- 1). Detail your volunteer work. Think about what you actually accomplished as a volunteer. List the specific activities and tasks you were responsible for and wrote a concise description for each activity. Use active verbs to begin each description.
- 2). Name the volunteer position you held if one wasn't provided for you by the organization. Simply listing "volunteer" isn't specific enough to stand out on a resume. Use the title to describe your role. For example, if you helped plant and weed flowerbeds, "volunteer gardening assistant" is a descriptive title that stands out more than the generic "volunteer" title. Specify that you volunteered your time in the position description.
- 3). Show how your volunteer experience correlates with the desired position. This determines where on your resume you'll need to include your volunteer work. Divide volunteer experience into two basic categories: volunteer work in a similar profession or position that mirrors the job you're seeking and volunteer work in a different field or position.
- 4). Organize volunteer information in order of relevancy along with other work experience items in your resume. List more relevant items first. You may choose not to include all volunteer experience. Unless you want to demonstrate long-term commitment to an organization, don't include volunteer work that doesn't relate to the position you're seeking.
- 5). Format the sections of your resume to include volunteer experience. Highlight the strong relationship between volunteer work and the targeted profession or position. List volunteer work in a related profession or position with previous work experience. The Online Writing Lab at Purdue University suggests naming this section "Relevant Experience" instead of "Relevant Work Experience" to accurately represent the information included in the section. Even if the volunteer position isn't relevant to the position, promote that you've developed valuable skills and exposure as a volunteer. If the volunteer work was in a different profession, but you developed skills relevant to the position, include a section titled "Community Involvement" or "Extracurricular Activities" if you are a student.
Source...