Usually, hiring managers will spend a few seconds looking at resumes before they make a decision. Most resumes look the same, so, what can make your resume stand out from other candidates? Yeah, you guessed right, your experience gained doing community service. By the way, how do you properly list your background in community service on your resume? You cannot just throw it in anywhere, because it needs to look professional.
Another Word for Community Service on Resume
Here are some synonyms for community service:
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- casework
- good works
- government-provided services
- social welfare
- support services
- volunteer
- welfare
- welfare work
Based on the research, there are many people who use the word ‘volunteer’ as another word for community service on their resume. So, you are able to use the word ‘volunteer’ on your resume.
Community Service History Will Delight Your Recruiter – Why?
According to the survey conducted by Deloitte, hiring managers are 82% more likely to prefer your job application if they list several experiences in resume volunteer work. Regardless of whether you have held paid positions in the past, the reason hiring managers want to see community involvement on your resume is that it will prove that you have the skills required.
By the way, under what conditions should you include volunteer work on your resume? Here are several examples where you should consider doing so:
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- If you are a high school or college student with little to no professional experience.
- When you are transitioning careers and taking up a new challenge.
- When you need to highlight leadership skills that you have not had the opportunity to showcase professionally yet.
Besides having several forms of experience in the field, it will show that you are a reliable person and also can get the job done. This will tell the employer that they are able to trust you to deliver when it is needed. Bonus points if your area of volunteer work is the same as the job you are applying for. You are already a step ahead of everybody else and have several basic skills and relevant experience to make you the more viable choice to be hired by the employers.
What Counts as Community Service or Volunteer Work?
As the term states, you are expected to help the community through the services you provide. In a response to a job offer, you have to be cautious and only list the Community Service or volunteer experience if it is relevant. By the way, what exactly counts as Community Service/volunteer work?
Here are some examples:
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- Teaching underprivileged children basic grammar, math, or other subjects.
- Coaching community sports teams.
- Working at an animal shelter.
- Volunteering at a blood drive.
- Distributing food among the disaster relief programs.
- Spending time with the elderly at an elderly home.
- Church volunteer work.
If you have not taken up any of them, then you are able to consider taking up one of the above as your first venture.
Maximize Your Community Service Experience on a Resume – Here’s Way
Actually, you do not always need to use the term ‘volunteer.’ Simply, you are able to write “experience” following the field which you applied your skills to.
Here is how you get it right and impress the hiring managers:
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- Software Engineer Experience
- Continent Records, Paradigm Technologies
Whenever you are mentioning volunteer work under work experience, you should use this neat little trick to stand out. You are able to apply this to any other field. All you have to do is to write your field name experience to highlight it. The volunteer position is nearly secondary to the employer when you do this.
You will want to be very specific with the points you enlist under volunteering work experience. If you can, give solid numbers to back up your achievements. This will let the employer know that you are able to deliver the numbers when needed.
Make sure that you only include relevant skills and experience on your resume. You do not want to cloud the solid parts of your resume with irrelevant experiences that are not directly relevant. Please ask yourself if they are relevant, if the answer is no, then do not add it to your profile.
How to Put Community Service on a Resume?
Community service or related volunteer work cannot be pitched anywhere. You have to list it in the work experience section of the resume, if you have limited professional experience, are going through a career change, or had a professional break in the last several years. If you are a student or a fresher, adding community service will be able to convey to the hiring manager that you have desirable skills which you can bring to the company. You are able to list your experience of successful fundraising events in the form of bullet points where you are able to elaborate and draw attention to the work you did. Also, you are able to list your most notable experience here.
Why Does Community Service Look Good on A Resume?
Community service will look good on a resume because it will show that you have several forms of professional experience in the past. Also, it will tell the employer that you have acquired several specific skills in the field. This is your work history as a fresher. Research by Deloitte confirms that almost every hiring manager will concede that they prefer resumes with several forms of volunteering experience on them.
How Do You Describe Community Service/Volunteer Work on A Resume?
It can be daunting to sum up your months or years of community service into one or two lines. Keep in mind that you need to make an impact in the reader’s mind with the experience bullet points. So, you are able to try listing your most prominent achievement(s) as a part of the team. Please use hard figures if possible, and then try to showcase exactly what you brought to the team and how you used yourself to benefit the organization and their own projects. You do not need to list each and every achievement, only the most prominent ones.
A bookworm and researcher especially related to law and citizenship education. I spend time every day in front of the internet and the campus library.
