LinkedIn data has found a fifth of hiring managers have employed a candidate due to their volunteer work experience, leading the site to add a “Volunteer Experience & Causes” field to users’ profiles.
Users of the professional networking site can now add volunteer positions, causes they care about and organisations they support to their profiles.
The addition to the site comes after LinkedIn surveyed over a thousand professionals and found that 77 percent have had experience volunteering, but just 46 percent include this experience on their resume.
“A majority of professionals in Australia have had volunteer experience but perceive it to be separate or irrelevant to their current profession,” LinkedIn ANZ Managing Director Cliff Rosenberg said.
“You may be a sales person by trade, but if you organised a fundraising event, you can add skills, like event planning or event marketing, to your profile. Having those additional skills can set you apart and potentially make you a more attractive employee and business partner.”
47 percent of the professionals surveyed said that when evaluating candidates, they consider volunteer work equally as valuable as paid work experience. 22 percent of hiring managers revealed they’ve made a hiring decision based on a candidates volunteer work experience.
To add the “Volunteer Experience & Causes” field to your LinkedIn Profile:
- After logging in, click “Profile” at the top of LinkedIn.
- Click the “Add Sections” hyperlink.
- Select “Volunteer Experience & Causes.”
- Click the “Add to Profile” button and then fill out the applicable fields.
