SarahReed

Volunteer work can be an excellent way to showcase key skills such as event planning, fundraising or patient care and should certainly be integrated with other work experiences on your resume. How can you incorporate your volunteer experience in your resume to gain the maximum benefit? The answer will depend to some degree on how related your volunteer experience is to your career target. Related Volunteer Work Related volunteer work can be combined with related work experience under a category heading like "Related Experience." If the volunteer work demonstrates a critical skill area, then it could be placed within a category with a functional heading like "Fundraising Experience" or "Event Planning Experience." In either case, the volunteer experience should be listed just like a job with a title that captures the essence of your role and a description which highlights skills applied and any accomplishments. Here's an example: Fundraising Experience Volunteer Fundraiser, The United Way, Montclair, NJ, Fall 2012 to Present Recruited and trained 14 volunteer fundraisers. Planned and promoted 3 successful fundraising events including an auction, dinner and concert which generated over $80,000 in pledges. Increased contributions by 25% over the previous campaign. Unrelated Volunteer Work If the volunteer work is unrelated to your job goal, you can incorporate it under a separate category like "Community Service" or "Volunteer Example." Most organizations look favorably upon staff who contribute in a positive way to the surrounding community given the public relations benefits for the firm and the opportunity for staff to network with potential new clients for the organization. Volunteer Experience Volunteer Fundraiser, The United Way, Montclair, NJ, Fall 2012 to Present Recruited and trained 14 volunteer fundraisers. Planned and promoted 3 successful fundraising events including an auction, dinner and concert which generated over $80,000 in pledges. Increased contributions by 25% over the previous campaign.