You may be wondering if it’s acceptable to put volunteer work on your resume when you’re applying for jobs. It absolutely is! Including your Volunteer experience can be a great way to show your passion, skills, and community involvement. It can also help provide additional support for a resume that lacks valuable work experience. 
Volunteering is not only great for your community but also for your career. The skills you can acquire, the people you can meet, and the experience you can build up through a volunteering position can be invaluable in enhancing your resume and making your qualifications stand out to potential new employers.
Put your Volunteer Work on LinkedIn
Volunteering is so vital that LinkedIn, the number one career networking site, recently added a “Volunteer Experience & Causes” field on users’ profiles. In a survey conducted by LinkedIn, they found that almost half of hiring professionals evaluating potential candidates for jobs consider volunteer work as valuable as paid work experience. Employers enjoy seeing volunteer work that highlights skills you can use on the job. Volunteering can even serve as a stepping stone to a new field if you are also looking to change career paths.
Not sure where on your resume to add your volunteer experience or how or what to include? Our certified professional resume writers are here to help. Click to learn more.
This article was originally published in July 2020 and has been recently updated.
