Volunteer Experience: LinkedIn Offers a New Way to Stand Out

Volunteering your time is not only a great thing to do, but it can also add to your skill base. After all, in the race to separate yourself from other job seekers, what you do in your free time could be the competitive differentiator that sets you apart. However, putting those skills on your resume can be complicated.

The good news: LinkedIn is now helping with this issue. As of two weeks ago, you can now add a “Volunteer Experience & Causes” field to your profile.

Your LinkedIn profile will show the causes you care about, the organizations you support and your experience with those organizations. In a world where you need to brand yourself, this is another necessary step for making that happen — whether you’re new to the job market and trying to break your way in, or a veteran professional looking to make a job change. Here’s why:

1.  It will help you get the word out about your skills.

2. It might be another connection with an interviewer.

3. It can help spread the word about the organization you help.

It’s  a win-win situation … so jump over to your LinkedIn profile now and give it a shot. It’s easy. Just log onto LinkedIn, click on your “Profile” tab, scroll down to the “Experience” pane to the “Volunteer Experience & Causes” section — and paste in your experience in the next screen, just like you did when you added your jobs to your “Experience” section when you first joined LinkedIn. If you don’t see a “Volunteer Expereince & Causes” section at the end of your “Experience” section, don’t worry. You can add it by clicking on the orange “New” icon just above your “Summary” that reads: “Add sections to reflect achievements and experiences on your profile.”