You’ve helped build houses for the homeless, walk rescue dogs, organize donated clothing, or run charity-related races. Whatever your charitable work of choice, you may have found it helps you to be a happier, more well-rounded person. But that’s not all! Volunteer work can also help you build your resume and make you a more attractive candidate for an open position.
So how does volunteer work help your job search and how should you list it? Just follow these tips from a leading provider of jobs in Lawrenceville GA—Snelling Georgia Group.
Three Reasons to Showcase Your Charity Work
You can make your resume stronger in the following ways:
Build Your Skills Section
Some skills you’ll tack on during your volunteer positions are transferable to other jobs. Did you help organize or run an event? Worked with a wide range of people from different backgrounds? Communicate to get a job done in a limited amount of time? Skills like these can help prepare you for other, paid positions.
Account for Job Gaps
If you were in the process of finding a new job and took on a volunteer position or two, you can show an employer that you weren’t simply twiddling your thumbs during that stretch of time.
Boost Your Experience
If you’re freshly graduated and don’t have a bunch of work experience to list on your resume, you’ll likely lead with a skills section. And volunteer work can help you add to that portion of your resume.
How to Include Volunteer Experience
Now that you’re convinced charity work is valuable to your job search, how do you go about including it on your resume? You can do so in one of three ways:
List Volunteer Work in Your Professional Experience Section
If you have a few jobs to include, you can pepper in volunteer work as it occurred chronologically in between your jobs. Remember, in this section, you only need to include your past 3–5 most recent positions.
List Skills Gained in Your Skill Section
If you don’t have many work experiences to list, you’ll want to build a functional resume. For this, lead with a skills section where you list your professional skills. Next to each skill, describe what you’ve accomplished and link it to the relevant volunteer experience.
Create an Unrelated Section
Volunteer work helps to illustrate your personality and the causes you’re passionate about. And this type of information can help an employer make a hiring decision. So if you want to include volunteer experience that doesn’t directly apply to the job, simply include an unrelated experience section at the end of your resume. Then, include your volunteer experience there.
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If it’s your first or your next, Snelling Georgia Group can help! We work with candidates in the Atlanta area and can help you find a new job you love. To learn more, contact us today!
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