How to Add Volunteer Experience to Your CV

Including volunteer experience on your CV is not just about filling space—it is about showcasing your dedication, skills, and the unique paths you have taken in your personal and professional development. When you add this experience to your CV, you tell potential employers that you are motivated, flexible, and driven by values. This can be particularly compelling in today’s competitive job market.

Volunteering with C.R.O.W. offers specific advantages. By participating in wildlife conservation, community education, or nonprofit management tasks, you not only gain practical skills but also demonstrate your ability to handle challenging situations with empathy and innovation. These roles require adaptability, problem-solving, and often, critical thinking, which are valuable assets in any professional setting.

For those with limited professional experience or individuals transitioning into new fields, your volunteer work can significantly enrich your CV. Highlighting your time with C.R.O.W. emphasises your skills and commitment to making a difference, which is a highly attractive quality to prospective employers looking for more than just qualifications—they are looking for character.

Why volunteer experience matters on your CV

Professional value of volunteering

Skills-based hiring is increasing in demand, especially with the need to balance tech and digital skills with human-led communication and management. Businesses are not just looking for people with the right technical aptitude, but strong communication and project management are just two examples of what makes you stand out. Volunteer work can help you showcase the new skills that are valuable across many industries and departments.

Equally, skills that showcase strong values that could align with the values of the business are a great way to stand out from the crowd. When you are researching a role or speaking to a recruiter, a good approach would be to find out the values of the business you are applying for and connect these to the values and approach you have taken through volunteering. – Salt Recruitment

Relevance to career development

Incorporating volunteer experiences into your CV can significantly enhance your career development, particularly by showcasing your soft skills and commitment to community values. Employers highly value these soft skills because they are necessary for effective communication and teamwork in the workplace.

Unique impact of volunteering with C.R.O.W.

Volunteering with C.R.O.W. provides unique opportunities that can profoundly impact your professional profile. Whether you are involved in wildlife rehabilitation, education, or digital marketing, each role equips you with specific skills and experiences that are directly transferable to many professional paths.

How to strategically position volunteer experience on your CV

When adding volunteer experience to your CV, where and how you position it can significantly influence how recruiters perceive your background.

Here’s how you can strategically place your volunteer experience to enhance your CV effectively:

When to include volunteer work in the experience section

This approach highlights the relevance of your volunteer work to your professional aspirations and positions you as a committed individual who has actively pursued experiences that develop your expertise and skills.

Creating a separate “Volunteer Experience” section

For those with more extensive professional backgrounds, volunteer work in South Africa can be featured in a separate “Volunteer Experience” section. This helps maintain the focus of your Professional Experience section on your paid roles while still providing a dedicated space to highlight your volunteer contributions.

When creating a separate section for volunteer work, it is important to include only high-impact, relevant volunteer roles. This ensures that your CV remains concise and focused on showcasing experiences that contribute significantly to your professional narrative. For instance, if you have taken on leadership roles or engaged in specific projects that have had a tangible impact, such as leading a fundraising campaign or developing a new educational program, these are worth mentioning. They provide concrete examples of your leadership, initiative, and impact in volunteer settings.

In both cases, the key is to tailor the presentation of your volunteer work to complement your overall professional story. Whether integrated with professional experiences or highlighted separately, your volunteer work should be a strategic and meaningful part of your career journey rather than just an addition to fill space. 

This thoughtful positioning can make your CV stand out in a competitive job market!

Don’t just rely on your CV to highlight your volunteer work. Use your LinkedIn profile to showcase your skills and experiences. Alongside updating your profile with the relevant key skills, take the opportunity to bring your volunteer journey to life. For example, imagery can capture your experiences, so be sure to feature them in your posts. If you want to showcase your writing or branding skills, consider publishing a LinkedIn article. With many businesses using LinkedIn as an extension to your CV through the interview process, it is a great way to share your experience. – Jenny Wood, Global Head of Marketing at Salt Recruitment

How to write impactful descriptions of volunteer roles

Use of action verbs and achievements

When describing your volunteer roles, choosing the right words is essential. Action verbs bring your experiences to life, painting a vivid picture of your capabilities and initiative.

Here are some tips on how to do it:

• Start strong: Use dynamic verbs to lead your descriptions, such as “coordinated,” “assisted,” “led,” and “developed.” These words immediately convey your active participation and leadership in various tasks.
• Be specific: Detail exactly what you accomplished, such as “Organised community clean-up events attracting over 100 participants each session”.
• Highlight leadership and initiative: Don’t shy away from showcasing your leadership roles and the responsibilities you undertook; for example,  “Led a team of 5 in supporting C.R.O.W.’s wildlife rehabilitation efforts by preparing enclosures, maintaining feeding areas, and following protocols to ensure minimal human contact, allowing animals to be successfully rewilded.” OR “Led a team of 5 in caring for injured wildlife by preparing enclosures, maintaining feeding areas, and following protocols to ensure minimal human contact, allowing animals to be successfully rewilded.”

Quantifying impact

Numbers speak louder than words. Quantifying your impact provides concrete evidence of your contributions and the extent of your involvement.

Here is how to effectively quantify your volunteer experiences:

• Use clear metrics: Attach numbers to your achievements to highlight the impact of your efforts, such as “Cared for over 300 animals annually, ensuring health assessments and treatment plans were executed.”
• Show growth: If your involvement led to improvement or growth, mention this with figures, for instance, “Increased social media engagement by 20% through targeted conservation awareness campaigns.”
• Measure outcomes: Where possible, relate your activities to tangible outcomes, like “Contributed to fundraising efforts that raised R10,000 for wildlife conservation.”

By using strong action verbs and quantifying your achievements, you make your CV stand out and provide potential employers with a clear and measurable snapshot of your skills and impact.

How to tailor volunteer experience to align with career goals

Linking Specific Roles to Career Fields

Volunteering with animals, especially at C.R.O.W., offers diverse roles that can be strategically aligned with your career aspirations.

Understanding how to frame these experiences on your CV can significantly enhance your appeal to prospective employers in specific sectors:

• Wildlife rehabilitation: Ideal for individuals aiming for veterinary medicine, wildlife conservation, or environmental science careers. Emphasise skills such as animal care, treatment plan development, and emergency response.
• Marketing and fundraising: Showcase this experience for roles in marketing, communications, or nonprofit management. Stress your expertise in social media strategy, content creation, public relations, SEO, and fundraising campaign management.
• Research: Perfect for those interested in ecology, biology, or conservation research. Highlight your involvement in data collection and analysis.
• Education and community outreach: Tailor this experience for careers in education, social work, or community development. Focus on your ability to design and deliver educational programs, engage diverse community groups, and foster awareness of important issues.
• Maintenance and agricultural specialists: For those targeting careers in agriculture, environmental management, or landscape architecture, mention your hands-on skills in habitat restoration, plant cultivation, and resource management.

Highlighting transferable skills

Regardless of the sector, certain skills universally enhance your employability.

Here’s how to connect these skills from your volunteer experiences at C.R.O.W. to the job roles you are targeting:

• Project management: Whether you led a fundraising initiative or coordinated a research project, illustrate how you defined goals, managed budgets, and led teams towards successful outcomes.
• Teamwork: Describe scenarios where you collaborated with other volunteers and staff to accomplish conservation tasks or community events. Highlight how these experiences have honed your ability to work effectively within diverse groups.
• Leadership: Reflect on any role where you took the lead, perhaps by managing a group of volunteers or spearheading a community outreach program. Emphasise your decision-making, motivation, and leadership style.
• Communication: Whether it was writing reports, conducting educational seminars, or crafting marketing materials, demonstrate your ability to clearly and effectively communicate across various platforms.

When describing these experiences on your CV or in interviews, align them with the requirements of the job description you are applying for. Tailor your descriptions to reflect the skills and qualities the employer is seeking. For instance, if the job emphasises innovative problem-solving skills, you might detail a time you developed a new approach to animal medication tracking that significantly improved the data collection process.

Our tips for strengthening your CV with volunteer experience

Link C.R.O.W. experience to personal values and community impact

Your volunteer experience can be a powerful testament to your values and commitment to making a difference.

1. Reflect personal values: Clearly communicate how your volunteer work with C.R.O.W. aligns with your personal values. For instance, discuss your dedication to environmental conservation or animal welfare and how these have driven your volunteer choices.
2. Mention community impact: Detail how your efforts have positively impacted the community or environment. This could be through specific initiatives like wildlife education programs that have led to increased public awareness and engagement.
3. Integrate into CV summary or cover letter: Consider including a statement about your passion for community or environmental work in your CV’s summary section or cover letter. This helps paint a picture of you as a well-rounded candidate with the skills and drive to make meaningful contributions.

Example statements for your CV or cover letter:

CV summary example:

 “Dedicated environmental science professional with extensive volunteer experience in wildlife rehabilitation and community education, seeking to leverage skills in project management and public engagement to contribute to sustainable conservation efforts at [Company Name].”

Cover letter example: 

“My volunteer experience at C.R.O.W. has not only equipped me with substantial skills in managing conservation projects but has also deepened my commitment to advocating for environmental issues. I am eager to bring this passion and expertise to the [Position Name] at [Company Name], where I hope to contribute to impactful sustainability initiatives.”

Your time volunteering at C.R.O.W. is more than just a charitable endeavour—it is a powerful, transformative experience that will equip you with unique skills, deepen your commitment to meaningful causes, and prepare you to make a real-world impact.

As you progress in your career, remember the experiences and skills you have gained at C.R.O.W. are not just noteworthy additions to your CV; they are testaments to your ability to lead, innovate, and engage with complex challenges.

C.R.O.W. has proudly collaborated with volunteers and interns from various universities, providing meaningful experiences that align with both their goals and our mission. 

If you haven’t yet had the chance to volunteer with us or are considering a return, we invite you to explore our volunteer opportunities to further enhance your skills and continue making a difference. 
If you are interested, contact us to discuss how we can shape an internship or volunteering experience, while offering valuable insight into wildlife conservation.