Using Nonprofit Volunteer Experience in Job Hunt
Encourage Volunteers to Leverage Volunteer Work Experience on Resume
Aug 18, 2009
A nonprofit organization can work together with its volunteers to augment volunteers’ professional resumes with details of their volunteer work. This partnership further enriches the relationship of volunteers and the organizations they support.
Ways for Nonprofits to Help Job-Seeking Volunteers
Many of today's volunteers are able to donate time to charities because they are un- or under-employed in the current economy. While these volunteers spend hours distributing hot meals, building homes for the homeless and collating handouts for fundraisers, the very nonprofits they are helping can help them.
Consider these ideas for helping un- or under-employed volunteers:
- Keep volunteer job descriptions up-to-date and make sure volunteers have a copy. The nonprofit organization's job language can be transferred directly onto resumes. This will also help volunteers understand their contributions to the organizations so they can represent their work accurately in interviews.
- Offer a reference for volunteers. Having a nonprofit executive testify to the dedication and skills of a volunteer can be a very strong recommendation.
- Support networking between volunteers. Make sure volunteers have a chance to mix-and-mingle with fellow staff (paid and unpaid). 70 to 80 percent of hires are a result of networking, reported Bonna Johsnon in "Volunteer Work Fills Gaps Between Jobs" (August 14, 2009, The Tennessean).
Job Candidates Should be Proactive With Nonprofit Experience
"At a time when everyone is searching for an edge in today's tough job market, more professionals say volunteer gigs help them sharpen rusty skills, learn new ones and beef up resumes that could help them land jobs as the economy improves," says Johnson.
Jeff Allen agrees. "If you've served in any volunteer capacity- PTA officer, nursery school board of directors, city commission, election campaign- you've got management, leadership and organizational experience that can directly apply to the target job," writes Allen in Jeff Allen's Best: The Resume (1990).
“The more relevant work experience you can put on a resume the better, even if it’s from a volunteer position,’’ says Boston career consultant Andrew Brown in the August 3, 2009 Boston Globe article "Volunteers Discover Another Path in Job Hunt."
Job seekers should build relationships with their volunteer managers and be sure their nonprofit contacts are aware of their interest in new opportunities. Nonprofit staff, by virtue of their chosen profession, want to help.
Nonprofit Organizations Should Consider Hiring Volunteers as Paid Staff
When a paid position becomes available, nonprofit organizations are smart to look to the volunteers that have been staffing them. Nonprofits should circulate job openings to all within the organization, including volunteers. Consider setting up a process for internal candidates and encouraging volunteers to apply.
In a time when volunteerism is at a high due to a distressed job market, nonprofit organizations should consider ways to assist their volunteers. To do so will encourage continued volunteerism even when such extreme un- and under-employment passes.
Related Article: Making the Most of Nonprofit Volunteers
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