Leverage Volunteer Work on Your Resume

 You may have altruistic reasons for volunteering, but giving your time has career enhancing power, too.

Volunteer work, whether it is in addition to a current job or an activity in between jobs, shows an employer that you are willing to try new experiences, be involved in your community and generally demonstrates a willingness to take the initiative and make things happen. So how you leverage these positive traits on your resume? The best way to format your volunteer work depends on your career level and track. Follow these tips:

New grads. Entry-level workers with minimal or no work experience should emphasize their volunteerism a central part of the resume.

Many college grads do not have that much work experience, so highlighting—in a skills-oriented way—their volunteer experiences is a great is a great way to go. They can highlight communication, leadership and planning skills while showing they are adaptable and self motivated. You can incorporate volunteer work in the regular experience section if you have little or no paid work history. Treat the experience as if it were a paid job—list the organization’s name, location, your functional title, dates and accomplishments. Be sure to indicate your volunteer status  in the description or next to the title.

Career changers and workers reentering the workforce.  Volunteering is one of the best ways to develop and showcase new career skills. Just because you weren’t financially compensated for a skill doesn’t meant you don’t have a talent for it. Mentioning volunteerism-related skills that are relevant to the professional world is one of the best ways to position yourself for a new career field. There are many benefits to volunteering. If you’re between careers, including your volunteer work may help you to offset the professional  path your resume outlines and facilitate a discussion toward explaining your career change.

You may have altruistic reasons for volunteering, but giving your time has career enhancing power, too.

Volunteer work, whether it is in addition to a current job or an activity in between jobs, shows an employer that you are willing to try new experiences, be involved in your community and generally demonstrates a willingness to take the initiative and make things happen. So how you leverage these positive traits on your resume? The best way to format your volunteer work depends on your career level and track. Follow these tips:

New grads. Entry-level workers with minimal or no work experience should emphasize their volunteerism a central part of the resume.

Many college grads do not have that much work experience, so highlighting—in a skills-oriented way—their volunteer experiences is a great is a great way to go. They can highlight communication, leadership and planning skills while showing they are adaptable and self motivated. You can incorporate volunteer work in the regular experience section if you have little or no paid work history. Treat the experience as if it were a paid job—list the organization’s name, location, your functional title, dates and accomplishments. Be sure to indicate your volunteer status  in the description or next to the title.

Career changers and workers reentering the workforce.  Volunteering is one of the best ways to develop and showcase new career skills. Just because you weren’t financially compensated for a skill doesn’t meant you don’t have a talent for it. Mentioning volunteerism-related skills that are relevant to the professional world is one of the best ways to position yourself for a new career field. There are many benefits to volunteering. If you’re between careers, including your volunteer work may help you to offset the professional  path your resume outlines and facilitate a discussion toward explaining your career change.

It should be clear you’re listing your volunteer experience and not paid employment. It doesn't’ minimize your skills in any way, but it does indicate that you value good communication and are not in ay way trying to misrepresent yourself.

Those on a steady career track. When seeking new employment, you shouldn’t overemphasize volunteer experience at the sake of directly relevant career experience. Simply stating volunteer organization name and date may be appropriate. It is not necessary  to list every organization you have volunteered with for the past 15 years—rather than focus on the most recent ones. Most volunteer is best placed in a separate section. Your volunteer should supplement your professional accomplishments and talents, not distract from them.

Too much information? If you’ve volunteered with organizations that would reveal information you wouldn’t want a prospective employer to know, consider leaving them off your resume. It’s a personal choice to include your volunteer work, and your decision may vary depending on what you want to highlight about yourself and where you  are applying. Consider that it’s more helpful to include the skills you learn instead of emphasizing the affiliations the organization had.

Target the employer. Research the employer to discover how much emphasis it places on community and philanthropy. Your volunteer section should mirror the results of your search and be modified to suit the background of the company you are interested in. If the place that you are applying to works within a specific issue or cause, it could be beneficial to highlight similar organizations you have volunteered with to show you are familiar with the issue area or to display a long-term/growing interest in a particular cause.

(Taken from monster.com, Kim Isaacs, Monster Resume Expert)