Your LinkedIn profile is essentially an online CV, so it’s important you highlight important parts of your experience. This includes any volunteering you might have undertaken.
It might seem unnecessary, but adding volunteering experience to your LinkedIn profile can be extremely beneficial – especially for those seeking entry-level roles. This is because recruiters know those starting out in their careers have little work experience, so will need to demonstrate their skills in other ways.
If you want to find out how to add volunteering experience to your LinkedIn profile, check out our blog below for more information. Read on to find out the benefits of adding volunteering experience, as well as StraightIn’s do’s and don’ts when it comes to doing so.
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How do you add volunteering experience to your LinkedIn profile?
To add volunteering experience to your LinkedIn profile, take the following steps:
1. Add profile section
To add volunteering experience to your LinkedIn account, you need to first log in and visit your profile. Click on the Add Profile section.
2. Add volunteer experience
Once you click Add Profile, a pop up box will open, presenting three different categories: Core, Recommended, and Additional. Under Additional, you can select Add volunteer experience.
3. Fill out and save changes
Once you select this option, another pop up box will open.
Here you can fill out all details of your volunteer experience; this includes the organisation, your position, your responsibilities, and the length of time you performed in this role. After you’re happy with what you’ve written, you can save the changes and your profile will update.
What are the benefits of adding volunteering experience to my LinkedIn profile?
There are several benefits of adding volunteering experience to your LinkedIn profile. For example, it helps to:
Highlight transferable skills
Volunteering experience is beneficial to add to your LinkedIn profile because it showcases transferable skills that you can utilise in your career experience. This is useful as it shows recruiters your ability to perform certain tasks, such as leadership, teamwork, and problem-solving.
Showcase a commitment to community improvement
It might not seem like something recruiters and businesses looking for suitable applicants would be interested in, but adding your volunteering experience on LinkedIn helps to showcase your commitment to community improvement. For instance, it reflects positively on your character, values, and work ethic – as well as highlighting how you want to make a positive impact on your community. For more infrastructure on how to optimise your LinkedIn profile, visit our blog.
Demonstrates initiative
Adding volunteering experience to your LinkedIn profile also helps demonstrate your initiative. As volunteering is a choice, it shows that you actively contribute your time and effort to a cause. This shows recruiters and other businesses that you have a strong internal drive and motivation to succeed.
StraightIn’s do’s and don’t’s for adding volunteering experience
When it comes to adding volunteering experience to your LinkedIn profile, there are some things you should avoid doing, but also some things you should ensure you do.
Let’s take a look at our top do’s and don’t’s for those adding volunteer experience to their LinkedIn profile below:
Do: Focus on achievements
When adding volunteering experience to your LinkedIn, ensure you focus on the achievements you gained when taking part in this volunteering. For example, if you had a target to hit a certain amount of money raised and you succeeded in doing this, ensure you include it when writing about the experience on your profile.
Don’t: Waffle on or exaggerate
Ensure you don’t waffle on about the level of volunteering experience you have, or exaggerate your role and responsibilities. It can be tempting, but misrepresenting the volunteering you did can jeopardise your credibility.
Do: Highlight relevant experience
It’s important that you only showcase experience that is relevant to future roles and positions you want to apply for. Avoid listing short-term volunteering positions that will have little impact on your own development or the organisation you volunteered for.
Don’t: Forget to showcase skills learned
When listing your volunteering experience on LinkedIn, ensure you highlight the skills you’ve learned within this position – so you can explain how these are transferable to your chosen career or industry. For example, if you can showcase any communication skills that you gained during your volunteering, this can be helpful to highlight if you’re interested in a client-facing role or a role within press relations.
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LinkedIn Volunteering Experience: FAQs
Does volunteering count as work experience?
Yes, volunteering absolutely counts as work experience. This is especially the case for young people who have little work experience and want to demonstrate their skills to prospective employers.
Not only does volunteering allow you to gain practical experience and develop new skills, but it also demonstrates your commitment to a cause and working with other people.
Do recruiters value volunteering experience?
Recruiters seeking candidates for entry-level/junior roles will likely value volunteering experience more than those who are looking for applicants who need significant career experience.
But, this doesn’t mean that volunteering isn’t valuable – even if you’re working at a senior level. At the end of the day, it still demonstrates your ability to deliver results and work with others as a team; all of which are sought-after career skills.
