Are you actively looking for a volunteer position? Would you like to make your community or the world a better place as you gain some experience? Well, applying for a volunteer program will come in handy. As a volunteer, you should expect to offer your time, expertise, and labor to different organizations, mostly schools, hospitals, and non-governmental organizations for free or for meager pay, mostly allowances.
After identifying a volunteer position, you should remember that you will need a perfect resume like in normal job applications. Therefore, take your time and prepare a detailed resume, a process we intend to walk you through. But first, let’s see what your position entails.
Position Description
Volunteering means doing something for free. Therefore, volunteers offer their expertise, labor, and time for free or for a small allowance depending on the organization. They are generally trained in the process and expected to report to either a senior manager or a supervisor. Some entities in need of volunteers include hospitals, non-governmental organizations, schools, animal shelters, and libraries among others. However, despite giving their expertise and labor without pay in many scenarios, they have several roles and responsibilities, which we will discuss in this next section.
Roles and Responsibilities
- Understanding their position’s requirements and attending to their roles diligently
- Understanding and respecting all the rules and safety guidelines provided by the organization.
- Working closely with other volunteers in their roles to meet the objectives of the organization
- Attending and completing all the required training, normally offered for free by the institutions.
- Asking questions whenever they are uncertain instead of acting out of their own counsel or relying on their decisions
- Maintaining high professional standards in their interactions with stakeholders and other volunteers
- Completing all the duties assigned to them, either independently or in collaboration with others
- Respecting the organization’s work standards when going about their tasks
- Keeping time while working and reporting any issues, however small, to their supervisors or senior managers
- Identifying areas in need of improvement in the workplace and making recommendations
- Writing reports and delivering presentations when called upon.
- Maintaining proper and regular communication with different stakeholders and the supervisor
- Participating in programs, activities, and events organized by the organization
- Collaborating with other team members and volunteers for the success of assignments
- Maintaining high levels of confidentiality regarding the organization’s secrets, records, and information
- Staying flexible and offering assistance where needed
- Welcoming new volunteers and bringing them up to speed on the organization’s processes and policies as well as their roles
- Taking part in orientations and subsequent meetings
Required Knowledge and Skills
- Excellent time management skills
- Ability to show respect
- Diligence and high levels of punctuality
- Ability to follow instructions to the latter
- A high degree of professionalism in the organization
- Reporting skills
- Knowledge of the relevant systems and processes
- Ability to work well in team settings
- Excellent organizational skills
- Strong work ethic
- Passion and compassion
- A positive attitude
- Willingness to help
- Relationship building skills
- Customer service skills
- Sales skills (will come in handy when collecting donations for a charitable cause or selling tickets to a fundraiser)
- Excellent problem-solving skills
- Creativity and critical thinking
- IT-related skills
- Ability to learn quickly
Experience and Education
You don’t need any relevant education for general volunteer programs, e.g., community service. However, you may need a level of education for industry-specific volunteer programs. For example, if you choose to volunteer for a nursing program, you will need a Bachelor’s degree or diploma in nursing or a related course. Therefore, depending on the program, it may be necessary to undergo the relevant training.
Salary
Some organizations pay volunteers, even though it may be in the form of allowances, and therefore, a few make some money from the volunteer programs. However, those being officially paid for their roles in volunteer programs are volunteering supervisors which Glassdoor estimates their median pay to be close to $55,000 dollars. Most volunteer supervisors make close to $60,000 a year.
Volunteer CV Example 1
Richard Cameron
Address: 578 Highlands Cir, Los Altos, California (CA)
Email address: cameronrich20@gmail.com
Phone number: (775) 457 890
Personal Profile
Passionate volunteer with 9+ years of experience participating in different volunteer programs in my region and nationally. Excellent team worker ready to help and advance my community. Confident volunteer with a high degree of professionalism, excellent communication, and teamwork skills, and a friendly attitude ready to make the world a better place
Volunteer Experience
09/2020- 07/2022, Hospital Volunteer, Premium Care Hospitals, Los Angeles CA
- Clocked 1000+ hours monitoring patients in collaboration with the nurses and medical practitioners
- Ensured that patients received high-quality healthcare by offering assistance to a team of 10 healthcare professionals, made up of nurses and doctors
- Skillfully offered reception support and responded to queries with the utmost respect and etiquette, attaining 99% positive customer feedback
- Offered guidance to 20+ parents and patients daily in filling out the required forms, contributing to positive customer ratings
- Mentored 50+ new volunteers on hospital processes and procedures, helping them blend in easily
- Ensured that the hospital’s reception was tidy and well-organized through routine cleaning, dusting and organization, improving its outlook by 70%
- Participated in 20+ fundraisers organized by the hospital that raised over $400,000 supporting the hospital’s missions and goals
- Proofread my reports and used several software applications such as Grammarly to ensure at least 99% accuracy
- Assisted 10+ patients daily in taking their meals
- Made regular rounds in 12 assigned rooms daily, ensuring that patients’ needs were attended to and informing the nurses in case of anything
- Spent two hours a day offering special therapy to patients in assigned rooms
- Closely monitored the records of 20+ patients, ensuring that they took medicine according to the instruction of the doctors
07/2019- 08/2020, Healthy Lives Hospital, Los Angeles, CA
- Observed an average of 15 patients’ physical conditions daily and documented physical symptoms
- Regularly reported to a team of 5 healthcare professionals made up of nurses and physicians
- Spent 3 hours offering occupational therapy to patients daily
- Welcomed patients and families at the reception, offering needed assistance and general information about the hospital, attaining 99% positive customer feedback
- Guided 60+ new volunteers on the hospital processes, rules, and procedures, ensuring that they blended in well in less than a week
- Executed other duties assigned by the supervisor dutifully and spent one hour in the evening reviewing my day
- Regularly communicated with 20+ patients daily, helping them take their meals and maintain proper hygiene standards
- Performed administrative tasks around the hospital, including responding to emails, answering the phone, organizing files, handling emails, and creating office schedules
- Prepared and managed 15+ professional tools and equipment
06/2018- 06/2019, Volunteer, Getwell Children Hospital, Los Angeles, California
- Interacted with 100+ children, reading them stories and offering any needed assistance
- Accumulated 3000 volunteer hours interacting with children, booking them into and out of the hospital, and playing around with them in their rooms
- Cleaned 20+ children’s rooms three times a day, keeping them tidy and well organized
- Distributed dolls and play toys weekly to 40+ children, ensuring that they were comfortable enough
- Raised a total of $50,000 for the children’s hospital through events and fundraisers that went into caring for the children at the institution
- Worked closely with 20+ volunteers to help patients gain admission into the hospital and ensure that they had a good stay
- Trained 40+ volunteers on how to keep kids happy and distracted from the hospital setting by playing with them and reading engaging stories
- Developed 10+ age and condition-specific games for recovering children, ensuring that they enjoyed their stay at the hospital
- Helped the nurses in monitoring five kids a day, reporting every behavioral or physical changes
- Identified 2 good books to read to the children daily, preventing boredom and repetitiveness
- Attended and participated in 5 child care training sessions weekly
- Kept the hospital surrounding clean in collaboration with 20 other volunteers through effective litter management
- Regularly communicated with the head nurses, learning at least three new medical vocabularies daily
- Interacted with the parents booking their children into the hospital and assuring them that we would take great care of their kids and that they had nothing to worry about, receiving positive customer feedback of 98%
- Maintained 100% confidentiality when and after handling patient files and medical records
Education
- 01/2018- 08/22(To finish in August), Bachelor of Science in Nursing, University of California, Los Angeles
- 01/2015- 08/2017, High School Diploma, Northside College Prep High School, Chicago
Skills
- Languages
- English
- French
- Croatian
Technical Skills
- Information technology savviness
- Reporting
- MS Word, MS Excel
- MS PowerPoint, MS Outlook
- CPR, First Aid
- Data Analysis
Soft Skills
- Collaboration, Organizational
- Communication, Interpersonal
- Willingness to help, Creativity
- Problem-solving, Teamworking
- Multitasking
Volunteer CV Example 2
Caren Bethany
Address: 859 S Midsize Ave Covina, California
Email address: bethanycaren56@gmail.com
Phone number: (678) 456-7789
Personal Profile
A certified public health officer with 10+ years of experience as a professional worker and volunteer. A charismatic and ardent team member ready to participate in different volunteering programs. A confident and highly skilled professional with excellent interpersonal and reporting skills.
Volunteer Experience
01/2021- 02/2022, Volunteer Camp Counselor, The Yearly Public Health Camp, Los Angeles
- Participated in the teaching and mentoring of 100+ attendees
- Collaborated with 25 camp counselors to teach students and aspiring public health specialists about the importance of public health
- Organized evening hikes and led groups of 25+ teenagers aged 15- 19
- Delivered 50 speeches on the benefits of public health and why everyone should uphold excellent health standards in the communities they live in
- Organized engaging group activities to keep the attendees’ focus at 100%
- Spent 3 hours a day talking to different groups and taking questions
- Employed conflict resolution and problem-solving skills to avoid incidents between 16-18-year-olds during camping activities
- Used my scouting experience in senior high school to teach 5+ survival skills to attendees, such as building a fire, building a shelter, basic first aid skills, tying knots, and hunting for food
- Increased attendee engagement by 50% by occasionally making them in charge of the camping expedition, e.g., by choosing the games they wish to play and the hiking routes to take
- Managed to convince 15+ teenagers to pursue public health in college
02/17- 08/2019, Animal Shelter Volunteer, Animal Care & Control California
- Promoted animal well-being by maintaining 15+ clean and organized animal boarding areas
- Promoted animals’ optimal health by keeping them clean and free from any contaminants
- Collaborated with 20 other volunteers to take care of 200+ animals, ensuring that they were healthy and clean
- Took part in 20+ fundraising programs organized by the animal shelter, raising $300,000 in revenue
- Performed administrative duties, including welcoming visitors to the animal shelter and offering the necessary information
- Participated in the receipt of 20+ dogs and 30 cats to the animal shelter
- Spent 2 hours a day monitoring the animals for any sign of injuries or illnesses and reported my findings to the supervisor
- Assisted pet owners in claiming 30 lost pets
- Occasionally worked at the counter collecting and recording license, impound board, and adoption fees with 100% accuracy
- Assisted in the daily cleaning and sanitizing of cages and kennels
- Conducted daily maintenance of animal meals and ensured that the linens were 100% fresh
01/2014- 03/2015, Hospital Volunteer, Afresh Medical Institution, San Francisco, California
- Helped transport an average of 25 patients to different institutions safely
- Spent 3 hours a day talking to patients and offering social therapy to ensure that they were comfortable
- Trained 30+ new volunteers, helping them blend in easily into the hospital setting
- Played administrative duties and helped redirect a daily average of 100 calls to the right recipient
- Maintained safety and zero accidents by adhering to instructions and procedures
Education
- 04/2008- 05/2012, Bachelor of Science (Public Health), University of California, Los Angeles
- Graduated cum laude
- 03/2003- 11/2007, High School Diploma, Sevens College Prep High School, Berkeley, California
Skills
- Languages
- English
- Zulu
Technical Skills
- First Aid, CPR
- MS Word, MS Excel
- Presentation
Soft Skills
- Communication, organization
- Multitasking, Interpersonal
- People skills, Supervision
- Problem-solving, Conflict resolution
Certifications
10/18, Certified Microsoft Excel Professional, Udemy
Volunteer Resume Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
1. Should I Always Include Volunteer Work Experience in My Resume?
Yes. We advise our readers to include volunteer work in their resumes for several reasons. First, it sheds more light on transferable skills whenever one is making a career or industry change. It also helps explain why you have a gap in your resume. You can easily tell the hiring manager that you left the workplace to volunteer, which is a plus in your interview. It will also give you the upper hand when applying for a job in an industry or organization that greatly values volunteer work.
2. What Should I Include in My Volunteer Resume?
Even though volunteering is not a professional or payable job, your volunteer resume should be as detailed as possible. Make sure that you partition it into sections, just like in a professional job resume. Therefore, include your education, contact information, resume summary or objective, work experience or volunteer experience, and skills. Although not necessary, you can add your projects and awards/certifications.
3. What Do I Do If I Don’t Have Any Experience?
As a rule, you should always include an experience section in your resume. However, what if you are at the beginning of your career? Well, simple. Instead of focusing on the volunteering experience that you lack, focus more on your skills and let the interviewer know that you are either willing to learn or are a fast learner. However, if this is the first volunteering position you are interested in despite having some experience in your career, highlight experiences where you went out of your way to help people without expecting anything, such as mentorships or training. However, if you are a student, the best option is to make a student resume which we will cover in one of our articles.
4. What Action Words Can I Include on My Resume to Make It Outstanding?
We advise you to try and make your resume as captivating as possible. One of the proven ways of doing that is using action words, which will help your achievements be outstanding. You can mention words such as launched, originated, spearheaded, initiated, introduced, formulated, drafted, conceptualized, designed, devised, or designed. These can also be referred to as power words, as they can strengthen your resume.
5. What Are Some of the Hard and Soft Skills Should Be in My Volunteer Resume?
Hard Skills are job-specific and technical. They include phone desk operation, data entry, Microsoft Office, CPR skills, and a range of other skills that will come in handy in your job. On the other hand, soft skills help you handle other non-aspects elements of your job. They include leadership, teamwork, communication, empathy, strategic thinking, and organizational skills. They must also be present in your resume’s skills section.
6. Are There Other Sections I Can Include in My Volunteer Resume Apart from My Work Experience, Education, Skills, and Certification Sections?
Your resume should sell you. Therefore, you can add a few sections to impress the hiring manager. You can include the awards and certifications section, where you will list the courses you have completed to improve your skills or any awards you have received in your line of duty as a volunteer. You should also include a language section covering all the languages you can speak. List your native language before arranging the others according to your fluency or proficiency. A detailed language section will come in handy and may even land you an internal volunteer opportunity.