Resume Volunteer Section Format: Adding Value Through Community Experience
Volunteer experience can add valuable keywords, demonstrate leadership skills, and fill employment gaps on your resume. When formatted correctly, volunteer work is parsed and scored by the ATS just like professional experience. This guide shows when and how to include volunteer work for maximum impact.
When to Include Volunteer Experience
Include volunteer experience when it adds relevant skills or keywords not covered by your professional experience, fills an employment gap with productive activity, demonstrates leadership, community involvement, or values alignment, or when you're a new graduate with limited professional experience.
Volunteer work is particularly valuable for career changers who need to demonstrate skills in their new field. If you volunteered as a web developer for a non-profit while working in sales, that volunteer experience adds technical keywords to your resume.
Don't include volunteer work just to fill space. If it doesn't add relevant keywords, demonstrate applicable skills, or address a specific gap, it's taking space from more impactful content.
Volunteer Entry Format
Format volunteer entries similarly to work experience for ATS consistency:
Volunteer Web Developer Habitat for Humanity, San Francisco, CA January 2022 β June 2022 β’ Redesigned organization website using WordPress and PHP, increasing online donations by 25% β’ Created responsive design improving mobile user experience for 3,000+ monthly visitors
This format gives the parser the same structure it expects from work entries: title, organization, dates, and achievement bullets.
| Element | Include | Format As |
|---|---|---|
| Role title | Always | Descriptive title (Volunteer Web Developer) |
| Organization | Always | Full organization name |
| Dates | Always | Same format as work experience |
| Location | Recommended | City, State |
| Achievements | Always | 2-4 bullets with keywords and impact |
Volunteer Section Placement
Place volunteer experience in a dedicated 'Volunteer Experience' or 'Community Involvement' section after your professional Work Experience and Education.
Alternatively, if volunteer work is your primary source of relevant experience (career changers, new grads), include it within or immediately after the Work Experience section.
For senior professionals with extensive volunteer leadership (board memberships, committee chairs), a dedicated section demonstrates community engagement and leadership breadth.
Pro Tips
Format volunteer entries like work experience: title, organization, dates, achievement bullets
Include volunteer work that adds relevant keywords or demonstrates applicable skills
Use the same date format and bullet structure as your professional experience
For career changers, volunteer work can demonstrate skills in your target field
Place in a dedicated section after Work Experience unless it's your primary relevant experience
Common Mistakes to Avoid
Including irrelevant volunteer work that doesn't add keywords or demonstrate applicable skills
Formatting volunteer entries differently from work entries, confusing the parser
Not including achievement bullets, missing keyword opportunities
Placing volunteer experience before more relevant professional experience

