Volunteer CV Example & Writing Guide

Giving to your community could be more than a rewarding pastime. In fact, volunteering could be giving something back to you. According to the Royal Voluntary Service, volunteers were 25% more likely to report improved health. But to land the volunteer opportunity of your dreams, a well-written volunteer CV could be the key.

Since volunteers can be of any age and from any background, you could find yourself working alongside people of varying levels of experience. Are you a student looking to gain some experience? Or a seasoned professional wanting to give back? Wherever you fall on the spectrum, you’re sure to have something to offer. Yet when it comes to communicating that on your CV, it’s totally natural to feel a bit like a fish out of water. That’s where we want to help!

Resume.io has helped job and work experience seekers with CV guides and CV examples for dozens of professions. We can help you to prepare — and even polish, with the help of our handy CV builder — a CV that sells your value and your skills.

This CV guide, along with the corresponding CV example will cover the following topics:

• What does a volunteer do?
• How to write a volunteer CV (tips and tricks)
• The best format for a volunteer CV
• Advice on each section of your CV (summary, work history, education, skills)
• Professional CV layout and design hints.

What does a volunteer do?

As a volunteer, you give your time to activities that benefit others. Volunteering opportunities are as varied as the causes that need support. The type of volunteer experience you’re pursuing could be formal and structured or in a more informal capacity within the local community. 

Just remember that volunteers are not covered by employment law. While volunteer positions are unpaid, it can boost your CV with real work-life experience which can lend itself towards landing your first job. Or it could even allow you to shift gears and pursue a new career path. It’s also an excellent networking opportunity. Not to mention, there are plenty of good causes out there that need help and support from capable individuals like you.

How to write a volunteer CV

The very first step in writing your volunteer CV is understanding what sections to include. Your CV should contain the following elements:

• The CV header
• The CV summary (aka profile or personal statement)
• The employment history section
• The CV skills section
• The education section

While many organisations are simply pleased to have the offer of some help, you should still consider how you will present your profile in your CV. Take some time researching the organisation where you are applying to volunteer. This will help you to strategise how you are going to fill out each section of the document. Which of your previous experiences will be most pertinent and impressive for them?

Your goal is to use your CV to paint a picture of why you have a profile that could add value, specifically to the type of activities you want to help with. After all, just because it’s not a paid role doesn’t mean they want to let just anyone into their team.

Choosing the best CV format for a volunteer

For most profiles, the ideal CV format is reverse chronological. This format focuses on your employment history. Volunteers without many professional roles under their belt can write about their unpaid work experience. Or they can explore an alternate format such as the functional CV format.

Technical and scientific roles often favour the functional CV format, which emphasises specific skills over work history. For a balanced approach, the combination or hybrid CV format combines both, which would be suitable for many types of volunteer roles. You can better consider what the best CV format for you is in our dedicated guide.

CV header

A clear and personalised CV header can be a great way to make a good impression. As well as needing to be reader-friendly, it is also an opportunity to brand your CV based on the type of volunteering you want to do. So, remember to make sure your CV header includes your name, your title, and your contact details. 

CV summary example: your compassionate contributions

Your CV summary or profile typically appears just beneath the header. The summary should give the organisation a snapshot of the kind of volunteer that you could be. This is done by summarising your key experiences and traits that you would bring to the role.

The summary should be three to four sentences that focus on your key accomplishments and experience in the context of this particular volunteering role. If you’re struggling to think of good material, consider responsibilities you’ve carried out and accomplishments you’ve demonstrated that align with the tasks that would be asked of you in this volunteering role. Alternatively, you can lean on any type of experience you’ve had in a similar sector. 

The CV sample content below is a good place to start when deciding how to craft your CV summary. 

Employment history sample: your philanthropic past

While the employment history section on a traditional CV is reserved for just that, it’s acceptable on a volunteer CV to include unpaid work experience. Feel free to rename this section “Previous experience” or similar, in order to more accurately label the section.

So, just how do you fill out this section? Just like an enriching experience as a volunteer, your life is sure to have been full of experiences that make you the skilled and compassionate person that you are. Think about the best experiences in your past that communicate this and list them in reverse chronological order. 

For each experience, create a subheading with the role title, the organisation where it was carried out, the dates of engagement, and location. You can list bullet points that detail your responsibilities and achievements during your time in the role.

Remember to focus on making your bullet points vivid and clearly detail the contribution that you made. If you’re stuck on what to write, think about the results you’ve achieved in specific work projects. Or consider the best examples of tasks you carried out that accurately frame the skills  you gained. Use strong action verbs and quantify your achievements with numbers to communicate the part you played vividly and succinctly.

CV skills example: caring and competent

A carefully considered skills section is just as much about telling the organisation who you are as it is telling them about what you’ve done. An effective skills section for a volunteer CV will include a balanced mix of soft skills and hard skills.

While the hard skills will tell you more about the competencies you can contribute to the organisation, your soft skills are much more about how you carry out tasks. In fact, it can get right down to the core of who you are as a person. 

Your organisational skills, compassion, or problem solving are examples of soft skills that are equally as important as any hard skill that you can bring to the table. Examples of technical or hard skills can range from language skills, to first aid knowledge or research know-how and much more.

Volunteer CV education example

While your schooling may not be the focus of your volunteer CV, it’s still useful for the organisation to understand your educational background. List subheadings for each entry in this section in reverse chronological order. Each should correspond to a formal education qualification. 

For each subheading you should include the education institution’s name, location, dates attended, and most importantly the name of your qualification.

CV layout and design: first impressions

Your CV design is part of the visual communication of the document. Just like the carefully curated content of your volunteer CV, make sure your CV’s layout is equally as clear and intuitive to understand. 

The best way to do this is to opt for a simple and cohesive colour scheme and no more than two fonts. Leave space between each section, but try not to end up with a CV document that’s longer than one or two pages. Finally, export and share your CV in a PDF format.

If you’re not quite sure how to go about implementing these tips, then you can consider using one of our field-tested CV templates.

Key takeaways for a volunteer CV

1. As a volunteer you can expect to receive some great benefits just from the act of giving back.
2. Your volunteer CV example needs a strong summary to clearly communicate the value that you can bring.
3. You can separate your professional and volunteer experience into two separate sections, or combine them as one if you’re still gaining experience.
4. Don’t forget to put equal consideration into the visuals of your volunteer CV.