Use Your History Of Volunteer Experience To Spice Up Your Resume
Involving yourself in volunteer work can be a seriously beneficial practice for a variety of reasons. Some of these are purely subjective, but still quite valuable - namely, giving you the positive feeling of doing something good and altruistic for your community, or to benefit a social cause you feel passionately about.
However, other reasons for the usefulness of volunteer work are considerably more practical and utilitarian. Perhaps most significantis its purpose in enhancing your resume when you are seeking out your next great job or internship opportunity, where you're likely to be competing against a broad field of talented individuals.
A detailed section on your resume - or curriculum vitae, if you will - providing explanations of any notable volunteer experience you possess might just be the leg up you need to establish yourself above and beyond any competitors for your position in the eyes of a would-be employer.
Emphasizing volunteer history isn't exactly anything new - it's frequently included on the millions of college applications submitted by students every year. Additionally, it's no secret that it can help get you a job, or at least increase your chances - a survey by social networking website LinkedIn found that a sizable number of employers treat volunteer work as equal in weight to professional experience.
However, the same survey stated that although many people have volunteer experience, more than a few of them don't include it on their professional resumes. Keeping that in mind, if you do include details of your not-for-profit efforts, you're even more likely to stand out from the pack.
Since employers often use social networks as a tool to examine potential employees, LinkedIn recently began including a field for its users to provide information about their volunteer work. Taking advantage of this opportunity could be exactly the boost you need in this difficult job market.
