How to Highlight Volunteer Experience on Your Resume

Volunteer experience shows skills and dedication that many employers value. It can be a key part of your resume, especially if you’re just starting your career, changing fields, or have gaps in your work history.

For students, volunteer roles may be the main source of real-world skills. For career changers, they can show how your abilities transfer to a new field. And for those with employment gaps, volunteer work proves you stayed active and kept building skills.

Adding volunteer work to your resume isn’t just about filling space. It’s about showing who you are and what you can do.

Choose Volunteer Roles That Match the Job

Not all volunteer work needs to be on your resume. Pick the roles that connect best with the job you want.

For example:

• If you helped with fundraising, highlight this when applying for sales jobs
• If you mentored others, focus on this for leadership roles
• If you worked on community projects, showcase these skills for jobs that need teamwork

Be picky about what you include. A few strong, relevant volunteer roles will make a better impact than a long list of unrelated activities.

Format Volunteer Work Like Paid Experience

How you present volunteer work matters. You have two main options:

Where to place it:

• Create a “Volunteer Experience” section if your volunteer work is addition to your regular work history
• Include it under “Work Experience” if it fills gaps or makes up most of your background

Use the same clean formatting for volunteer roles as you would for paid jobs:

• Organization name and your role
• Dates of service
• Location
• Bullet points describing what you did

Career Reload’s ATS-friendly Word resume templates can help you structure this section properly.

ATS-Friendly Resume Download for Word

ATS-friendly resume template

2 Column ATS Resume Template

Show Impact with Transferable Skills and Metrics

Don’t just list what the organization does. Focus on YOUR contributions and the skills you used.

Turn basic duties into achievement statements by:

1. Identifying the skills you used (planning, communication, leadership)
2. Showing how these skills helped the organization
3. Including numbers whenever possible

When describing your volunteer roles, look beyond the basic tasks. Rephrasing your responsibilities thoughtfully can help you present them more clearly—just be sure to paraphrase effectively to avoid sounding generic.

For example:

Basic: “Helped at food bank.” Better: “Organized food bank donations and led team of 5 volunteers, serving 200+ families weekly”

The second version shows organization, leadership, and impact with specific numbers.

Always try to include metrics:

• Number of people helped
• Percentage improvements
• Amounts raised
• Time saved

These numbers catch the eye and prove your impact.

Write Clearly and Avoid Generic Descriptions

Once you’ve chosen which volunteer roles to include, the next step is writing about them in a way that grabs attention. The key is to go beyond job-like descriptions and turn your tasks into meaningful stories that match the language and values of your target job.

For example, don’t just say “Helped with events.” Instead, describe the outcome: “Coordinated monthly fundraising events that attracted 300+ attendees and raised $10,000 in donations.” This version tells the employer exactly what you did and why it mattered.

When reworking your descriptions, make sure you don’t simply copy text from the organization’s mission or task lists. Use your own words to reflect your actual contribution. This is where it helps to paraphrase effectively—you want to explain the value of your efforts without sounding robotic or repetitive.

Keep your phrasing active and impact-focused:

• ✅ “Led a team of 5 volunteers to launch a recycling initiative”
• ❌ “Was part of a team that worked on recycling”

Use action verbs that highlight ownership: led, organized, created, improved, launched, designed. These words make your resume stronger and more memorable.

The way you describe your experience can make a major difference—strong phrasing turns simple volunteer tasks into proof of your leadership, initiative, and professionalism.

Real-World Examples

Student Example

Animal Shelter Volunteer

• Trained 12 new volunteers on shelter protocols and animal handling
• Created a digital system for tracking animal medical records, cutting paperwork time by 30%
• Planned and ran 3 adoption events, finding homes for 45 animals

This example shows training skills, process improvement, and event planning with clear numbers.

Career Switcher Example

Community Garden Coordinator (Volunteer)

• Managed budget of $5,000 for supplies and events
• Led team of 15 volunteers in weekly garden maintenance
• Created monthly newsletter reaching 500+ community members
• Increased garden participation by 25% through outreach programs

For someone moving from an office job to environmental work, this shows budget management, leadership, communication, and growth skills.

Adjust your examples to match each job application. If a job posting asks for specific skills, highlight volunteer work that shows those skills.

Tailor Your Descriptions to Each Job

Read the job description closely before sending your resume. Then match your volunteer experience to what they want.

For a marketing job:

• Focus on promotion, event planning, or social media volunteer work
• Highlight communication skills and results

For a management job:

• Emphasize team leadership, training, or coordination roles
• Show how you organized people or projects

This small step takes extra time but makes your resume much stronger for each application.

Make Your Resume Stand Out

Volunteer work can set you apart from other candidates with similar work histories. It shows:

• You’re active and engaged
• You have diverse skills
• You’re committed to something beyond a paycheck

These qualities matter to many employers. They show character and drive that standard work experience might not reveal.

Conclusion

Your volunteer experience can be a powerful part of your resume when presented properly. By choosing the right roles, formatting them professionally, focusing on skills and results, and tailoring descriptions to each job, you turn volunteer work into a real career advantage.

Take time to think about what your volunteer work really shows about you. Then create a resume that tells this story clearly with Career Reload’s free resume tools. With the right approach, your volunteer experience can help you stand out and land your next job.

Career Reload Team

We’re a team of writers dedicated to providing insights and tips for navigating the professional world. With a collective wealth of experience across various industries and roles, our team understands the challenges and opportunities that come with seeking meaningful work and advancing your career. We help job seekers to better their careers by offering career advice & free resources. Download free Word resume templates and resume templates for Google Docs.