how to include volunteer work in resume

30 Examples: How To List Volunteer Work on a Resume

By Status.net Editorial Team on April 26, 2024 — 10 minutes to read

Volunteering is a great way to acquire new skills, network with professionals, and make a difference in your community. When it comes time to update your resume, incorporating your volunteer experiences may give you a competitive edge. The key is to present your volunteer experience in a manner that highlights the relevant skills you’ve gained and what you’ve accomplished.

Begin by examining the volunteer work you’ve done and identifying the skills that would be most applicable to the job you’re seeking. For example, if you volunteered at an animal shelter, you might have developed strong communication and teamwork skills while coordinating with other volunteers and shelter employees. Or, if you volunteered as a tutor, you could highlight your ability to effectively teach complex subjects and demonstrate expert problem-solving skills.

Identifying Your Volunteer Experiences

Start by making a list of all your volunteer activities, including the organization, your role and responsibilities, and the length of time you were involved. For example:

• Nonprofit Organization A – Volunteer Coordinator (6 months)
• Community Event B – Event Volunteer (one-time event)
• Local Animal Shelter C – Dog Walker (3 months)

As you review your list, consider the skills and knowledge you gained from each experience. This could be anything from project management to customer service or even special skills like event planning or social media promotion.

Next, prioritize your experiences by relevance for the job you’re applying for. This means considering which volunteer activities showcase the most important skills, expertise, and qualities that the employer is looking for. After you’ve identified the most relevant volunteer experiences, it’s time to think about how to present them on your resume. One effective approach is to include a dedicated volunteer work section, ideally located near your professional experience section. This allows you to highlight valuable skills and experiences while also demonstrating your commitment to giving back.

Where to Place Volunteer Work on Your Resume

Main experience section.

Consider placing volunteer work in your main experience section if it relates closely to the job you’re applying for. For example, if you have volunteered at an animal shelter and are applying for a position as a veterinarian assistant, it would be relevant to include this experience with your professional work history.

When listing volunteer work in the main experience section, it should be formatted similarly to your regular employment:

• Organization Name, City, State
• Your role/job title
• Duration (Month Year – Month Year)
• Key accomplishments or responsibilities (use bullet points to make these easier to read)

Separate Volunteer Section

If your volunteer work is not directly related to the job you’re applying for, or if you already have extensive relevant employment experience, it might be more appropriate to create a separate volunteer section on your resume. This section should come after your main experience section, but before the education and skills sections.

In the separate volunteer section, you can still emphasize how these experiences contributed to your personal and professional growth. List your volunteer experiences by following the same format as the main experience section.

Volunteer Work on a Resume: 30 Examples

1. Community Service Volunteer – Organized weekly community clean-up events, managing teams of 20+ volunteers – Coordinated with local businesses for resource contributions

2. Hospital Volunteer – Provided companionship and support to patients, improving their hospital experience – Assisted nurses with non-medical tasks to enhance patient care

3. Animal Shelter Volunteer – Cared for and socialized animals to prepare them for adoption – Implemented a new system for tracking animal vaccinations and health records

4. Youth Mentor – Mentored a group of 10 high school students, providing academic and personal guidance – Developed and facilitated workshops on college readiness and career exploration

5. Event Planning Volunteer – Played a key role in organizing annual charity gala, raising over $50,000 – Managed logistics, including venue selection, catering, and guest list coordination

6. Environmental Conservation Volunteer – Participated in reforestation projects, planting over 1,000 trees – Educated the public on sustainability practices through workshops and presentations

7. Disaster Relief Volunteer – Assisted in rebuilding efforts after local flooding, contributing over 200 hours of service – Distributed food and supplies to affected families

8. Volunteer Tutor – Provided weekly math tutoring to underprivileged students, resulting in a 25% average grade improvement – Created personalized lesson plans and practice exercises

9. Food Bank Volunteer – Organized food drives that collected over 3 tons of food for the local community – Streamlined the food sorting process, increasing efficiency by 30%

10. Special Olympics Volunteer – Coached a team of 15 athletes, leading them to win gold in regional competitions – Coordinated travel and accommodations for team events

11. Habitat for Humanity Volunteer – Contributed to the construction of 5 homes for low-income families – Led a team of volunteers in framing and drywall installation

12. Volunteer Fundraiser – Spearheaded a crowdfunding campaign that raised $10,000 for a local animal rescue – Developed marketing materials and social media strategies to promote the campaign

13. Library Volunteer – Managed book inventory and assisted patrons with locating resources – Organized weekly storytime sessions for children, fostering a love of reading

14. Crisis Hotline Volunteer – Provided empathetic support to individuals in crisis, contributing to a 20% increase in positive outcomes – Completed 60 hours of specialized training in crisis intervention techniques

15. ESL (English as a Second Language) Volunteer Teacher – Taught English to adult learners, helping 30+ students achieve conversational proficiency – Developed culturally sensitive teaching materials

16. Nonprofit Board Member – Served on the board of a local nonprofit focused on youth development – Participated in strategic planning and fundraising efforts

17. Volunteer Translator – Provided translation services for a community health center, improving access for non-English speakers – Translated over 200 pages of health education materials

18. Legal Aid Volunteer – Assisted in providing free legal services to low-income individuals – Conducted legal research and prepared case documents under attorney supervision

19. Volunteer Web Developer – Designed and maintained the website for a local charity, increasing online donations by 40% – Implemented SEO best practices to enhance the site’s visibility

20. Art Program Volunteer – Facilitated art workshops at a community center, inspiring creativity in 50+ participants – Curated a successful art exhibit showcasing local talent

21. Senior Center Volunteer – Organized social activities and outings for seniors, improving community engagement – Provided tech support, helping seniors connect with their families online

22. Volunteer Coach – Coached a youth soccer team, emphasizing teamwork and sportsmanship – Organized fundraising events to support team equipment and travel expenses

23. Public Health Volunteer – Supported public health campaigns by distributing educational materials and organizing community events – Conducted surveys to assess the impact of health initiatives

24. Music Therapy Volunteer – Performed weekly music sessions at a local hospital to enhance patient well-being – Collaborated with therapists to tailor sessions to individual patient needs

25. Museum Docent – Led educational tours, engaging visitors with the museum’s exhibits – Assisted in the development of new exhibit materials and interactive displays

26. International Volunteer – Taught English and basic computer skills in a rural community abroad – Assisted with the development of a local microfinance program

27. Volunteer Social Media Coordinator – Managed social media accounts for a nonprofit, growing the follower base by 500% – Created engaging content that increased audience interaction

28. Literacy Advocate Volunteer – Participated in reading programs at local schools, helping to improve literacy rates – Organized book donation drives to provide resources for underfunded libraries

29. Volunteer Research Assistant – Supported a university research project by collecting and analyzing data – Co-authored a paper on the project’s findings, which was published in a peer-reviewed journal

30. Homeless Shelter Volunteer – Assisted with daily operations at a shelter, providing meals and support to residents – Developed a job search workshop to help residents gain employment

How to Describe Your Volunteer Work

Use action verbs.

It’s important to use action verbs to describe your duties and accomplishments in your volunteer work. This helps create a strong impression on the reader and showcase your proactive nature.

Examples of strong action verbs:

• Collaborated
• Implemented
• Coordinated
• Facilitated

Quantify Your Impact

When describing your volunteer work, try to quantify your impact whenever possible. This helps provide more context and shows the impact of your contributions.

• Coordinated a team of 15 volunteers
• Raised $5,000 for a local charity
• Organized a charity event with over 200 attendees
• Contributed 120 hours of tutoring
• Assisted in the construction of three homes for low-income families
• Led a group of ten in weekly park cleanups
• Mentored 50 students in an after-school program
• Facilitated team-building exercises for 100 employees
• Developed and implemented a new training curriculum
• Served meals to over 500 people in need

Tailoring Your Volunteer Experience to the Job Description

Emphasize the relevant skills you gained during your volunteer experiences by relating them to the job you’re applying for. This helps demonstrate how your volunteer work has prepared you for the position.

• Improved interpersonal communication through tutoring sessions
• Developed leadership abilities as a team coordinator
• Strengthened problem-solving skills as a volunteer mediator
• Enhanced project management abilities by organizing events
• Acquired customer service experience through volunteer receptionist duties
• Gained public speaking skills through community outreach presentations
• Developed multitasking abilities in a busy office setting
• Improved teamwork skills through group collaborations
• Enhanced negotiation skills through sales fundraising efforts
• Strengthened event planning skills by leading committee meetings

Carefully read the job description and make note of the key requirements and skills the employer is looking for. You can then try to match these with your volunteer experiences.

Frequently Asked Questions

What are some ways to present volunteer work on my resume.

You can present volunteer work on your resume in a few different ways, depending on how closely it relates to your desired job and how much experience you have. For example,

• Create a separate Volunteer Work section: This approach is suitable if your volunteer experience is not directly related to your career goals but still demonstrates relevant skills and responsibilities.
• Include volunteer work within your Professional Experience section: If your volunteer experience aligns with your career goals or if you have minimal professional experience, present it alongside your paid positions.
• Highlight related volunteer work under your Skills section: If your volunteer experience helped you gain specific expertise, showcase those skills in your Skills section and mention the relevant volunteer work.

Can you provide a description for including volunteer experience in a resume?

When including volunteer experience in your resume, it’s important to provide details such as the organization’s name, your role or position, the dates you volunteered, and a brief description of your accomplishments and relevant responsibilities. For example:

Volunteer Work

• Provided tutoring in math and English to underprivileged high school students, resulting in improved grades of over 90% of participants.

How should a student with volunteer experience showcase it on their resume?

As a student with limited work experience, emphasizing your volunteer work can demonstrate your skills, initiative, and commitment to potential employers. You can:

• Include your volunteer work in a dedicated Volunteer Experience section, or even within your Work Experience section if it’s directly related to your career goals.
• Highlight key skills gained through your volunteer work in the Skills section, mentioning specific achievements where possible.
• If relevant, mention any leadership roles or significant responsibilities within your volunteer work.

In what manner can I detail my contributions in volunteer positions?

When detailing your contributions, focus on accomplishments and the impact you made through your volunteer work. To do this, use action verbs, quantify results, and emphasize outcomes. For example:

• Organized an annual charity event that raised over $10,000 for children’s educational resources, resulting in a 20% increase in funds compared to the previous year.

Is it beneficial to describe volunteer activities in a resume, and if so, how?

Yes, describing volunteer activities in a resume can be beneficial as it showcases your transferable skills, commitment to the community, and ability to collaborate. To describe your activities effectively:

• Focus on any tasks that demonstrate relevant skills for the position you are applying for.
• Be specific in describing your role, responsibilities, and accomplishments.
• If possible, quantify the impact of your activities, e.g., dollars raised, number of attendees, or percentage improvements.

Are there any specific words or phrases that effectively convey volunteer experiences?

To effectively convey your volunteer experiences, use action verbs and descriptive language that highlights your accomplishments and transferable skills. Examples:

These words can show potential employers that you were actively engaged in your volunteer work and achieved meaningful results.

• 30 Examples: How to List Leadership Skills on Your Resume
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• List of 21 Important Technical Skills (with Examples)

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How to Include Volunteer Work on a Resume: A Guide

The main purpose of writing a resume is to inform an employer of the skills and experience you have that qualifies you for a specific job. When you’re writing a resume , you may wonder whether or not you can mention volunteer work that you have completed.

Not only can you list volunteer work on your resume, but doing so is often a great way to demonstrate your skills and help hiring managers understand your interests (including those that are not directly related to your job).

Find your bootcamp match

In this guide, we discuss how to include volunteer work on your resume and walk through a few examples of volunteer work listings on a resume.

Why Include Volunteer Work on a Resume

Listing volunteer work on your resume can have a number of advantages.

By listing volunteer work on your resume, you can better showcase the skills you have acquired. For instance, if you run a local chapter of a volunteer running group, you may have acquired skills in event planning and fundraising that could be useful on the job.

Volunteer work is also valuable to list on your resume if you have limited professional experience. If you have just graduated from high school or college, for instance, you may not have much—or any—experience in the workforce.

Mentioning any experience you have volunteering is a good way to show that you have experience working in a non-educational environment, which can go a long way to convincing an employer that you are the right candidate for a job.

How to Include Volunteer Work on a Resume

Three areas where you can include volunteer work on a resume are:

• In the professional history section

In a Volunteer Experience Section

• In its own section

In the Professional History Section

If you are a student who has very little professional experience—or are just starting in the workforce—then you should consider adding volunteer work to the professional experience section of your resume.

Once you have listed any work experience you have, you can also mention the volunteering opportunities which you have pursued in your career. For instance, if you have volunteered at a local charity to help them fundraise, or helped with a house-building volunteer project, you could mention it in your professional history section.

Here’s an example of volunteer work listed in the professional history section of a resume:

Habitat for Humanity

Volunteer Builder, July 2019-August 2019

• Helped coordinate the start of a Habitat for Humanity project
• Contributed to building four rooms in a house for the project
• Worked with a team of 70 volunteers

As you can see, this description is accompanied by a list of three bullet points outlining what the candidate learned from the position. If you are mentioning volunteer work in your professional experience, you should feel free to explore what impact you had in the volunteer position in more depth than you otherwise would. 

Alternatively, you can list your volunteer experience in its own section.

This is a common approach for people who already have extensive professional experience but want to showcase a few of the volunteering opportunities they have pursued.

In Its Own Section

In addition, if you have experience that is unrelated to the position for which you are applying, adding it into its own section is a good idea.

This is because, unless you have no other experience to mention, you don’t want to make unrelated experience appear too prominently on your resume. Such information may distract the reader from the key points you are trying to make.

Here is an example of a listing in a volunteer experience section:

Volunteer Experience

Charitable Fundraising Drive Volunteer | Local Radio Station | January 2016-May 2016

Including Volunteer Work on Your Resume: Top Tips

Now that we’ve discussed where you can include volunteer work on your resume, let’s explore a few top tips you can use to make the most out of listing volunteer work on your resume.

Tip #1: Only list volunteer work when it is relevant.

Volunteer work is a good way to showcase the wide range of skills you have. However, you should only list volunteer work when you feel doing so will add value to your resume.

If you have extensive professional experience in a field, or if the volunteer work you have done is completely unrelated to the job for which you are applying, you may want to consider leaving it out.

This will give you more room to discuss your skills, educational history, and past work experiences that are more directly related to the position, thereby making it easier for you to position yourself as a good candidate for a job.

#2: Update your resume for each position.

While this may sound unnecessary, one way to ensure your resume will stand out is to personalize it for each position you apply for. 

You should make sure that every resume you write for a job reflects the needs of the employers and how you meet those needs. So, if you have volunteer experience that relates to one position but not another, you may want to submit two different resumes to ensure each of them reflects your core skills and experiences relevant to the job.

"Career Karma entered my life when I needed it most and quickly helped me match with a bootcamp. Two months after graduating, I found my dream job that aligned with my values and goals in life!"

Venus, Software Engineer at Rockbot

#3: Keep your volunteer experience short if you have other experience.

If you are using volunteer work to stand in for professional history—which is common if you are a student or a recent grad—then you may want to use a longer description. However, if you already have work experience that you can list on your resume, there is no need to delve too deep into each volunteer position you have held.

Here is an example of a volunteer experience listing on a resume:

Fundraising Volunteer | Local Non-Profit | Oakland, CA | April, 2019

Facilitated the tracking of $5,000 in donations sources from our email campaign and grassroots fundraising efforts.

Resume Volunteer Work: An Example

What does volunteer work look like when listed on a resume? Here is an resume sample to help you understand how volunteer experience should appear on a resume in more depth:

Hilda Brown

Oakland, California

[email protected]

A dedicated administrative assistant with two years experience coordinating the schedules of executives.

Key assisting skills include: Communication, customer service, phone etiquette, discretion, organization, experience with Google Calendar, Airtable, Excel, and email, knowledge of administrative practices within large organizations.

Professional Experience

Executive Assistant

Smith Paper Company

April 2018 – Present

• Worked to coordinate the schedule of Office Manager
• Answered the phone and took memos for Office Manager
• Managed all ingoing and outgoing correspondence for the Office Manager

Volunteer Administrator

Oakland Animal Shelter

• Provided scheduling support for the head of the Oakland Animal Shelter
• Screened and routed phone calls to the appropriate parties
• Made travel arrangements for the head of the shelter
• Filed and generated reports and presentations on behalf of manager

University of Notre Dame

August 2014 – August 2018

Bachelor’s of Communication, 3.8 GPA

Listing volunteer work on your resume is a good way to showcase the additional skills you have acquired outside of the professional workforce.

For people without any professional experience — such as students or recent graduates — volunteer experience is a good way to showcase that you have some working experience outside of school, even if it was not as part of a business or government organization.

By following the tips in this guide, you will be able to include volunteer experience effectively on your resume. The volunteer experience you list may be what encourages a recruiter to reach out to you to schedule an interview !

About us: Career Karma is a platform designed to help job seekers find, research, and connect with job training programs to advance their careers. Learn about the CK publication .

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How to Write a Volunteer Resume [+Example for 2024]

You’ve found something you believe in.

You want to help as much as you can.

But first, you need a resume that highlights your best attributes. 

Well, allow us to help you with this resume guide for all volunteers!

• A job-winning volunteer resume example
• How to create a volunteer resume that hiring managers love
• Volunteer-specific tips and tricks to make your resume stand out

Now, before we move on, here’s a volunteer resume example, created with our very own resume builder :

Follow the steps in this guide to create a job-winning resume of your own! 

How to Format a Volunteer Resume

Here’s a fact for you:

Your resume isn’t the only one on the recruiter’s desk.

In fact, they have a TON to get through, which is why recruiters tend to skim-read as they go through the pile of resumes.

This means you need to make your information clear and concise. 

You can do this by using the best resume format for volunteer resumes. 

The most common resume format is “ reverse-chronological ”, so we’d recommend this format for your resume…

There are two other popular formats that you could try:

• Functional Resume – Choose this format if you have many skills, but don’t have any real experience. Essentially, this format is ideal for volunteers who are seeking a role they have never held
• Combination Resume – As the name suggests, a combination resume is a combination of “Functional” and “Reverse-Chronological”. As such, this format is perfect for volunteers who have both skills and experience

Once you’ve decided on the format, you need to get your resume layout right.

For a professional resume layout, here’s what we recommend:

Margins - the margins are set automatically according to recruiters in the editor.

Font - Pick a font that stands out, but not too much. 

• Do: Ubuntu, Roboto, etc.
• Don’t: Comic Sans

Resume Length - Don’t go over the 1-page limit. If you’re having trouble fitting everything into one page? You may want to view these one-page resume templates .

Use a Volunteer Resume Template

You have a number of options when it comes to resume writing tools.

Now, Word may be your first choice, but we invite you to reconsider.

You see, building your own resume in a text-editing tool can result in massive formatting issues. 

The alternative is to use a volunteering resume template by choosing from one of the templates here .

This will ensure your resume looks professional at all times. 

What to Include in a Volunteer Resume

The main sections in a volunteer resume are:

• Contact Information
• Resume Summary or Objective
• Work Experience/ Volunteer Experience

For a resume that stands out, even more, try adding these optional sections:

• Awards & Certification
• Personal Projects

Interests & Hobbies

It’s now time to go through each of those sections, and explain how to write them...

Not sure which sections to use for your resume? Check out our guide to What to Put on a Resume .

How to Correctly Write Your Contact Information

The tips in this guide will help with creating the best volunteer resume possible.

But those tips are worthless if mistakes are made in this section.

For your contact section, follow these rules:

• Title - Make this specific to the role you’re applying for
• Phone Number - Quadruple check this!
• Email Address - Make sure to use a professional email address ([email protected])
• Portfolio Link or personal website
• (Optional) Relevant Social Media - e.g.: LinkedIn, Twitter, Quora, etc.
• (Optional) Location - Applying for a job abroad? Mention your location.

Stephen Johnson, Volunteer. 101-358-6095. [email protected]

Stephen Johnson, Volunteering Viking. 101-358-6095. [email protected]

How to Write a Volunteer Resume Summary or Objective

The volunteer industry is just as competitive as any other employment opportunity.

In fact, most volunteering jobs have hundreds of applicants applying to become a volunteer for the greater good. 

As such, just telling the recruiter how passionate you are won’t cut it. 

So how do you catch the recruiter’s attention and stand out?

You need to show your value straight away!

You can do this with a resume summary or objective , which are attention-grabbing paragraphs that sit at the top of your resume. 

Although the two are very similar, there are a couple of differences… 

A resume summary is a 2-4 sentence summary of your professional experiences and achievements.

Experienced and passionate volunteer with 5+ years of experience in helping various foundations with their aspirations. Notable highlights include managing an event with 2,000 attendees, scoring 99.5% positive feedback rates, and raising $67,302 revenue when leading a bake sale.]

A resume objective is a 2-4 sentence snapshot of your professional goals and aspirations.

A hard-working volunteer seeks a chance to make a difference with The National Trust. Experience includes working as a temp events volunteer during the summer term. Able to handle a variety of tasks, including greeting the public, preparing activities, and operating POS systems.

So, which option should a volunteer in your situation pick? 

All volunteers have their own specific background, but generally, resume summaries are the best option for those who have a relevant job history, whereas an objective summary is the best option for those with little to no work experience. 

How to Make Your Work Experience Stand Out

Regardless of the type of charity you apply for, they all have one thing in common…

They want to see your work experience .  

Sure, your core skills are important too, but experience always wins. Start with your most recent experience, and then work backwards. Here’s a winning work experience structure…

• Position name
• Company Name
• Dates Employed
• Responsibilities & Achievements

Event Volunteer

National Trust

01/2019 – 03/2020

• Prepared for a 2,000 person event in 8 hours – this involved setting up trails, preparing craft activities, and ensuring complete information and signage
• Provided a warm and friendly welcome at all events, which resulted in a 99.5% positive feedback score
• In charge of running the cake sale, which resulted in $8.302 revenue for the foundation

As shown above, you want to show some impressive achievements, not minor tasks.

So, instead of saying:

“greeted visitors”

“Provided a warm and friendly welcome at all events, which resulted in a 99.5% positive feedback score”

So, what’s the difference between the two?

The second statement goes into more depth about how your presence had a positive impact on the event and the foundation. This clearly shows that you’re someone who should be hired immediately. 

What if You Don’t Have Experience?

Maybe you’re a recent university graduate with no job experience?

Or maybe you have worked many jobs, but never volunteered for a charity?

Don’t worry, we have the solution.

All you need are a few core skills and a desire to learn.

And this can be shown with school projects or experiences from related jobs. 

For example, if you’ve ever worked as a customer service representative, you can talk about any crossover skills and experiences. Just like a volunteer in a public-facing role, you were friendly and dealt with various concerns. 

If you’re a recent graduate , you might want to check out our guide on how to make a student resume !

Use Action Words to Make Your Volunteer Resume POP!

Flick through a bunch of volunteering resumes, and you’ll notice one thing.

They all include these same words. 

And since you want your resume to stand out, we recommend using power words instead.

Here is a list of power words to make your achievements stand out :

• Conceptualized
• Spearheaded

How to List Your Education Correctly

Welcome to the education section!

If your experience section isn’t the best, your education is where you need to shine.

Simply list out your education entries, like this:

• Degree Type & Major
• University Name
• Years Studied
• GPA, Honours, Courses, and anything else you might want to add

B.A. Nursing Management  

University of Chicago

Courses: Anatomy and Physiology, Nursing Care, Mental Health, Sociological and Psychological Aspects of Healthcare, Approaches to Research

Before we conclude this section, here are some of the most frequent questions we get from volunteers (and their answers!):

What if I haven’t finished education?

• Whether you’re still a student, or finished school years ago, you should mention the years/courses studied so far in your life

Should I include my high school education?

• Only include your high school education if you haven’t gone on to further education

What is more important, education or experience?

• Experiences always come before education

Need more answers? Check out our guide on how to list education on a resume .

Top 10 Skills for a Volunteer Resume

When the recruiter is reviewing your resume, they want to see that you’re skilled enough to complete the work they require.  

You see, the resume reviewer will have been given a brief regarding the desired job skills. 

As such, the skills section should reflect the needs of the job.

Need some inspiration?

It’ll depend on the specific volunteering job that you’re applying for, but here are some of the most common and desirable skills:

Hard Skills for Volunteers:

• Point-of-Sale Systems
• Microsoft Office
• CPR Certified 
• Phone Desk Operation

Soft Skills for Volunteers:

• Communication
• Leadership 
• Strategic thinking

Looking for a more comprehensive list? Here’s a mega-list of 100+ must-have skills .

Other Resume Sections You Can Include on a Volunteering Resume

Now, there’s a good chance that the other candidates will have similar volunteering experiences to you.

But if this is the case, won’t your resume look the same as all the others?

Well yes. That’s why we recommend adding a few of the following sections to make your resume stand out. 

Awards & Certifications

Your volunteering work will impress the recruiter.

But don’t leave things there.

Have you completed any courses to improve your skills?

Have you ever been awarded for your duties?

Be sure to mention everything that you’re proud of. Well, only if it is relevant to the volunteering position. 

• Sales Training: Building Your Sales Career – Coursera Certificate
• Best Business Pitch Award – University of Texas
•  Learning How to Learn – Coursera Certificate
• CPR Certification

Your resume shows the assets you can offer to the foundation.

Even though being bilingual may not be an essential skill, it is another asset that your future employer can call upon.  

If this relates to you, and you have space in your resume, definitely include a languages section.

Make sure to split the languages by proficiency:

• Intermediate

The recruiter should now be interested in hiring you.

But before they do, they will want to know more about your personal side. 

As such, it can be a good idea to talk about your hobbies and interests.  

If you’re not sure which hobbies & interests to mention, you can read our guide! 

Include a Cover Letter with Your Resume

You’re a volunteer because you want to make a difference.

Resumes are great for showing your skills and experiences, but you want the foundation to know WHY you want to volunteer for them. 

Cover letters show that you want to work with THIS specific charity.

As such, a cover letter can significantly boost your chances of obtaining the position.

Here’s how to get the structure right:

And here’s what to write in each section:

Contact Details

Your personal contact information, including full name, profession, email, phone number, and location.

Hiring Manager’s Contact Information

Full name, position, location, email

Opening Paragraph

Your introduction should be strong enough to hook the hiring manager, so mention:

• The volunteering position you’re applying for
• Your experience summary and top achievements as a volunteer (or most relevant)

Once you’ve got the hiring manager hooked, you can go through the rest of your background. Some of the points you can mention here are:

• Why you want to volunteer for this specific foundation
• Anything you know about the culture
• What are your top skills and how are they relevant for the job
• If you’ve ever volunteer before

Closing Paragraph

This is where you:

• Wrap up any points you missed in the body paragraph
• Thank the hiring manager for their time
• End with a call to action. Something like, “I’d love to further discuss how my experience as an X can help the company with Y”

Formal Salutations

Use a formal closing, such as “Best regards” or “Sincerely.”

View our how-to write a cover letter guide for extra guidance.

Related Resume Examples

• No Experience Resume
• Social Worker Resume
• Internship Resume
• Office Assistant Resume
• Career Change Resume

Key Takeaways

Followed the steps in this guide? Then you’re in the best position to get that role you’re applying for.

Before we finish up, let’s quickly go through everything we’ve learned:

• Select the right formatting for your resume. Try the reverse-chronological format, and then follow the best practices in regards to the layout. Remember, keep your resume needs to look professional
• Use a resume summary or objective to immediately catch the recruiter’s attention
• For the work experience section, talk more about your achievements, instead of your daily responsibilities
• Write a compelling and convincing cover letter

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This Is Exactly How to List Volunteer Work on Your Resume

When it comes to writing or updating your resume, you know you should include your relevant work history, education , and technical skills .

But what about your volunteer experience? Will hiring managers even care about the time you spent building homes in Central America or organizing that charity walk?

I’ll make this one easy for you: yes!

You should absolutely include volunteer experience on your resume. It’ll help you stand out, make you seem like a real-life, three-dimensional person, and give the hiring manager a better idea of what makes you tick. Plus, as more and more companies begin to embrace social responsibility, job seekers with demonstrated interest and experience in community involvement are even more valuable.

Here’s the right way to add volunteer experience on your resume, in three easy steps.

1. Choose the Right Format

You’ll usually want to feature your most relevant professional experience at the top of your resume, which means your volunteer experience should go toward the bottom (after your professional experience, but before your education and skills section). Don’t worry too much about your volunteer work getting missed—most recruiters scan resumes, looking at section headers, job titles, employers, and tenure first, so they’ll likely notice a clearly-labeled volunteer experience section.

If it’s directly relevant to the job you’re applying for or you have limited professional experience, you can include your volunteer work with your paid positions. Just be sure that you’re labeling it clearly by including “volunteer” in the job title (for example, “Volunteer Social Media Manager”) or in the job description (for example, “Managed social media for an emerging nonprofit as an experienced volunteer”).

2. Keep it Concise (But Make it Count!)

Space will likely be limited in this section of your resume, so be selective with your content. Think about what’ll be the most impactful and relevant to the role or company you’re targeting. If you don’t have a lot of room to spare, you can summarize your work for each organization you’ve volunteered for in a single sentence:

Fundraising Volunteer | Non-Profit Organization | San Francisco, CA | March 2017

Sourced $2K in donations in a single month through a cold calling, door knocking, and email campaign.

Volunteer Pet Pal | Animal Shelter | New York, NY | November 2016-July 2017

Cared for 100+ shelter animals awaiting adoption, including dogs, cats, birds, rabbits, and a lizard.

If you have a little more room to work with, you can break your experience down into two to three bullet points , similar to the way you’d highlight a paid position.

3. Note the Exceptions

One minor, but important caveat: Volunteering for certain organizations may give away more personal information than you’re ready to share with a prospective employer.

For example, if you’re the vice president of the PTA, a recruiter will likely assume that you have children, while volunteering for a religious or political organization may reveal your spiritual or partisan beliefs. This could make you more vulnerable to unfair bias.

I know, it totally sucks. But, it is a reality (albeit a largely illegal one). So, you may want to consider leaving potentially-revealing volunteer work out.

Most recruiters only spend a few seconds scanning a resume before deciding whether to read on in more detail. Including an impactful volunteer experience section will help you to grab (and hold) a prospective employer’s attention.

Plus, chances are you really care about the organizations you’ve given your time to. So why not give them a little love?

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• Resume and Cover Letter
• Ask Amanda: How Do I Add...

Ask Amanda: How Do I Add Volunteer Experience to My Resume? (Examples)

5 min read · Updated on October 12, 2022

Each week, TopResume's career advice expert, Amanda Augustine, answers user questions like the one below from Quora and the Ask Amanda form. A certified professional career coach (CPCC) and resume writer (CPRW), Amanda has been helping professionals improve their careers for over 10 years. Have a question for Amanda? Submit it here .

Q: What's the right way to add volunteer experience to my resume?

Someone told me it's OK to add volunteer experience to my resume, especially since I've been unemployed. What's the right way to do that? — Gary H.

Volunteer experience is a great way to pad your resume when you find yourself in any of the following situations:

You recently graduated and don't have a lot of professional experience to share.

You're currently unemployed and looking to fill the employment gap on your resume while you job hunt.

You want to change careers and are looking for ways to demonstrate a skill set you weren't able to use during your regular 9-to-5 job.

What type of volunteer experience should you include on your resume?

The best volunteer experience you can add to your resume is skill-based volunteer (SBV) experience. These volunteer opportunities are considered very valuable for your resume because they allow you to donate your time — and more importantly, the professional skills employers care about — to a worthy cause. Take a look at VolunteerMatch , Idealist , Catchafire , and Points of Light's HandsOn Network to find the right volunteer opportunity for you.

However, you might not have to seek out a new charity in order to find a skill-based volunteer opportunity to boost your resume. If you're already involved in a networking group or other professional association, consider taking a more active role within your chapter. This could be anything from volunteering to manage the group's social media presence to becoming treasurer of the group, to heading up a new committee.

Where should you place volunteer experience on your resume?

There are a few different places where you can include volunteer experience on your resume – the placement will really depend on what the rest of your professional experience looks like and your current job goals.

Nine times out of 10, the best place to include your volunteer experience on your resume is within the “Professional Experience” section. This is especially helpful if you're trying to fill an employment gap on your resume or you're currently employed and trying to draw attention away from this fact.

Sample resume: How to add volunteer experience to mid- or senior-level resume

If you're about to graduate from college and you possess internship experience that is relevant to your job goals and employers will find attractive, you may be better off creating a section for “Relevant Work Experience” and then adding another section called “Volunteer and Leadership Experience” for your volunteer and other club activities.

Sample resume: How to add volunteer experience to an entry-level resume

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. 

How do you list volunteer experience on a resume?

Write out your volunteer experience as you would any other position on your resume by including a blurb that describes your role within the organization and then calling attention to your main contributions and relevant achievements in a bulleted list.

If necessary, you can get a little creative when it comes to selecting a “Job Title” for your volunteer experience. Select something that reflects your responsibilities, while incorporating terms that prospective employers will be sure to understand. This is especially useful if your organization doesn't have an official title for the work you've taken on for the group. In the spirit of transparency, I recommend adding the term “Volunteer” at the end of whatever job title you decide to use. 

Can you add activism and protests to your resume? 

Your activism can take many forms, from volunteering at certain organizations and leading protests to aiding a particular politician's campaign, or fundraising for your place of worship. Whether you put it on your resume or not depends on what you're looking for.   

When you should add it to your resume

If your activism is an integral part of your identity and you can't imagine working for a company that doesn't share those values, then you should include your experiences on your resume. Whether it's championing racial justice issues, LGBTQ+ rights, or something else, including them on your resume will be a good test to see if the company is the right fit. 

Adding your activism experience is also a good idea if it shows off any relevant skills, like organizing, leading, community building, or fundraising. 

When you shouldn't 

If you don't want a recruiter or hiring manager using your activism experience against you in the job search, then it will be best to leave it off your resume. Also, if you are looking for a job to help you pay your bills, then you don't want a prospective employer deeming you unfit for the job because they don't agree with your beliefs. 

Instead let your resume focus on your skills and achievements that will impress. 

Need help positioning your volunteer experience on your resume? Let a TopResume pro help !

This article was updated in September 2020 by Danielle Elmers .

Recommended Reading:

How to Handle Gaps in Your Employment History

How to Bounce Back After Getting Laid Off

How to Successfully Change Careers

Related Articles:

Do Hiring Managers Actually Read Cover Letters?

How to Create a Resume With No Education

From Bland to Beautiful: How We Made This Professional's Resume Shine

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How to Include Volunteer Work on Your Resume

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Should you include volunteer work on your resume?

How to include volunteer work on a resume, template for including volunteer work on a resume, volunteer work on resume example.

Mentioning your volunteer work experience on your resume can increase your chances of getting hired. It can also create a positive impression of your personality and bring added-value to your skills and qualifications. This article explains why it can be beneficial to list volunteer work on your resume and how you can include it with the help of a template and an example.

Volunteering can be time well-spent as a method for developing your skills while benefiting the community. The main objective of volunteer work is to unify with others towards the common good for an important cause or some other form of beneficial activity. Some people engage in volunteer work to establish connections in their community while others simply enjoy offering their time and talents in service to a particular cause or organization. Mentioning volunteer work on your resume can leave a positive impression about your skills and personality on an employer.

The following steps can be followed to specify volunteer work on resume effectively:

1. Firstly, select the right section to display the volunteer work

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.

2. Secondly, make a selective list of your volunteer work

You shouldn’t mention an excessive number of volunteer work roles on your resume. The employer likely has minimal time to review your resume. You should include volunteer work that best projects your personality and interests. You can select up to two to three of your best volunteer experiences to list on your resume. You can then create a positive impression about the volunteer work mentioned on your resume, and you can discuss them further if you are asked about them in an interview. 

3. Thirdly, select related volunteer work

Select the volunteer work that is related to your application. Similar volunteer work can improve your resume’s impression on the recruiter. It also shows your experience in activities that are related to the job. An essential addition to your resume can be any volunteer work you have done in the institution itself. If you have a previous volunteer work experience at the same organization you’re applying to, you may include the experience to create a positive impression on the recruiter. 

For example, if you are applying for a hospital-based job, it is recommended that you include any hospital-related volunteer work. Or, if you are applying for an event management job, you can mention a the details of organizing a fundraiser to add to your skills and qualifications.

4. Fourthly, follow a particular format

You may choose any format that suits your requirements. It is, however, recommended that you select a format that is generally used to mention volunteer work on resumes. An example of the format may include specifying the volunteer work category at the top. You can then add one line, with the name of the work/experience and the address where the activity occurred. 

This information can be followed by one or two points elaborating your part in the activity, the results and the benefit of the experience. You may tailor a format that suits your purpose yourself. You may also add or reduce sections or points to the format mentioned above as per your requirements.

5. Next, mention one or two unrelated roles in volunteer work

Mentioning unrelated volunteer work on the resume can help the recruiter in seeing the diverse range of activities that you have contributed to. Unrelated volunteer work may include any activity that is not directly related to the vacancy. It may also include volunteer work done in a different industry or formal environment.

6. Then, diversify the categories that you mention

Volunteer work can belong to five categories: formal, governance, non-formal, social action and project-based. It is essential that on a general resume, you portray a combination of these volunteer works you have done. If, however, your resume targets a specific job, it is better to mention volunteer work that relates to the job category only. If you are applying for the job of a project manager, you may include details of any volunteer work where you have managed or assisted with a project.

7. Finally, only include work you have done

You should only mention the volunteer work that you have actually performed. Mentioning volunteer work experience that is not real can create a negative impression on the employer if they find out. It may become one of the reasons for your application to get rejected.

Use the following template as guidance for including volunteer work on a resume:

[Title of first related (formal) volunteer work]

[Name of event/position title]

• [A one-line summary of your role in the activity]
• [A one-line description of the results of the volunteer activity]
• [Brief description of your experience]

[Title of second related (formal) volunteer work]

• [Brief description of your experience or a particular thing that you learned from your experience]

[Title of first unrelated (any category) volunteer work]

[Title of second unrelated (any category) volunteer work (if any)]

Here is an example of what volunteer work could look like on your resume:

Related Volunteer Work

Rosemount Volunteer Fundraising, 24 Community Complex

• Worked as a senior assistant in fundraiser management, directly under the main event manager 
• Collected $150,000 from 2,000 tickets, sold for the concert exceeding the target by $25,000
• Learned promotional methods and gained top-level event management experience

Hospital volunteering

Member of the Hospital Management Committee, Great Grand Hospital

• Worked in the hospital management department in coordinating weekly management activities 
• Managed the daily routine works of both the administration and domestic staff 
• Learned time-based and everyday management processes and methodologies

Neighborhood cleaning

Cleaning crew, 24th Grand Street

• Engaged with a group of friends in cleaning the excessive waste in the landfill site near our home street
• Gained group working experience

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How to Include Volunteer Experience on a Resume [+Examples]

Including volunteering in your resume is always a great idea. But once you've decided to do it, you unavoidably arrive at the question: how to include volunteer experience on your resume exactly?

If you do it well, it can completely elevate your resume above others. If not, it can make your resume more difficult to navigate. 

Above all else, the volunteering section of your resume is one of the few places where you can demonstrate your character . 

It shows what you care about and what you find important. It can make you look proactive, invested in your community, and even selfless. 

In other words, the volunteering section of your resume can make you irresistible to employers. So how do you make it stand out?

This guide will help you with it.

 It will also answer these pressing questions:

What is the resume volunteer experience section?

• Why should you list your volunteer experience on your resume?
• Where should you put your volunteer experience section on a resume?
• How to write one if you’re a student or a fresh graduate?
• How to write one as an experienced professional?

How to include volunteer work experience on a resume (video guide)

The volunteer experience section is the place on your resume where you mention any kind of work you do voluntarily and for free.

Not only does your volunteering work benefit your community, it also has the potential to benefit your career . It’s an excellent way to showcase those skills, strengths and motivations that would otherwise not find their way onto your resume.

For instance, are you caring and enthusiastic? These are excellent personal strengths that you might find difficult to place on a resume.

Well, now you don’t have to just write about them in your cover letter, your volunteering experience will speak for itself.

However, in order to truly nail it, you also need to know  why,  how  and  where  to write about your volunteering. And that very much depends on where you are in your career.

Why should you list volunteer experience on your resume?

So why should you include volunteering experience on your resume? Isn't having a good degree and extensive work experience enough?

There are two main reasons why you should consider volunteering and placing it on your resume. 

It will impress recruiters

For some, volunteering is  as valuable as paid work . About 41% of hiring managers consider volunteer work as valuable as paid work when evaluating candidates (according to a  LinkedIn survey ). 

Moreover, about 20% of hiring managers in the U.S. hired a candidate based on their volunteer experience.

It speaks volumes about your character

In addition to skills particular to every position, volunteer experience always shows an employer that you’re willing to get involved in your community, take initiative, and make things happen. 

In other words, volunteering shows qualities that are highly sought after in every industry.

What other personal qualities do recruiters associate with volunteering?  

• Being a people person 
• Leadership skills
• A service mindset
• Ability to work within a team 
• Being passionate about a cause
• Inner drive and motivation 
• Dependability

Where should you put your volunteer experience on a resume?

As we've already mentioned, that heavily depends on where you're in your career. When it comes to the order of the resume sections, the rule of thumb is quite simple —  the most relevant things come first. 

So if you have plenty of work experience, volunteering can be placed toward the end of your resume. However, if most of your experience so far comes from volunteering, then feel free to list it at the beginning of your CV. 

• Are you a student or a fresh graduate?  In this case, you probably lack years of work experience. This means that you should treat your volunteer experience as regular work experience. Feel free to even include your volunteer work in your work experience section.
• Are you an experienced professional?  Then you should create a separate section dedicated exclusively to your volunteer work. But if you had a volunteer job that’s highly relevant to the job you’re applying for, consider mentioning it in your work experience section.

So, how to list it on your resume in both scenarios?

How to list volunteer experience if you’re a student or a fresh graduate?

Most recruiters see volunteer experience similarly to paid  work experience  anyway. Just because you didn’t get paid, it doesn’t mean you didn’t do a good job.

And since you don’t have extensive paid work experience to lean on, treat your volunteering just like a job that you got paid for doing. 

List your volunteering role/s as you would full-time paid jobs:

• Place it in the section towards the beginning of your resume , right beneath your  education section . 
• If you have more volunteering experiences,  list them in reverse-chronological order  (place the newest experience at the top). 
• Include details about each volunteering gig : place, organization, dates, relevant tasks you undertook, and skills you’ve learned. 

Pro tip:  Be specific rather than vague. Don’t only list your responsibilities, but also mention your accomplishments. Instead of writing  “Volunteered for a university magazine” , say  “Wrote 28 articles for a university magazine” . See the difference?

Below is a great example.

Student resume volunteering sample

Look at how the following student resume sample incorporates volunteering. Pay attention to how Gia, even though she was still a student, managed to fill her whole resume with valuable experiences. 

She correctly included internships in the work experience section. And as she had plenty of them, she wisely placed volunteering in a separate section for it to stand out.

The rest was easy — all she had to do is fill in the dates, location, name of the organization she volunteered for, and responsibilities she’s had. 

How to list volunteer experience if you’re a seasoned professional?

Volunteering is a great addition to your resume even if you’re a seasoned professional.

• This is true  especially if the volunteering experience is related to the job you’re applying for , it lasted for a while, or majorly shaped your personality or professional path in a major way. In this case, you may want to highlight the volunteering section or place it closer to the top of the resume. Alternatively, you can place the most prominent volunteering experience in the work section.
• On the other hand,  even if the volunteering experience wasn’t as extensive or didn’t relate to your career , it’s not a problem. In this case, you may want to consider placing it near the end of your resume. 

Either way, when describing volunteering, try to be specific and list your  key achievements  in the same way you do with your work experience. 

For instance, if you volunteer as a Blood Bank Officer, instead of writing  “Administration and control of the blood bank” , write  “Administered 7 blood drives with 350+ donors for the Red Cross and Armed Services Blood Programs.”

Alternatively, you can just briefly mention where you volunteer and what you do.

Take a look at the resume sample below to see how! 

Seasoned professional volunteering resume sample

Volunteer work: one more piece of resume advice

• Relate it to your skills.  If you gained or improved some skills through your volunteer work, include these in the description. Pay special attention to those skills that match the job description.
• Use action verbs.  Make your volunteer section even more powerful and appealing. This helps the hiring manager understand your skillset and see you as a dedicated member of the team.
• Stay positive.  Focus on how you’re helping the community rather than the negative aspects that you’d like to change.
• Use quantifiable achievements , if possible. It always makes you look more accomplished. 
• Use volunteering to fill in the gaps.  If you found yourself jobless for a while, volunteering during this period can easily cover the unwanted resume gap. 
• Be careful when writing about religious or political volunteering , you may be unfairly rejected if the recruiter isn't fond of your values.
• Put it in context. Explain the issues or challenges the community or organization you volunteered with was facing, and how your role contributed to addressing these. This gives potential employers a clearer picture of your problem-solving skills and adaptability.
• Don't underestimate soft skills. Volunteering often helps individuals develop interpersonal, communication or leadership skills. Highlight these soft skills as they are valued by employers and can set you apart.
• Personalize your experiences. Instead of simply listing your volunteer activities, share a brief story or specific instance where you made a significant impact. This humanizes your experiences and can make your resume more memorable.

Find out your resume score!

Do you have a LinkedIn profile filled with all the important details, including your academic background, skills, experience, and qualifications? You can easily  turn it into a polished resume with just one click.

What to avoid when writing about your volunteering experience on your resume?

Don’t include information that's too outdated. If you’re in your 30s and write about volunteering that you did during your high school years, the recruiter will know that you have no new experiences to lean on. In other words, keep your resume relevant and up to date. 

What are the most common forms of volunteering found on resumes?

Fundraising, followed by teaching and serving food.

Should I talk about church volunteering on my resume?

This topic requires some delicacy. In general, it's advised not to disclose information about your race, religion, or orientation on your resume in order to avoid being discriminated against.

This means it's better to think twice before openly disclosing your church activities. On the other hand, there's a chance that you're applying for a position that's affiliated with the church, or a position that requires volunteering experience. In that case, be the judge of the situation and include everything that you think could give you an advantage over other candidates.

Should I include one-time volunteering activities on my resume or only long-term commitments?

It largely depends on the nature of the activity. If it was a meaningful, one-time event where you gained or demonstrated significant skills or made a notable impact, it might be worth including. However, a long-term commitment generally demonstrates dedication and sustained interest, which can impress employers.

If I have extensive volunteering experience, should I create a separate section for it on my resume or include it in my work experience section?

If you have considerable volunteering experience, it's recommended to create a separate 'Volunteer Experience' section. This allows you to showcase your social responsibility, leadership, and other skills obtained from volunteering. If the volunteering experience is limited, it's acceptable to include it under 'work experience' or 'additional experience'.

Kaja Jurčišinová

Kaja Jurcisinova is a fresh graduate and a junior copywriter at Kickresume. Kaja completed her undergraduate degree in Art History at the University of St Andrews in 2018 and graduated with a Master’s in Arts and Culture from the University of Groningen in 2021. She was an intern at multiple cultural institutions across Europe, including the Dutch Museum Association in Amsterdam, the Matter of Art Biennale in Prague, and the European Cultural Centre in Venice. At the moment, she resides in Visby on the Swedish island of Gotland.

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How to List Volunteer Work on Your Resume

Volunteer work can be a great addition to a resume. Here’s how to showcase your volunteering experience to give you the edge in your job search.

3 years ago   •   9 min read

Common job-seeking wisdom holds that volunteering can be a great way to gain experience in your chosen field. And it is — as long as you know how (and when) to show it on your resume.

Everything on your resume should be about showing why you’re a good fit for a job. If volunteer work strengthens your candidacy, then by all means, you should include it. If it doesn’t, it’s okay to leave it off, even if it feels relevant.

Should you include volunteer work on a resume?

The short answer is yes — volunteer work can absolutely belong on your resume. Volunteer experience shows that you have a genuine interest in a particular field or issue. It also shows initiative and the willingness to go above and beyond what’s required, which employers love. If the volunteer work is in the same industry as the one you’re applying to, even better!

If you’re a student, recent graduate, or career changer, you may not have a lot of relevant paid experience. Volunteer work gives you the opportunity to highlight your skills, whether these are common transferrable skills or a specific skill set that your paid experience doesn’t show.

Think outside the box when it comes to volunteer work. This could include working with startups and non-profits, or even unpaid internships. If it demonstrates relevant skills or experience, it belongs on your resume.

How to include volunteer experience on a resume

Here are three different ways you can include volunteer work on a resume:

In your work experience section

• Create a section for work experience at the top of your resume.
• Title the section clearly , e.g. 'Work and Volunteering Experience' or 'Professional and Volunteer Experience.'
• List all of your experience — both paid and volunteer — in chronological order, with the most recent experience first.
• List your job title as 'Volunteer', or by using the standard job title and adding (Volunteer) at the end.
• List 3-6 accomplishments in bullet point format.
• Don't worry if your volunteer experience and paid experience overlap — if you've labeled your volunteer work, employers will understand that this was something you did part-time while you were also working.

Here's an example of what that might look like when you're done:

In a separate volunteer experience section

• Create a section titled 'Volunteering Experience.'
• Include this section above your work experience section if your volunteer work is your most recent and relevant experience, or below your work experience section if it's just an additional section you want to highlight.
• List the name of the organization you volunteered for as the employer .
• List your job title as 'Volunteer [Position Name]' or simply 'Volunteer.'
• Include the dates that you volunteered. You can specify if this was part-time, but you don't need to.
• List your experience chronologically, with the most recent role at the top.
• Include 1-2 bullet accomplishments in bullet point format. If you don't have a lot of paid work experience and volunteer work makes up the bulk of your resume, you can increase that to 3-6 bullet points.

Once you're done with the above steps, here's what the volunteering section could look like on your resume:

In an additional information section

• Create a section at the bottom of your resume.
• Title the section 'Other' or 'Additional Information.'
• Create a 'Volunteering' subheading (optional).
• List your volunteer experience briefly on a single line.

An additional information section is short — here's an example of what it could look like if you have followed the above steps:

Want to see what volunteer work on your resume should look like in action? Keep scrolling for a sample resume and text-based examples you can copy and paste.

Sample volunteer resume

Here's an example of a resume of someone who has predominantly completed volunteering roles during her career.

A simple way to indicate that the roles involved volunteering is to use the word, "Volunteer," in the job titles itself.

Volunteer experience examples for your resume

Stuck on what accomplishments to list under your volunteer work? Here are a few examples.

• Founded the first ever 'Business Series' to organize finance training for 500 students.
• Organized and advertised 10+ quarterly networking events with 300+ participants in 3 cities in California.
• Introduced online platform enabling donations from city residents; secured $10,000 additional funding.
• Presented pitch to XYZ; awarded Frist Prize out of 50+ teams.
• Designed, executed, and optimized digital marketing campaign on Google AdWords; led to 20% increase in ROI.
• Created content and copy for social media channels (Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram) and email newsletter; assessed customer response to create targeted messaging and inform future content; social media following grew 125%+ organically.
• Generated 12,000 unique users, 30,000 page views, and 2000+ newsletter signups in 3 weeks by successfully leveraging social media advertising (Facebook and Instagram).
• Organized and conducted monthly meetings with city council executives and other community leaders to raise funds for opening schools and disabled children.
• Generated 50+ donors through cold call sales and systematic email outreach; qualified leads based on industry and location.
• Managed the launch of a new booking system to improve organization of events; system now used across university.

Related : How To Add Volunteer Experience to LinkedIn

When to include volunteer work in your resume

If you don’t have a lot of work experience.

If you’re new to the workforce , your resume may still be under one page even with all of your paid work experience and internships . In that case, including volunteer work is a good way of demonstrating your skills and work ethic . In this case, it’s best to list your volunteer experience alongside your paid work experience, rather than in a separate section, as it’s likely to make up a decent chunk of your work history.

If you don’t have enough relevant paid experience

Volunteer work can be a great way to break into a new field, especially as a career changer . It shows that you’re serious about making the move and can give you relevant experience to talk about in a cover letter or interview. If your volunteer experience is more relevant to the new industry than your professional experience, you’ll want to include it in the main body of your resume, with your most recent experience on top.

If you have gaps in your resume

Rightly or wrongly, a lot of employers see gaps of more than a few months in a resume as a red flag. If you’ve spent part of this time volunteering, it’s a good idea to include that work chronologically on your resume to show how you’ve been spending your time.

If you want to highlight your volunteer experience

If you have extensive volunteering experience with different organizations and you want to showcase that, you might want to create a separate section on your resume for volunteer work.

If you do this, you should structure your volunteer work in the same way you would any paid experience, with clear bullet points focusing on achievements rather than responsibilities . “Raised $5,000 for wildlife rehabilitation” is specific and measurable; “ responsible for fundraising activities” is too vague.

If you want to find out if your volunteer experience is structured the right way on your resume, upload it to the tool below . It’ll also let you know if your bullet points are action oriented and show quantifiable achievements.

What if your volunteering experience isn’t relevant?

Highlight transferrable skills.

There is still an argument for including volunteer experience on your resume if it isn’t strictly relevant but still fits one of the above criteria. Volunteer work can be used to demonstrate transferrable skills, so look for ones that are particularly relevant or desirable. For example:

• Working at an event might require organizational skills , time management , teamwork, and public speaking.
• If you led a team or organized an event, even better. Leadership , project management, and communication skills are always in high demand.
• If your work was more backstage, you may have experience in data analysis, budgeting, or even marketing and social media outreach.

If you have experience in data analysis, budgeting or marketing but aren’t sure how to highlight these skills or which of these skills to highlight, use the tool below to get a list of skills and keywords relevant to the job you’re applying for.

Focus on results

Just like paid work experience, any volunteer experience you include on your resume should be summarized in well-structured bullet points. These bullet points need to be action-oriented, start with strong action verbs , and, if possible, demonstrate concrete results. For example:

• Led fundraising event for [XYZ charity] and raised over [$amount] for [benefit]
• Created social media strategy for [organization] resulting in [X amount of new followers]
• Taught [subject] to [x amount of students] with [% pass rate on final exams]
• Organized a public awareness campaign for [issue] resulting in [X amount of people attending event] and coverage in [X and Y media]

For more samples of bullet points, visit Resume Bullet Points .

When you shouldn’t include volunteer experience

Just because volunteer work can be a great thing to showcase on a resume, that doesn’t mean you always need to include it. Think of your resume like a highlights reel instead of a complete biography — everything on it needs to serve a purpose.

If it isn’t doesn’t add anything to your resume

Rule number one: Everything on your resume needs to be relevant to the job you’re applying for. If your volunteering experience isn’t relevant but you really want to include it anyway, put it in a short ‘other’ section below your work experience.

If you have extensive paid experience

Paid work experience will always have more weight than volunteer work. If you already have plenty of recent work experience that’s relevant to the position you’re applying for, there’s no need to add volunteer experience on top of that. You want the hiring manager to focus on the strongest parts of your resume, which sometimes means leaving off other things that aren’t as impressive.

If the experience is controversial

Vounteering for political or religious organizations might not matter to most employers, but to some, it could make a difference. If you're applying for a paid or volunteer position in the same field — for example, to work on a political campaign or at a related nonprofit — relevant volunteer experience can work in your favor, as it shows you have a genuine dedication to the cause. On the other hand, it might not be such a good idea to emphasize your church volunteer work if you're applying to a secular organization, or your animal rights activism if you want to work at a steakhouse. When deciding whether to list volunteer work that involves religion, politics, or protesting (especially if you've ever been arrested as a result), use your best judgment and err on the side of discretion if it doesn't feel particularly relevant.

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How To Include Volunteer Work on Your Resume

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How To Include Volunteer Work on Your Resume was originally published on Resume.io .

Unpaid volunteering roles can reveal much about a graduate’s character.

While the barriers to entry for volunteering roles are lower, the fact that you are giving up your precious time for a worthy cause is laudable. It can also provide an extra dimension to your experience – on a resume that may not be packed with examples of paid work.

Whether you are an early-career professional, recent graduate, or current student, including volunteer work in your resume could make all the difference in setting you apart from your competition. How have these experiences made a difference to your career trajectory?

Volunteer work should not be an afterthought in your early career story.

Let’s explore why employers of high-potential talent value it so highly:

Why is volunteering work so impactful on a resume?

Because volunteer work is easier to secure, your choice of activity will speak volumes for your work preferences and career ambitions. Working in hospitality roles (etc.) to earn some money is not a choice for many students, so your volunteering activity will allow an employer to understand your true nature. Share your volunteering activities with pride and tell your future employer how they contributed to your development.

Not every student has a fixed idea of what they wish to do with their careers early on, so while initial internships and casual work might not be an ideal fit for their eventual career path, volunteering choices in their final years of education should allow them to show their future employer exactly where they are aiming. Even a few months of volunteering in the time immediately leading up to your job search can shift perceptions.

What sort of volunteer work could you include?

Ideally, the volunteer work should be loosely connected with the industry in which you hope to work and the degree that you studied at university. Potential employers want to understand that they are part of a deliberate career plan, so share your volunteering experiences with the sense that the job in question is your logical next step. Here are a few common areas for volunteer work:

• Sports. Sports coach, umpire, personal trainer, disability sports, team logistics.

There is a lot of variety over and above this list. What have you done in the past that could be seen as useful for your choice of future career? You never quite know the interests of your future boss, so make sure that you share your volunteer experiences with passion.

Here is an example of how fundraising efforts might be shared on your resume:

Volunteer fundraiser – Stop Dementia

• Launched a social media presence and local Facebook group

Where can you list volunteer work?

To be clear, volunteer work does not need to be listed in a separate resume section – simply make it clear that it is not paid employment. So long as it is relevant to the job in question, it has every right to be in the work experience / employment history section. Establish trust at the beginning of the recruitment process by being honest about what was paid and unpaid employment – don’t be tempted to misrepresent the nature of your activity.

If the volunteer work was not directly related to your career, there is the viable option of a separate volunteering section. You might think that a long list of unpaid roles in the voluntary section reflects poorly on your candidature, but it is more important to an employer what you learned and how you developed.

One last thing: don’t be tempted to lie

As volunteer experience might not be paid employment, some people might thing that it is less of a misdemeanor to exaggerate your involvement. In fact, the rules around referencing for paid roles are far more restrictive, so it is easier to get a more extensive reference for a volunteering role. Do not lie about it – in the small world of social media it only takes a quick message for a future boss to verify your claims.

Every worthy graduate or early career professional should be able to list some relevant work experience on their resume.

If you have not got anything to share, have a look for something that you can do on your weekends right now. At least you can then have something current to share.

Including volunteer work on your early-career resume is essential.

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

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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.

Key Takeaways:

Volunteer work can be added to your work experience section, or in its on volunteer experience section.

It’s important to customize your resume to each job you apply to and do your research to add skills that would work well for the job.

For some industries, volunteer work is important, so adding it to your resume can help you stand out from other candidates.

How To List Volunteer Work On a Resume

Examples of volunteer work on a resume, tips for including volunteer work on your resume, volunteer work on a resume faq, final thoughts.

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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.

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.

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.

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

Example 1: Work Experience Section

WORK EXPERIENCE Save Pups Fast | May 2019-Present Volunteer Coordinator Aid veterinarians in administering 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

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

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%.

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

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.

Does volunteer work look good on a resume?

Yes, adding volunteer work can help make your resume more competitive, so it is a good idea to add it to your resume. 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.

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.

What are some examples of volunteer experience?

Examples of volunteer work to add to your resume could be beach clean up, animal care and rescue, and working with children and youth. If you are apart of any organization that participates in volunteer work, you can always add that to your resume as well.

If you are looking to start volunteering more, look into organizations within your community and they will have places to look. Volunteering is a great way to help improve your community, and a way for you to get to know those within your community.

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.

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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.

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.

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How to Include Life Experience on a Resume (Volunteer, Caregiving, and More)

It’s the dreaded question at job interviews: “Can you explain this gap in your resume?” Life happens, yet those gaps can raise red flags among recruiters and may even prevent them from interviewing you. But what if I told you those life experiences can enhance your resume? In this post, I’ll share various ways you can turn life experiences into valuable assets on your resume.

What Life Experiences Cause Resume Gaps

Life’s twists and turns can lead to breaks in employment. Below are some of the most common real-life experiences that can result in resume gaps:

Caregiving Responsibilities. Whether it’s caring for a child, someone with a disability, or an older person, caregiving can consume a significant portion of your time and energy. You may be forced to reduce your work hours or quit working altogether, leading to a gap on your resume.

Workplace Restructuring.  Being part of a workforce reduction or restructuring can unexpectedly leave you jobless. Depending on how quickly you can find another role, this experience can leave you with a gaping hole on your resume.

Volunteer Work. It's noble and fulfilling, but volunteer work is underrated as a form of professional experience. Does it have to be a blight on your resume? Absolutely not. Volunteer work on resumes can be an advantage. Keep reading to find out how. 

Educational Pursuits. Returning to school for continuing or further education is commendable. However, it does leave a gap in your employment history.

Illness or Injury. Health issues can sideline even the most dedicated professionals and can lead to extended periods away from work. Let’s see how we can keep this from becoming a liability in your job search.

Gap Year. A resume gap also results from taking a deliberate break from traditional employment to travel or explore other interests. As you’ll see below, this does not have to hurt your resume and job pursuit.

How to Handle the Gaps on Your Resume

Whether intentional or brought on by circumstances beyond your control, a variety of life experiences can punch holes in your resume. But they don’t have to be liabilities in your search for a new or better job. In fact, you can frame them as opportunities for you to develop skills and gain valuable experience.

Below, we’ll explore some of the ways to position and package such life experiences so that they make you an even more desirable candidate.

1. Caregiving Responsibilities

Caregiving requires many skills that may be transferable to the job you’re applying for. These include soft skills such as time management, communication, and empathy—qualities that are desirable in any job. 

You may also have gained or developed hard skills through certifications or formal training obtained during your caregiving period. Emphasize both hard and soft skills that are relevant to the job you’re applying for.

You can list time you spent caregiving under the work experience section of the resume. Caregiving is, after all, a type of work. You can list your title as “caregiver” and give a brief description of the situation. For example: “Took a leave of absence to care for a family member undergoing cancer treatment.”

2. Workplace Restructuring

It’s understandably hard to present yourself with confidence after you’ve been laid off. Just remind yourself that it wasn’t your fault. Instead, on your resume, focus on highlighting the achievements and contributions you made prior to the restructuring. This is the time to use numbers and other evidence that you made a measurable and meaningful difference in that role. 

You may also want to consider using a functional resume format rather than a chronological employment history. A functional resume format emphasizes your skills instead of a timeline of the jobs you’ve held.

Finally, be prepared to address this resume gap at the job interview. Without blaming the employer, say factually that you were laid off due to restructuring.

3. Volunteer Work

This one requires a mindset shift: Think of your volunteer experience or community service as being as valuable as paid work. List the specific responsibilities you had and, as with any previous job, share the achievements you made as a volunteer. Align your volunteer experience with the job requirements, emphasizing the relevant skills and experience the recruiter is looking for. 

Volunteer experience can be included under work experience or as a separate volunteer section of the resume. If you don’t have a lot of paid work experience yet, then you can include volunteer work under work experience. But if you have solid work experience, then create a separate volunteer section.

4. Educational Pursuits

Educational credentials may give you a leg up as a job candidate, especially if the degree you obtained is directly related to the position you’re applying for. Showcase your academic achievements, relevant coursework, and projects completed during the educational hiatus. But what if you studied something completely unrelated to the job? You can still highlight transferable skills you gained through the academic pursuit. These skills may include research, critical thinking, and problem-solving.

5. Illness or Injury

This is tricky because, depending on where you are, the laws may protect you from having to disclose anything about your medical condition or history. But on the other hand, you don’t want to keep mum about it and leave everything to the recruiter’s imagination. You need to find the sweet spot to address resume gaps due to illness or injury with honesty and discretion.

Your resume could simply indicate “medical leave.” And if it applies, focus on highlighting relevant skills and experiences you gained during recovery periods. For example, did you do remote work or self-directed projects? Even blogging about your illness and building an audience could display skills needed for the job you’re applying for.

6. Gap Year

A gap year doesn’t have to come off as a self-indulgent lapse in employment. Instead, frame it as a deliberate and enriching experience. Emphasize the skills and insights you gained during the gap year. If you traveled around the world, then you developed cultural competence, adaptability, and independence.

Resume Example

Let me show you how to include life experience on a resume with an example. I created it from a job resume template that I downloaded from Envato Elements. I chose this resume template because it has a clean and modern design. It comes in both Adobe Illustrator and Microsoft Word files. It’s easy to edit, with clearly organized and labeled layers for Adobe Illustrator. Every element of this resume is editable, so I could make it truly my own. I also like how it includes everything on one page—something not a lot of resume templates can do.

Below is an example of how to put volunteer work on a resume:

Notice how I listed my key achievements as a volunteer? This is to show that I deliver measurable value, whether or not I’m paid. Hopefully, the employer will think that if I can accomplish all this as a volunteer, then I can accomplish so much more as a paid employee.

Alternatively, I could have created a separate volunteer experience section and highlighted my achievements there. That’s also an acceptable way to showcase volunteer experience on your resume.

On the right side of the screenshot above is an example of how to list a break in employment due to academic pursuits. This is listed under the 'education' section of the resume. I went beyond listing the certificate I earned and elaborated on how I applied my new knowledge to my current work situation.

Life Experiences Enhance Your Resume

Life happens, and sometimes that means not being able to work. But gaps in work experience don’t have to be a liability. Instead, you can use life experiences to enhance your job applications, highlight your unique set of skills, and showcase the incomparable package you bring to potential employers.

As you’ve learned in this article, you can turn experiences like caregiving, taking a gap year, volunteering, and others into positive elements on your resume. It’s a matter of identifying how those experiences enhanced your skills and relating those to the position you’re applying for.

We have many more articles that show you how to make a stand-out resume. Check out these tutorials:

If you want to create a resume that makes a great first impression, then check out Envato Elements. Streamline your resume writing with resume templates created by professional designers. They're easy to edit, so you can tailor them to your background and the jobs you’re applying for.

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List of 50 Hobbies & Interests for Your Resume in 2024

• Hobbies/Interests Examples
• Should Hobbies/Interests Be on a Resume?
• Interests/Hobbies to Avoid
• Adding Hobbies/Interests
• Hobbies/Interests Tips
• Hobbies/Interests FAQs

Imagine: You’re a hiring manager for an athletic clothing brand considering two candidates—both with great resumes . You’re having trouble deciding which of the two to move forward.

During your review, you notice one of the applicants is an avid runner. So, you decide to pick the one you think will be a slightly better cultural fit since the applicant likely aligns with the fitness-related clothing products your brand offers based on their running hobby.

But, why “running hobby” instead of “running interest?” Great question. There is a difference between hobbies and interests. Hobbies are things you actively participate in, whereas interests are your dreams or topics you’re fascinated by. That said, they can both be used effectively on a resume to make your already excellent skill set more personable and relevant.

We’ll dive into interests and hobbies to include on your resume and show you how to list them to gain a leg up in the application process.

Hobbies & Interests Examples for a Resume

Example Resume

Why these hobbies/interests work

• Always choose hobbies and interests for your resume that relate to your field. 
• Don’t be afraid to include something cool and credible, like being a Jeopardy contestant. 
• Thought-provoking activities like helping troubled youths can effectively display your compassion and adaptability in difficult situations.

Most Common Hobbies & Interests for Resumes in 2024

Knowing the value of hobbies/interests on a resume, you may wonder which ones are the most popular in the US. Here’s a quick overview.

• At the top of the list, 40% of US adults have cooking/baking as a hobby or interest. This is a great one to list on resumes for culinary positions or when working around food. It also shows you can follow instructions precisely.
• Want to show some expert research abilities? Reading is an excellent hobby for resumes when applying to jobs involving scientific research or business analysis, to name a couple.
• Everyone’s interested in their pets. Plus, positions like vet techs or even care-based nursing roles can see directly translatable abilities from individuals who love and cherish their animals.
• Applying to a tech-related role? Video games are a potential hobby/interest you could list. It can also show unique problem-solving abilities for analytical positions.
• Nearly half of all jobs require outdoor work. So whether you’re applying to construction, agriculture, or other similar roles, many outdoor activities will be applicable. For instance, a gardening hobby could be great for an aspiring landscaper.

List of Hobbies & Interests for Your Resume

Here’s an extensive list of hobbies and interests to potentially include on your resume.

Volunteering

What better way to demonstrate you’re a caring, civic-minded person than by including your volunteer efforts on your resume?

People want to work with kind people. Not to mention, many companies now give employees time off each year to volunteer for efforts they care about.

Volunteering ideas

• Fostering animals
• Serving within your religious organization
• Firefighter/ EMT
• Coaching youth sports teams
• Volunteering with organizations that help the homeless
• Assisting at local meetups or hackathons
• Volunteering at an animal shelter
• Working for local committees or organizations in your community (like the Board of Education, for example)

Mentioning how you exercise as one of your interests or hobbies can be a great way to build a quick bond with the person reviewing your resume.

However, saying something like “sports” in your interests section is not worth including. What sport do you play?

Exercise can be anything that gets the heart pumping. If you dance or do karate, those are unique hobbies that you should definitely mention on your resume.

Exercise ideas

• Running (if you run events like 5Ks, say so!)
• Weight lifting
• Dance (salsa? square dancing?)
• Basketball (do you play in a league?)
• Rock climbing
• Skiing/ snowboarding

Most companies would benefit by having a creative person join their company. If you’re looking for a career in marketing or design, that’s especially true.

Even if you’re looking for a job as a programmer or data scientist, creativity can still be an invaluable skill.

Listing “music” is not a particularly unique hobby. Saying you play guitar, however, may catch the employer’s eye.

If you have a portfolio of your work, you should link to it in your resume, too, if you’re really proud of it.

Creative ideas

• Photography
• Comic books
• Classic films
• Instruments (guitar, violin, piano, etc.)
• Interior decorating
• Writing (fiction? slam poetry?)
• Calligraphy
• Stand-up comedy

Puzzles/Games

Much like your artistic endeavors can showcase your creativity to a prospective employer, an interest in strategic games indicates that you can strategize and plan.

We likely sound like a broken record but remember to be specific. Saying “video games” is not going to add value to your resume, whereas “PC gaming” might (do your research on the company to make sure this would be appropriate).

Puzzle/games ideas

• Dungeons and dragons
• Jigsaw puzzles
• Crossword puzzles

Your hobbies or interests don’t have to be (and likely aren’t) confined by neat category distinctions. Just ask yourself whether your passion has the potential to showcase a valuable skill.

For example, in the list below, you’ll see brewing beer as a hobby. As long as the business you’re applying to is a more modern company, this could be appropriate to include. To be a successful brewer, you need to be precise and thorough—both great traits in a prospective employee.

Other ideas

• Learning languages (which/how many languages have you learned?)
• Foodie (talking about local restaurants can be a great way to break the ice in an interview)
• Brewing beer
• Cooking (which cuisine is your specialty?)
• Baking (who doesn’t love the person who bakes for office parties?)
• BBQing (this would grab our attention)
• Social media (if you run a successful social account for a local cause, that can be an invaluable skill)

We know! That’s a lot of examples to look through! You can always list a slew of things you enjoy on your  resume outline  and narrow it down when you create a resume . We’ve also got some simple resume templates from Google Docs  with a section just for hobbies and interests.

Remember, your hobbies are supposed to be for your enjoyment. If you don’t think you have any hobbies for your resume that will work, that’s okay, too!

Should Hobbies and Interests Be on a Resume?

Before we dive into the types of hobbies and interests you should add to your resume, we first need to answer the question of whether you should include them at all.

The primary factor in determining whether you should include a hobbies and interests section on your resume is the type of role and company you’re applying to .

While older, more established businesses are less likely to be intrigued by what you do outside of work, modern tech companies or startups will likely be interested in learning about your prospective cultural fit. One great way to demonstrate that on your resume is through your hobbies.

• Entry-level candidates can approach  resume writing  with a “small but mighty” mindset.
• For example, mentioning that you’re a World Sudoku Championship Competitor for not just one but  three  years in a row shows dedication and laser-like focus.
• If you’re applying for a web development job, try adding a related side project like apps; alternatively, If you’re playing up your artistic side, talk about your interest in web graphics!

How to know whether you should list hobbies/interests

• Read the  job description  of the role you’re applying to.
• If the answer is “yes,” that’s a good indication that you should list hobbies and interests.
• Visit the company’s website. Read their “about us” section as well as their employment pages.

When it comes to your resume,  not all hobbies and interests are created equal ! For example, some of us here at BeamJobs are expert television show binge-watchers. If there was a binge-watching championship, we think we could win gold. 

Still, this is a hobby we would leave off our resumes. It’s not that there’s anything wrong with this hobby; it’s just that it’s neither particularly unique nor noteworthy. Remember— the goal of your hobbies and interests are to help you stand out . If the hobby you include is something the hiring manager has seen hundreds of times, it won’t accomplish what you want it to on your resume.

This means you should be as specific as possible when describing your hobbies or interests. “Sports” is not the same as “captain of co-ed basketball team.”

Here are a few more examples of what we mean:

• Wrong: Cooking
• Right: Cooking Middle Eastern cuisine
• Wrong: Travel
• Right: Backpacking through Europe
• Wrong: Music
• Right: Electric guitar
• Wrong: Volunteering
• Right: Volunteering at local ASPCA
• Wrong: Puzzles
• Right: Expert at Sudoko

Interests and Hobbies to Avoid on a Resume

If you’re on the fence about whether you should include a particular interest or hobby on your resume,  err on the side of caution . The last thing you want to do is turn a “yes” into a “no” by including something taboo on your resume. This means you shouldn’t list anything about politics on your resume (unless, of course, you’re applying for a job in politics).

This is not to say you should avoid talking about your volunteer experience through your local church if that’s your hobby! Just imagine you’re meeting someone you’d like to make a good impression on. If it’s a topic you’d avoid in that conversation, leave it off if you’d like to present a  professional resume . With that said…

BeamJobs’ co-founder, Stephen, knows a thing or two about including a hobby that, under different circumstances, would have been better left off his resume

Before I started BeamJobs with my brother and dove head-first into the world of resumes, I was a data analyst at a company called Chegg.

At that time, one of my biggest hobbies was playing poker. Now, as a data nerd, I took a very data-driven approach to playing poker. I studied the game religiously to develop a deep understanding of winning strategies and probabilities.

Since I was applying for jobs as a data analyst, I thought that would be worth including as an interest on my resume.  I also understood poker would likely not be appropriate for all of my job applications .

When it came time to apply to Chegg, I learned that the role I was applying for would be as an early employee for their recently acquired company, Imagine Easy Solutions. I researched the founders and learned they had a history of entrepreneurship.

As such, I included poker as a hobby on my resume. That gamble (poker pun intended) paid off. I learned during my interview that one of my interviewers was a big poker player.  This gave me an opportunity to elaborate on my data-driven approach to the game and how I would take a similarly quantitative approach to my job .

We hope this illustrates the potential positive impact of including unique interests or hobbies in your job applications.  They help humanize you and give you a potential common interest with your interviewers .

Stephen’s anecdote also highlights two important points:

• Do your research on the company and role you’re applying for; make sure what you’re including as a hobby is relevant.
• Don’t lie. By his own admission, Stephen would have been quickly exposed by a much better poker player in his interview had he told a lie!

How to Add Hobbies and Interests on a Resume

Before we dive into the best way to include hobbies or interests on your resume, let’s start with an example.

• Have outdoor interests like kayaking? These kinds of hobbies can suggest experience in nailing the perfect photography shot and other design strengths.
• Hobbies like fly fishing and comic art can suggest sociability and interconnectedness with others—good  soft skills to list on your resume .
• You can use hobbies and interests to express that you’re well-rounded, but the way to really rock this section is by displaying those that directly or indirectly relate to the job you’re after. 

Guidelines for adding hobbies/interests to your resume

• Add a specific section to your resume called “Hobbies,” “Interests,” or “Hobbies & Interests.”
• Limit the number of hobbies you include to five at most.
• We have brand-new  Google resume templates  and  Word resume templates  that already have this section built in. 
• Be as specific as possible.
• Don’t let this section be the reason your resume extends to two pages.

All of these rules follow the principle that your interests/hobbies shouldn’t be the focus of your resume.  They’re on your resume to add color.  Sadly, some hiring managers won’t put much or any weight on this section of your resume. That’s the reason you shouldn’t make it so prominent.

Unfortunately, you won’t be able to land a job as a surgeon with your hobbies alone—you still need to have the right qualifications for the role! With that said, the more specific you are with your hobbies and interests, the more likely what you list will resonate with the person checking out your AI cover letter and resume . 

You also want to be able to relate your hobbies or interests to what makes you a particularly good fit for the role you’re applying to. Let’s look at a few examples.

Job title: Marketer

Hobby: Painting

How it relates: This demonstrates an eye for creativity and design—both important characteristics for a marketer.

Job title: Manager

Hobby: Long-distance runner

How it relates: Committing to improving at long-distance running requires dedication without the ability to see immediate results, which can happen in management as well.

Job title: Software engineer

Hobby: Baking cakes

How it relates: To be an effective baker, you need to be exact with measurements, temperatures, and time but also need a high degree of creativity. To be a strong developer, you must be creative and rigorously logical.

Job title: HR manager

Hobby: Volunteering as an EMT

How it relates: Much like an EMT, to be a good HR manager, you must be caring and empathetic while staying calm in tense situations.

Hobbies and Interests Resume Tips

Most people don’t live to work; they work to live. Therefore, most of your time is likely going to be spent outside of your office.

Including your hobbies and interests on your resume is a great way to humanize yourself and become more than just a resume  to the hiring manager.

Tips for adding hobbies and interests to your resume

• Research the company and job description for the role you’re applying for to determine if you should include hobbies.
• Remember: Interests are related to topics you find interesting, while hobbies are activities you participate in and enjoy.
• Keep this section short (four to five interests at most ) and move it to the bottom of your resume.
• Your hobbies are for you—don’t take up a hobby just to please a potential employer.

A hobbies/interests section works great for entry-level candidates who want to include additional relevant abilities or when applying to companies that emphasize workplace culture in the job description. For example, many retail organizations emphasize their culture, so someone applying to be an entry-level retail clerk could benefit from a hobbies/interests section.

A hobby is something you actively do, whereas an interest is something you may be fascinated by or dream about. For example, someone who actively reads an hour per day could consider reading a hobby. On the other hand, someone fascinated by psychology could consider that an interest. You could even combine the two to say you enjoy reading about psychology, which could work great for an aspiring therapist.

Between one to three hobbies/interests works best for most resumes . It typically shouldn’t be the focus of your resume, but moreso act as a way to provide a bit more information or personability to your already excellent skill set.

Either the bottom or the left-hand side margin beneath your education and top skills is the best place for hobbies/interests. This placement leaves room for your work experience, education, and achievements to remain the primary focus of your resume.

Volunteer work is one of the best things to put in a hobbies/interests section when you don’t have work experience since it’s the most similar to a work-related environment. Otherwise, aim for things that are the most relevant to the position. For example, listing a favorite sport or fitness activity, such as rugby or HIIT training, could be great when applying for an entry-level job at a gym.

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What to Put on Your LinkedIn Profile Section-by-Section

By Biron Clark

Published: November 13, 2023

Biron Clark

Writer & Career Coach

If you’re wondering what to put on your LinkedIn profile or what the ideal profile should look like, then keep reading.

As a former recruiter , I’m going to share:

• What to put on your LinkedIn profile: All key sections explained
• Why your LinkedIn experience section may be the most important section, and examples of how to write it to make your LinkedIn stand out
• Tips for all other important sections to make your LinkedIn grab attention and get you job offers
• More LinkedIn tips and mistakes to avoid

What to Put on Your LinkedIn Profile When Job Searching:

Your LinkedIn profile contains the following important sections, which you should complete:

• Profile photo
• LinkedIn headline
• LinkedIn summary
• Work experience descriptions
• Recommendations from colleagues
• Education and certifications
• Accomplishments
• Volunteer experience

Now that you know which sections to put on your LinkedIn profile, keep reading for each of these LinkedIn profile sections explained.

1. Profile Photo

LinkedIn users will see your profile image even clicking on your profile.

They see it when you comment on a post, when you try to connect with them, when you apply to a job, and more.

So it’s a crucial piece to include in any profile.

As you fill out your profile, choose a professional, friendly-looking profile photo where your face is clearly visible.

Here’s a screenshot of what your headshot should look like, and a big mistake to avoid. This is an example of a search that I ran as a recruiter:

Not having a LinkedIn profile photo is a big mistake if you’re job searching. Employers and recruiters might suspect your account is fake, and even if not, they’ll wonder why you don’t have a photo when practically everyone else does. It just seems odd and brings up unnecessary concerns.

And choosing the wrong photo can also hurt you in your job search.

So choose a professional-looking headshot to put on your LinkedIn profile. It doesn’t need to be perfect. But pick something where you’re dressed pretty well and look like you’re confident, smiling, happy, etc.

LinkedIn offers these 5 tips for picking the right profile photo if you want more help with this.

2. LinkedIn Headline

Just like with your profile photo, your headline is seen before someone even clicks your profile.

Even though your headline is fewer than 50 words, it’s one of the most important sections of your LinkedIn because it influences whether someone clicks on your profile.

As you write your headline, choose keywords and descriptive words that show your exact skill set and also how you’re a good match for the next type of opportunity you’re looking for.

Note: there’s no rule that your LinkedIn headline must be your current or most recent job title.

It’s a missed opportunity to leave your headline as “Software Developer” or “Customer Service Representative,” for example.

Instead, add more detail to stand out from industry peers. Add key skills and keywords that show more of what you can offer an employer if hired for a new job.

Here are 12 LinkedIn headline examples to help you get started.

3. LinkedIn Summary

The summary section of your LinkedIn profile is important because it appears high up in your profile and is very flexible in terms of what you can include.

You can include links to portfolio pieces or past projects, you can include emojis to catch attention, or just text. The flexibility of your LinkedIn summary gives you a chance to be more creative than many other LinkedIn sections, so take advantage.

If you’re unsure what to write and you’re in an active job search, pick up a few job descriptions of the roles you’re targeting.

Now think, “How can I write my summary to show employers I have the skills and experience they’re looking for in their job?”

There’s no “right” length for a LinkedIn summary, but you should write at least one to two paragraphs and can write much more if you have more relevant info to include.

Here are real LinkedIn summary examples to help you write your own.

Never skip this section since it’s one of the first places a recruiter or hiring manager looks.

(It’s not the absolute first place I looked as a recruiter, though. That section is next, so keep reading…)

4. Work Experience

While your photo and headline are most important in getting someone to click your LinkedIn profile, your work experience section is the most important piece once they’re viewing your profile.

As a recruiter, this was always the first section I looked at on a candidate’s profile. I looked here before skills, before your summary, and before anything else.

This is because when employers are trying to find people for their jobs, they’re looking for similarities between past job descriptions and pats work. The best way for them to quickly see that you’d be likely to succeed in their role is to see that you’ve done similar tasks in the past.

(FYI, this is true on a resume, too. I always read the resume work experience before anything else, and it’s by far the most important section of your resume).

So use the following tips to make your LinkedIn work descriptions stand out…

Keep the “Main” Sections Shorter Than Your Resume

When it comes to things like your work experience and bullets, your LinkedIn profile should be shorter than your resume. Assume people are reading it for just a few seconds per job listing.

So pick your top 3-4 bullets from your resume per job, and put those. But cut the rest out.

Also consider including a one-sentence description of your work in each role too, just above the bullets. This is typically a bit longer on a resume, but if it’s already just one sentence on your resume, you can copy it over. If not, I’d shorten it a bit.

The only exception to this rule: The “summary” that appears below your name but above your work history on LinkedIn. I’d recommend that be 2-3 sentences on your resume, and around the same length on LinkedIn too.

So that’s something you CAN copy over. If you’re not sure how to write a resume summary that’ll stand out and impress employers, you can learn how here .

How Long to Make Your LinkedIn Work Descriptions for Each Job

It doesn’t. There’s no “golden rule” here. Some people will read more content if you put it. But here’s the thing… the goal of your LinkedIn (or resume) isn’t to get them to read every word. It’s to make them reply and invite you to interview, right?

They might still have some questions and want to know more after reading your LinkedIn, but they’ll see enough that they want to talk. And that’s the goal. They’ll find out the rest by asking you questions in the interview .

And keeping things brief will force you to focus on narrowing down your bullets and accomplishments to just the most impressive.

If I told you to include 10 bullets per job, you wouldn’t be as selective and wouldn’t write great bullet points. But if you limit it to 3-4 bullets per job like I’m suggesting, your LinkedIn profile will have nothing but awesome bullets.

Taking the time to “trim the fat” and put only your best highlights on LinkedIn is going to make you stand out while also making your profile more attractive to read/skim, which is what you want as a job seeker.

Show Progress or Advancement Whenever You Can

Employers LOVE it when you advance within a company, get promoted, etc.

So any time you can show that, do it.

Here’s a really simple example from the first recruiting job I ever had. I started as an Executive Recruiter and then got promoted to Senior Executive Recruiter. So I made sure to show this progression on my LinkedIn:

Note that your profile should definitely have more detail than this .

I edited this down because it’s very far in the past, I’m not job searching, everyone knows what the job title “Executive Recruiter” means, and I mostly want to show the advancement I made and the leadership I started doing here.

But in your 2-3 most recent jobs… make sure to put more detail about what your job actually involves.

Aim for around 4 bullet points like I mentioned earlier. The #1 thing hiring managers and recruiters want to see is what you’ve worked on/accomplished recently. 

One more note about showing advancement and progression: This doesn’t always need to be an official change in job title or salary. If you had a change in responsibilities (like starting to mentor/train new team members), you can still mention it on your LinkedIn and show how you progressed (even if your pay and/or job title stayed the same).

Focus Mostly on Your Recent Work

This is one of the key strategies I recommend for what to put on your LinkedIn profile…

Now, if you’re job searching with no experience, or right after college , this won’t matter for you because you don’t have a ton of jobs to list anyway – but if you have many years of work experience and many past jobs… spend more time (and space) on your LinkedIn profile on the 2-3 most recent jobs!

So for example, the most recent job could have 4 bullet points and a 2-sentence description above it.

The next job down would have 3-4 bullet points and a 1-sentence description.

And so forth…

By the time you get to the fourth or fifth job, it might just be a one-sentence description with 2 bullets, or just 2-3 bullets.

That’s not some rule that you have to follow 100%, but it’s the general pattern you should follow – use most of your time, and most of the space on your LinkedIn work history, for writing about your most recent work.

You Don’t Need to Put Every Past Job on Your LinkedIn Profile

Just like with your resume, consider removing positions entirely if they’re many years in the past and totally unrelated to the jobs you’re applying for now.

This is mostly a tip for job seekers with 15+ years of experience.

There’s no rule that says you need to list every previous job when writing your LinkedIn profile or resume.

Formatting Your LinkedIn Work History – Keep it Simple

You can also see how I used very simple formatting to grab attention in the screenshot above. I just typed “–” before the descriptions, and it stands out visually in the example above.

So you can consider doing something like this too but don’t overboard. No recruiter or hiring manager likes a profile flooded with symbols, emojis and other graphics making it hard to read or focus.

So find one or two small things to do that’ll stand out, but then keep it very simple and focus on writing awesome content that’ll make the reader want to  set up a phone interview  or talk to you.

Also, copy what looks good on other profiles. Borrow ideas. If you think the best writers out there don’t take ideas from others, you’re wrong. So you don’t need to start with a “blank page” for any of this. Look around at other people in your industry, take an idea here or there, and make note of what looks good and what doesn’t.

Now, don’t go copy one person’s LinkedIn profile. Don’t plagiarize. But do take inspiration.

LinkedIn gives you 50 skill slots and you should take full advantage when filling out your profile.

LinkedIn skills serve as keywords and will help your profile appear higher up in recruiter searches.

You can only include a few keywords in your headline, LinkedIn summary, and other sections.

At least, without looking like you’re just cramming excess keywords into your profile to be seen (and that’s not good).

Whereas, you can fill all 50 skill slots on LinkedIn and still have a natural-looking profile.

This greatly helps recruiters find you in search results, so take advantage.

You can include hard skills/job-related skills, but also soft skills . Get creative and come up with a diverse list of skills that you’ve gathered in your career, but with a focus on the 50 skills that employers will find relevant for the job you’re hoping to land next.

6. Recommendations

LinkedIn recommendations are a strong way to show employers that your professional background is relevant and that you’ve performed at a high level in past jobs.

Most people who use LinkedIn don’t have a single written recommendation (which is different than simply getting endorsements for skills). So ask colleagues who you’ve worked with in your career to write recommendations speaking to the quality of your work, and then offer to do the same for them.

Read this article for examples of LinkedIn recommendations and how to ask.

7. Education and Certifications

Next, complete your education info and also add any relevant certifications and licenses you’ve obtained in your career.

Like the sections above, think about what’s relevant for the role and industry that you’re in, though. If you’re in an industry closely related to your educational background, you may want to include more information.

If you’ve had a long professional career and moved away from anything related to what you studied in college, you can just mention your degree briefly without as much detail.

That’s the path I followed in my career; I graduated with a degree in finance but never took a finance job, so I simply mention my degree without as much detail on my profile. Use this as an example of what to do if you simply want to show that you have a degree, but if you’ve moved on in your career and it’s no longer relevant to most employers:

If you think boosting your skills or adding a new course to your education would help you find a new job, then you can also take courses directly on LinkedIn, via LinkedIn Learning.

That’s another great way to make your LinkedIn profile stand out to prospective employers.

8. Accomplishments

LinkedIn offers a dedicated Accomplishments section where you can highlight everything from languages spoken to projects and publications.

This section is a great place to mention any side projects or hobbies that will complement your professional career. You can also elaborate on your professional work experience by including work-related awards and projects.

Like your Summary section, this section is incredibly flexible so you can get creative and use it in different ways depending on your industry and job type.

Here’s an example of my Accomplishments section at the time of writing this:

Each of these accomplishments can be expanded by the reader (by clicking the arrows on the right-hand side) and for some types of accomplishments, you can even include links to external sites.

This is useful for showcasing publications and other accomplishments that are completely separate from LinkedIn.

9. Volunteer Experience

If you’ve done any volunteer work, LinkedIn allows you a separate section to include this, too.

Navigate to your LinkedIn profile, click the “Add Section” button, and select “Volunteer Experience.”

This allows you to add another impressive section to your LinkedIn profile that some job seekers won’t have, and gives you an opportunity to show employers that you’re well-rounded in your career and active in the community.

Employers in any industry will view volunteer experience as a relevant, favorable trait.

Conclusion: What to Put on Your LinkedIn Profile

Whether you’re in a job search or just trying to network or grow your personal brand, the above sections are the must-have pieces to put on your LinkedIn profile.

If you complete the sections above, you’ll show up in more search results, make more professional connections, and get more job offers through LinkedIn.

Once you’ve completed your profile, shouldn’t just wait for people to connect with you, though.

Take an active approach to building your network and making connections. Connect with people in your industry, join relevant LinkedIn groups, participate in discussions or start some of your own, leave comments on posts that seem interesting to you, and repeat the process to get your profile seen more.

This will amplify the number of people who see your LinkedIn profile and will give you access to even more opportunities.

About the Author

Read more articles by Biron Clark

2 thoughts on “What to Put on Your LinkedIn Profile Section-by-Section”

As a employer of healthcare agency, I would like to use Linkedin as a platform for recruiting new staff. Is this the purpose of Linkedin? Let me know . Thx

Yes, absolutely. You can post jobs on LinkedIn, and you can also use your account/profile to post a link to a new job opening. Or you can simply connect with potential candidates and start a conversation, which recruiters in all industries do all the time on LinkedIn.

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How to Protect Yourself and Others

CDC’s Respiratory Virus Guidance  provides strategies you can use to help protect yourself and others from health risks caused by COVID-19 and other respiratory viruses. These actions can help you lower the risk of COVID-19 transmission (spreading or catching COVID-19) and lower the risk of severe illness if you get sick.

Core Prevention Strategies

CDC recommends that all people use core prevention strategies to protect themselves and others from COVID-19:

• Although vaccinated people sometimes get infected with the virus that causes COVID-19, staying up to date on COVID-19 vaccines significantly lowers the risk of getting very sick, being hospitalized, or dying from COVID-19.
• Practice good hygiene  (practices that improve cleanliness)
• Take steps for cleaner air

When you are sick:

• Learn when you can go back to your normal activities .
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Additional Prevention Strategies

In addition, there are other prevention strategies that you can choose to further protect yourself and others.

• Wearing a mask and putting distance between yourself and others  can help lower the risk of COVID-19 transmission.
• Testing for COVID-19 can help you decide what to do next, like getting treatment to reduce your risk of severe illness and taking steps  to lower your chances of spreading COVID-19 to others.

Key Times for Prevention

Using these prevention strategies can be especially helpful when:

• Respiratory viruses, such as COVID-19, flu, and RSV, are causing a lot of illness in your community
• You or those around you have risk factors  for severe illness
• You or those around you were recently exposed to a respiratory virus, are sick, or are recovering

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Learn more about all three of these respiratory viruses, who is most at risk, and how they are affecting your state right now. You can use some of the same strategies to protect yourself from all three viruses.

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Additional Resources

• Respirators and Masks
• Improving Ventilation in Your Home
• Improving Ventilation In Buildings

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• Visit archive.cdc.gov for a historical snapshot of the COVID-19 website, capturing the end of the Federal Public Health Emergency on June 28, 2023.
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