Leverage that Volunteer Experience

By recruiting interns every year I get to look at lots of resumes from young professionals. It is amazing how much experience some young adults have that they leverage into getting an internship and eventually a job. And more then ever I see resumes of people who have done extracurricular activities forever, whether it is sports, a scouting club, debate, joining a professional group or oodles of volunteer experience. All the time you spent doing this stuff has provided great life experience and I bet has helped build some professional skills along the way. Don't waste this experience my not mentioning it on your resume the next time you apply for a job.

Here are a couple of thoughts on adding your volunteer experience to your resume.

1) Mingle your paid and unpaid employment together in your work experience section. If you are applying for a job, especially in the nonprofit world, the time you spent on a board, mentoring or organizing people in your community is valuable. Not only does it show that you have built skills along the way but that your desire to work in a nonprofit is more then just getting a paycheck.

2) Don't minimize what you learned and the skills you developed through volunteering. I have seen people add their volunteer experience to the very end of their resume in a list with a one sentence descriptor. The volunteer experience should be highlighted and celebrated! Make sure you put as much thought into what you did as a volunteer as you did as a paid employee. And make sure you use the title of your position as a volunteer. Don't simply say "volunteer".

3) If you begin your resume with a skills and expertise section make sure you draw on the skills and expertise you built while volunteering. If you do this make sure you support your claim to these skills and expertise in the body of the resume.