Highlight community service on your resume


Uncategorized / Monday, March 3rd, 2014

Individuals of the millennial generation are not the only people interested in social impact. Employers and employees of all ages are attracted to opportunities to serve their communities.

Thus, it comes as no surprise that employers prefer to hire individuals who are passionate about creating community impact and motivated to serve as volunteers. Articulating your commitment to the community and demonstrating the skill-sets you’ve learned from volunteer service on your resume will set you apart from the crowd of applicants for a job.

Below are just a few examples of the skill-sets that you can attain through community service:

  • Fundraising
  • Event planning
  • Social Media
  • Communication
  • Leadership
  • Teamwork
  • Problem Solving
  • Public Speaking
  • Creativity

There’s no doubt that volunteering leads to professional opportunities.  According to LinkedIn, one out of every five hiring managers in the U.S. chooses candidates because of their volunteer work experience. Going even further, a survey of the UK’s 200 leading businesses, carried out by TimeBank through Reed Executive, 94% of employees who volunteer have benefited by getting their first job, being promoted, or improving their salary.

Articulating your commitment to the community and demonstrating the skill-sets you’ve learned from volunteer service on your resume will set you apart from the crowd of applicants for a job.

I recently spoke to the student leaders for campus ministry at Avila University and the auditorium was filled with students actively involved in a variety of service opportunities. When I introduced the VolunteerMark app, I was amazed by the students’ excitement to have a better way to find new service opportunities, track commitments, and record service hours.

One student raised her hand and asked if there was a way to add her service hour history to the online profile she sends to employers. Yes! This is exactly why we have created VolunteerMark – to organize and connect the nonprofit sector and the people who support them. Now that businesses are moving away from paper-based applications, it is faster and easier than ever to run background checks on job applicants.

Are you leveraging your community service experiences? Below are some ways to showcase your volunteer experiences on your resume online:

  1. Add Volunteering and Causes to your LinkedIn profile.  
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  2. Indicate your total number of service hours on your resume and link to/attach your VolunteerMark service hour certificate.
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  3. Apply for community service awards like the Presidential Service Award, Jefferson Awards or your university’s service certificate program.
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– Andrew Stanley, [email protected]