunteer work to your professional experience section.
    • If it is notrelevant, or you have an extensive professional experience, include volunteer experiences on resume in a section.
    • If you are making a separate section, make sure it’s below your Professional Experience section
    • Detail your volunteer experiences on resume instead of mentioning generic pointers. Include figures and quantifiable impact wherever possible
    • Even if it’s been a while since you last volunteered, include that in your volunteer resume
    • Prefer bullet points over a paragraph for your volunteer resume

    Example:

    Firstly Select The Right Section To Display The Volunteer Work

    How to Market Your Volunteer Experience on Your Resume

    Placing the volunteer work effectively on your resume is extremely important to create the right impression. You may display the volunteer experience next to your work experiences for the continuity and flow of information. If, however, you place the volunteer work experience before the actual work experience, it may create an adverse impression on your employer.

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    Use Proper Resume Formatting

    Even though volunteer work is unpaid, you need to provide a professional resume, formatted just like the one youd use for paid positions.

    In case youve forgotten what a formal resume should include, heres a refresher on the five resume sections every pro resume should have:

    A. Contact information section:

    In your resume header, list your name, address, email address, phone number, and any relevant online profiles .

    B. Introduction section:

    Underneath your header, write a 23 sentence resume objective that details your qualifications and interest in the volunteer opportunity. Include your years of experience, and explain why your skills and goals make you an ideal candidate.

    C. Experience section:

    In the work experience section, offer bulleted lists of key achievements from current and past jobs. Tailor the information to the values and requirements of the organization to which youre applying. Prioritize volunteer experience, but if you dont have any, feel free to include relevant paid experience.

    D. Education section:

    Many volunteer positions require at least some education, so list the highest level of education youve completed, whether you have a GED or a doctorate. You can use your resumes education section to highlight any relevant courses youve taken.

    E. Skills section:

    How To Prepare Your Resume

    Before discussing how to add volunteer experience to resume, first, let us look at how to create a resume.

    • Name with contact information

    Put your full name along with an email ID that is preferably very formal sounding. You might want to omit mentioning those funny email IDs that you made as a child in a thrill of the moment.

    • Professional experience

    While stating your professional experience, highlight your work life by using a blend of numbers and facts. State the number of projects you worked on, the revenue that was earned because of it, how many hours you put in, while also not forgetting to mention your contributions to the project. You can also mention what skills you picked up from the work.

    Along with the educational institutes that you attended, do try to research how to put school volunteer work on resume. Wherever possible, mention relevant coursework that you took that can enhance your value in the market.

    Try to come up with skills that match your job description. Over the years, no matter where you worked, you would have probably gathered a lot of work-related skills. It could be transferable skills or work-related skills. Mention them and highlight how you managed to put them up.

    • Optional sections

    In this section, you can include volunteer work or any other work that you were doing. Also, mention your hobbies and interests. At the same time, thoroughly research how to put volunteer experience on resume.

    How to include volunteering on your resume

    Or,

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    Where To Include Your Volunteer Work Experience On A Resume

    In case you have limited paid job experiences, your volunteering positions become as significant as those other professional job roles. Also, in situations where you have relevant volunteer experiences for that particular job, the Work Experience section is the best place to write them.

    On the contrary, when your volunteer works are not at all relevant for the position or you have extensive professional work experiences, it is better to create a separate section. Include this additional section at the bottom of your resume where you briefly describe your volunteer works.

    Director Of Volunteer Engagementresume Examples & Samples

    Eye
    • Strengthening the Enterprise: Demonstrates knowledge of traditional volunteer resource management methods and experience incorporating current research findings and best practices into one or more volunteer engagement structures
    • Communication: Demonstrates ability to effectively communicate specialized information orally and in writing, particularly in sensitive/controversial situations, with audiences that may include people from varied socioeconomic levels, educational attainment levels, cultures, family structures, and people previously under- represented in the organizations volunteer pool. Facilitates and fosters open exchange.
    • Capacity Building: Is knowledgeable about principles of organizational change, cultural change, and organizational learning
    • Collaboration: Experience using collaborative team models to build support for important strategic initiatives knowledgeable about community resources, including volunteer and government agencies
    • Team Building: Experience partnering effectively with community leaders for volunteer engagement and greater understanding of the organization and its opportunities for community involvement
    • Financial Management: Experience preparing, justifying, and/or administering a budget, experience planning, administering and monitoring expenditures to ensure cost-effective support of programs, personnel and policies

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    Associate Director Of Volunteer Outreachresume Examples & Samples

    • Execute plan for recruitment and management of all annual giving volunteers for Owen including class agents, reunion volunteers and class gift committee members with goal of increasing alumni participation and unrestricted giving to the school
    • Collaborate with Development and Alumni Relations colleagues such as Development Officers and Alumni Relations staff to identify volunteers, execute events, etc
    • Solicit volunteers as needed for annual gifts to ensure 100% participation level from the volunteers
    • Set goals for outreach and participation within each volunteer group and capture meaningful data around the impact of these volunteers
    • Develop strategies and implement outreach plans for directly soliciting Owen alumni as needed to meet Annual Fund and program goals
    • Perform other duties assigned

    Objective That Is Straight To The Point

    Lets set the difference between volunteer summary and objective:

    In the summary section, you can include achievements, education, skills and an explanation of why you are the right candidate.

    On the other hand, the objective is more straight to the point.

    It is a brief statement that communicates your career goals: the job and the skills you want to acquire.

    Its preferable also to add your experience backed up with facts and quantitative data.

    Here is a coherent example of an objective that speaks volumes:

    RIGHT

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    Where To Include Volunteer Work

    Where you should list your volunteer work depends on your level of professional experience and whether the volunteer work is directly relevant to your target position. If you have plenty of paid professional work experience, list your volunteer positions in a designated section at the end of your resume. But, if you have less professional work experience and/or the volunteer work is especially pertinent to the job you are applying for, you can list it in your work experience section.

    You might also decide to split up your volunteer work, listing positions that are particularly relevant to your target position in your experience section and less closely related volunteer work in a dedicated section towards the end of your resume.

    Assistant Director Of Volunteer Engagementresume Examples & Samples

    Volunteer Experience – Why and how to Include it on your resume
    • Heavy interaction with and support for William & Mary alumni and benefactors, direct solicitation and closure of reunion gifts creation and implementation of creative strategies to maximize giving to the College while utilizing volunteers
    • Maintain a portfolio of prospects with a targeted focus on the development and enhancement of the relationship with William & Mary
    • The position , will develop goals and giving strategies for the alumni classes under management and also work closely with Alumni Association Staff and University Events Staff to coordinate effective alumni engagement opportunities
    • Maintain and develop relationships with 5 classes, including 1 reunion class year as assigned by the Director and will execute and maintain on-going alumni engagement, class giving and participation
    • Experience in higher education, including alumni relations or volunteer management experience is highly preferred
    • Previous supervisory or management experience is a plus

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    Key Takeaways For A Volunteer Resume

  • Think of your volunteer resume the same way you would a resume for a paying job: You have to prove youre the right person for the work.
  • When you volunteer, you are making a commitment, so consider what you want to do and where your passion lies before you apply.
  • Targeting your volunteer resume for each position is the best way to make sure your application is seen by a person.
  • Use our online resume maker to make your life easier and the job application process faster!
  • Volunteer Resume Writing Tips

    Just because its volunteer work doesnt mean organizations dont have standards. Take note of our Volunteer resume writing tips:

  • Check for Grammatical and Spelling Errors This is especially true for volunteer work that requires teaching. If you have spelling and grammar errors in your resume, it may give the agency/ group second thoughts. It also shows lack of detail and makes you look irresponsible. Even if it is volunteer work, you should give the agency or group some respect.
  • Write from the Heart Try to establish a connection by writing from the heart. As we mentioned in the section on writing your resume objective for Volunteer, you should let your personality shine through. This job is more about attitude than having the right technical skills.
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