How to list volunteer work experience on your resume

Are you looking for a job? Thinking about a career change? Want to just earn a little extra money? Reach deep to discover and articulate more of your skills and you can land the position of your dreams.

Whatever your situation, you may find yourself wanting to showcase some of your non-paid work experiences. What constitutes non-paid work experience? Here are some examples:

1. If you've ever led an organized group for children, you have non-paid experience under your belt. Being a Cub Scout Leader, Girl Scout Leader, or Eagle Scout Leader involves numerous skills and talents. More about that later.
2. Volunteer stints certainly count. If you've ever been a volunteer, you know the dedication, skill, and work it requires.
3. Being a member of your local school's Parent-Teacher Organization (PTO) can be considered non-paid work experience.
4. Serving on community committees would certainly count.
5. Perhaps you've done a lot of babysitting over the years for neighbors, friends, and family members. Babysitting requires many skills that can be showcased on a resume or in an interview.

Exploring Skills and Experiences

Determining the skills used and the tasks completed for each non-paid work experience takes a little time. Let's consider the above-listed examples and review sample skills and duties for each.

• Responsible for management of weekly meetings.
• Performed scheduling duties: Set schedules for when, where, and how long to meet
• Utilized planning skills to plan weekly, monthly, or yearly activities.
• Demonstrated organizational skills: Gathered necessary supplies, produced appropriate purchase orders, and selected materials.
• Designed and managed the budget.
• Prepared reports for the local organization that oversaw the group.

• Consistently reported for duties on time and followed all instructions.
• Performed sorting and delivery of daily mail twice per week.
• Planned and carried out mass mailings of program materials.
• Provided unpaid staff leadership during the Supervisor's absence.
• Designed and wrote the monthly program Newsletter.

• Acted as Committee Chair for fundraising events.
• Planned and coordinated fundraising events for the school.
• Served as Co-Chair of Meet and Greet Committee.
• Developed activities to encourage more parents to join PTO.
• Responsible for increasing PTO membership by 3% per year over a three-year period.

• Developed marketing flyers.
• Coordinated meetings of Welcome to Our Town staff.
• Supervised volunteer staff of four. Supervising volunteers can be a weighty asset; most hiring managers know how challenging it can be to manage people who aren't being paid.
• Responsible for setting up exhibits and providing information about the town at local publicity events.
• Conducted phone interviews with new community members.

• Provided childcare to four children, ages 2 to 4, Monday through Friday, over a two-year span.
• Planned, organized, and conducted field trips and tours to local museums and parks for the children.
• Kept documentation on each child to share with parents regarding the child's behavior and activities throughout the day.