What does a recruiter see when they visit your LinkedIn profile? Hopefully they see a descriptive headline, a summary that highlights your experience and accomplishments, and a work experience section with measurable results that show your skills. But there is even more that you can add to your profile to show the recruiter or hiring manager who you are and why they should hire you.
In this article, you’ll learn how to add volunteer experience to your LinkedIn profile and a few best practices to keep in mind.
Why add volunteer experience to your LinkedIn profile
Adding volunteer experience to your LinkedIn profile is an easy way to add a little bit of you to your professional profile. Maybe you paint houses in low-income neighborhoods every spring, or maybe you spend your Fall break feeding the hungry at a soup kitchen.
Even if your volunteer experience doesn’t relate directly to your profession, a hiring manager will learn a lot about your work ethic through it.
Volunteer experience can also help improve your LinkedIn profile if you’re new to the workforce, changing careers, or have an employment gap due to a layoff. It may even give you the opportunity to include transferrable hard skills that can help hiring managers locate your profile when using the LinkedIn search function.
How to add volunteer experience: Quick guide
- Log into your LinkedIn account.
- Click on the “Add profile section” button located in your bio.
- In the pop-up, click on Additional and then “Add volunteer experience”.
- Fill in the form and click “Save”.
How to add volunteer experience: Step-by-step guide with pictures
- Log into your LinkedIn Account.
- Click “Add Profile Section” in your bio.
- In the pop-up, click on Additional and then “Add volunteer experience”.
- Fill out the Volunteer Experience section form and click “Save”.
Tips for adding volunteer experience to LinkedIn
- Include as much detail as possible about your volunteer experience.
- Highlight the impact of your volunteer work. Mention specific tasks you completed, challenges you faced, and the results of your efforts.
- Add any relevant skills or achievements you gained through the work. This can include hard skills like public speaking, software experience, or tradecraft and soft skills like leadership, communication, teamwork.
- Be ready to talk about your volunteer experience if it comes up. Prepare a deeper summary of the work and even stories that give the hiring manager a better understanding of your involvement.
LinkedIn Optimization for Job Seekers
Find out what skills your LinkedIn profile is lacking by running your resume through Jobscan’s LinkedIn Optimization tool. It will give you suggestions for improvement based on the type of jobs you’re interested in.
With the information you gain from LinkedIn Optimization, you may even be able to weave some important keywords into your Volunteer Experience to make your LinkedIn profile more searchable by hiring managers.
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