How To Include Volunteer Work On A Resume (With Examples)

A resume is a document that gives an accurate snapshot of you as a potential employee. It should be well-balanced, showing a combination of skills, work experiences, education, and other assets that can set you apart from the rest.

Writing a resume can become stressful when you only have one page to detail your best accomplishments.

There are more additional resume sections that can help you stand out. People often list publications, job training courses, and volunteer experience on their resumes.

We’re here to help you understand what elements of volunteer experience hiring managers like to see, give advice for how to include that experience on your resume, and show you examples of a few different ways of doing it.

Does Volunteer Work Look Good On a Resume?

Adding volunteer work can help make your resume more competitive, so it is a good idea to add it to your resume. If you are reading this wondering why volunteering would be a good thing to include for a position in IT, for example, keep scrolling because adding volunteer experience might land you the job.

For some industries, volunteer work is a highly valuable asset to bring up. For example, if you are applying for a position in the non-profit sector or looking for a position in academia, definitely add those volunteer experiences. But volunteering isn’t just for those folks — it is a great thing to consider doing no matter what industry you work in.

Adding volunteer experience to your resume can help boost your application’s chances. Including volunteer experiences show that you have the drive to help your community. It shows that you are interested in being a part of something else for reasons outside of earning money and highlights your non-work-related interests.

While any volunteering is good, certain volunteering experiences are better than others when including them on your resume. The best volunteering you can do is volunteering within your industry.

For example, if you are working in IT, then volunteering at your local library and helping teach community members computer skills would be a great asset to include on your resume.

Similarly, if you work as a nurse, then volunteering at low-cost clinics would be a great choice.

Is Volunteer Work Important on a Resume?

For certain types of job-seekers, volunteer experience can make or break your job application. Volunteering can be an incredibly valuable experience that can help bulk up resumes that have little professional experience — we’re looking at you, recent graduates.

If you are currently out of work, volunteering can help fill gaps in your resume’s timeline. Showing volunteer experience shows that you are dedicated to applying yourself even when you’re between jobs.

Many hiring managers consider relevant volunteer positions as beneficial as paid positions. For example, if you are a volunteer social media manager for a non-profit, that will look very favorably for you if you are applying for social media management positions.

So if you are currently between jobs or are looking for ways to beef up your resume, seek out volunteer roles. It is better to volunteer at one place consistently for a long time versus jumping around from place to place. Doing so shows commitment to an organization and you will likely develop leadership roles over time in those organizations.

How To List Volunteer Work On a Resume

Now that you know that adding volunteer work on a resume is an amazing idea for most applicants, you might be wondering where to add volunteer experiences to your resume.

There are essentially two ways you can add volunteer work on a resume: within your work experience section or in a separate section at the bottom of your resume dedicated to volunteer work.

1. Work experience section. If you have significant employment gaps or sparse employment history, consider adding the volunteer experiences to your work history section. It will help bulk up that section and fill in work gaps. When adding volunteer experiences to your work history section, be careful which ones you list.

   Consider adding the volunteer experiences that are related to your industry to the work history section and the experiences that are unrelated to a separate section at the bottom.

   When you add volunteer experience to the work history section, format it the same as you would for any other official position. Include the job title you would have if you worked formally in that capacity, but add “volunteer” in front of it.

2. Volunteer experience section. If you add it to a separate section at the bottom, you can make the listing as brief as you want. If the role is not related to your job or job skills at all, you may just want to list your position and which organization you volunteered for — you don’t have to detail out each experience.

   You can also treat this volunteer section like a separate work experience section, especially if you have multiple volunteering roles under your belt. List the name of the organization, the dates you were involved, and give 2-3 bullet points on what you did while volunteering there.

As with anything you include on your resume, make sure you can quantify what you’ve accomplished in that role and highlight the skills you’ve developed or used while volunteering.

For example, if you were a volunteer coordinator, list how many volunteers you managed. If you work regularly at a soup kitchen, detail out how many hours you’ve worked there and the approximate number of people you’ve served.

In addition to quantifying your volunteer deliverables, take care of how you write your work summaries. Remember that many resumes are first read by a computer. When going through an applicant tracking system (ATS), the computer is looking for keywords. Frame your volunteer work with keywords important to the job you are applying for.

Examples of Volunteer Work on a Resume

Now that we know the why and the how of including volunteer work on your resume, let’s look at some examples.

1. Example 1: Work Experience Section

   Work Experience

   Save Pups Fast | May 2019-Present
   Volunteer Coordinator

   • Aid veterinarians in adminstering medicine to local dogs without owners

   • Receive, stock, and organize two shipments each week, totaling $15,000 of equipment and medicine

   • Develop and maintain Save Pups Fast social media platforms on Facebook and Instagram, increasing user base by 23% in 3-month period

2. Example Answer 2: Additional Work Experience Section

   Additional Work Experience

   Food Bank Plus | 03/2016-01/2018
   Volunteer administrator

   • Cooked and served food for about 100 daily visitors each Sunday

   • Maintained spreadsheet of charitable donations of over $50,000

   • Recruited at high schools, community colleges, and church groups to boost weekly volunteer count by 20

3. Example Answer 3: Volunteer Experience Section

   Volunteer Experience

   Elder Care | August 2020-Present
   Work with seniors living in nursing homes to aid in the transition into assisted living; help with memory, loneliness, and depression through art therapy and fun, low-stress exercise activities.

   Diana’s Hair | June 2018-July 2019
   Maintained a weekly newsletter for an organization dedicated to receiving donations of hair to create wigs for chemotherapy patients, driving student participation by 16%.

4. Example Answer 4: Accomplishments Section

   Accomplishments

   • Created and managed marketing campaign for XYZ Inc. that drove app engagement by 213% and resulted in online sales more than doubling

   • Dedicated weekends to the foundation and management of Backpacks for Billy, a volunteer organization that has helped over 200 youth (to-date) in poverty receive school supplies and educational materials free of cost

   • Designed company blog for ABC Corp. that won “Blog of the Year 2018” in Content Marketing Weekly

Tips for Including Volunteer Work on Your Resume

• When to use volunteer work. Volunteer work is always impressive, because it’s rare for people to devote their time and energy to worthy causes without getting paid for it.

  That being said, volunteer work shouldn’t take up too much space on your resume unless you’re a recent graduate, you lack sufficient formal experience, you have a gap in your employment history, or you’re applying to a non-profit or public sector job with a penchant for advocacy.

  The other times to really highlight your volunteer experience is when it’s very relevant to the job you’re applying for or it serves to boost your experience level with a certain skill set.

• Customize your resume. Each time you send a resume as part of a job application, you should first edit your resume to be perfectly tailored to the job you’re applying for. That means that how much you highlight your volunteer experience changes depending on the nature of the organization and the role.

  If you see a company is involved with philanthropic efforts related to your volunteer experience, you may spend extra real estate highlighting it, even if it’s not exactly related to the job you’re applying for. Values matter just as much as skills and qualifications for some hiring managers and recruiters.

• Do your homework. Part of that above tip involved researching the company to find out what they value and what non-work-related efforts they’re a part of. Don’t stop there though.

  Read the job description carefully and look for keywords that you can use in your resume — even the volunteer section.

  For example, if you see the word “deliver” a lot in the job posting, and your current resume says “shipped,” changing your word choice is a low-effort way of ticking more boxes for an applicant tracking system and the actual hiring manager.

• Be careful including activism. Activism is great, but it’s also explicitly political. Politics can always be dicey in work situations, and hiring managers might be wary of even interviewing you in case they come off as prejudiced if they decide not to hire you.

  That said, if you’re applying to a political organization (that aligns with your values, we hope) or a company that’s somehow related to your background in activism, it’s probably good to include this type of work.

  Also, if the activism was pretty politically neutral (“Stop killing whales” or “Feed the homeless”) and you performed duties that are relevant to the job you’re applying for, then go ahead and include it.

Final Thoughts

Forgetting to add volunteer work to a resume is a critical error for many job applicants. Many hiring managers are looking for diverse and well-rounded job applicants. They want to know that you can do your job well, but they also want to know if you have interests outside of work.

Volunteering is a great way to learn more about your community, find hobbies, and learn skills outside of work.

While many older job seekers probably have a lot of work experience to include on their resume and may not need to list any volunteer experiences, recent graduates and applicants who have a work gap need to use volunteer work to help them land the job.

It’s not just those groups who benefit from showing off volunteer work, though. Any hiring manager or recruiter will be impressed by an individual who devotes themselves to a cause they believe in without pay. So go ahead and highlight that volunteer experience, as long as your amazing resume has room for it.

Author

Heidi Cope

Heidi Cope is a former writer for the Zippia Career Advice blog. Her writing focused primarily on Zippia's suite of rankings and general career advice. After leaving Zippia, Heidi joined The Mighty as a writer and editor, among other positions. She received her BS from UNC Charlotte in German Studies.

Expert

Don Pippin, MHRM, CPRW, CDCS

Don Pippin is an executive and HR leader for Fortune 50 and 500 companies and startups. In 2008, Don launched area|Talent with a focus on helping clients identify their brand. As a Certified Professional Resume Writer, Certified Digital Career Strategist, and Certified Personal Branding Strategist, Don guides clients through career transitions.