In today’s world, where digital platforms reign supreme, LinkedIn has become the go-to platform for professionals to showcase their skills and connect with like-minded individuals. While having a polished profile and relevant work experience are crucial to attracting potential employers, volunteering experience can also make a significant impact on your profile’s overall appeal. Adding your volunteer work to your LinkedIn profile can demonstrate your commitment to community service and showcase your diverse skill set to potential employers!
But how can you add your volunteer experience to your LinkedIn profile effectively? In this article, we will guide you through the step-by-step process of rearranging the sections on your LinkedIn profile to showcase your volunteering experience in the most effective way possible. Whether you are a digital marketer looking to expand your skill set or a recent graduate seeking to enhance your profile, this guide will provide you with the tools you need to make a lasting impression on potential employers.
What is Volunteer Experience?
Volunteer Experience is the part of your CV/in your profile where you include any work that you’ve done voluntarily (without being paid). Adding a volunteer experience to your profile help you differentiate and shine out greatly as a job candidate. Volunteer experience is a good life experience, so if you have it, it’s good to mention it in your portfolio, letting your potential employer take a glance at your initiatives.
Why Adding Volunteer Experience to LinkedIn is Beneficial
Adding volunteer experience to your LinkedIn profile can be a powerful way to showcase your skills, passion, and dedication to a cause — all of which may spark an employer’s interest.
Further Reading: How to Add Portfolio to Your LinkedIn
Here are some of the key reasons why adding volunteer experience to your LinkedIn profile can be beneficial:
- It demonstrates your commitment to a cause: Volunteering is a great way to show potential employers that you are committed to making a positive impact in the world and that you aren’t afraid to take that extra step and take action. By adding your volunteer experience to your LinkedIn profile, you can demonstrate your dedication to a cause and your willingness to work hard to achieve your goals. This is an especially attractive point for employers and professionals you’d potentially collaborate with.
- Shows your skills: Volunteering often involves using a wide range of skills, from project management, and communication to teamwork and problem-solving. By highlighting your volunteer experience on your LinkedIn profile, you can demonstrate your skills in action and show potential employers how you have used your skills to achieve real-world results.
- Builds your network: Volunteering can provide opportunities to meet new people and build your network. By adding your volunteer experience to your LinkedIn profile, you can connect with others who share your interests, and open doors to new opportunities. It also makes you appear as a more authoritative and established figure in the LinkedIn scene, making connections with high-level professionals that much more accessible.
- Increases your profile visibility: Adding volunteer experience to your LinkedIn profile can help you stand out to potential employers who are looking for candidates with a demonstrated commitment to community service. By highlighting your volunteer experience, you can attract the attention of employers who are interested in candidates with a passion for making a difference. Some employers may specifically be looking for professionals with volunteering projects under their belt, so adding it increases your chances of getting your desired job.
So, we can conclude that adding volunteer work section is a great way to showcase your social commitment & skills. Volunteering can bring in so many benefits (letting alone that it contributes to your mental health as well!)
Let’s assume that you’ve got your amazing experience volunteering. Here is a quick instruction to how to add volunteer experience to your LinkedIn profile.
How to Add Volunteer Experience to LinkedIn
- Go to your LinkedIn profile and click on the “Add profile section” button.
2. Scroll down to the “Volunteer Experience” section and click on it.
3. Click on the “Add Volunteer Experience” button.
4. Fill in the details of your volunteering experience, including the organization you volunteered with, the cause or mission of the organization, the role you played, the dates of your service, and a brief description of your responsibilities. There is a “cause” tab that you can click on to choose the appropriate cause from a list.
5. Use action verbs and measurable results to describe your responsibilities and achievements while volunteering. For example, “Led a team of volunteers to organize a charity event that raised over $10,000 for (specify cause).”
6. Consider adding any relevant media, such as photos, videos, or links to articles, to provide more context and visual appeal to your profile.
7. Choose the right privacy settings for your volunteering experience. You can choose to share it with everyone, your connections only, or keep it private.
8. Click on the “Save” button to add your volunteer experience to your LinkedIn profile.
Volunteer Experience on LinkedIn — Samples
Here is how your volunteer experience section can look like on your profile. Grab a few examples.
How to Rearrange Volunteer Experience on LinkedIn
After you’ve added a volunteer experience to your LinkedIn profile, you may want to rearrange it, after some time. It’s a seamless task to do, here is what you’ll need:
- Scroll down your profile to the Volunteer experience section
- Click on the Pen icon.
3. Rearrange volunteer experience the way you want:reorder and drag experiences to whichever position you see fit, taking to consideration the starting and ending dates.
How to Remove Volunteer Experience on LinkedIn
If you feel like volunteer experience is not assisting you in job finding, or maybe your volunteer experience is not relevant anymore, for various of reasons, you can always remove it from your profile.
It’s also a very intuitive and simple task. Follow these two steps:
- Open your Volunteer Experience section and hover your mouse to this Pen icon.
2. Hover down to Delete volunteer experience section and tap this button.
3. When asked “Are you sure you want to delete this experience”, if you’re pozitive, click on Yes.
That’s it. You’ve removed your volunteer experience from your profile. Now this section is clean.
How to Get Volunteering Experience
If you got excited about volunteering experience, there is also nothing easier than getting one.
There are special websites where you can start exploring opportunities. Depending on your areas of interests, you can choose to work with children, animals, defend peoples’ rights, or work with saving environment.
Just imagine: you can explore the world, while contributing to pozitive changes!
There are paid volunteer projects (that require you to pay a certain fee to cover costs), and free positions (where all the costs for your living and traveling are covered).
You can also opt for volunteering online, especially if you want to hone your skills. For instance, if you’re a developer, you can reach out to different volunteer projects and ask whether they need help with websites or apps, offering your help. For those people who don’t have any experience, such an opportunity is priceless — you’ll have the chance to list your first work and get yourself the first, shy portfolio.
As you can see, there is nothing easier than adding a volunteer experience to your LinkedIn profile. If you’ve gone a long way volunteering, you definitely can showcase your experience, because, usually communication & problem-solving skills that you gain during volunteering, helps a lot in business environment. therefore, there is no need to shy away from letting potential employers get acquianted with your experience & gained skills.
Good luck! 😉
