Discover how and why including volunteering in your CV can enhance your skills and take your resume to the next level.
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Many young people find themselves writing their own CV with one question weighing more than others: is what I've done really enough to get me chosen? Volunteering, in these cases, is often present in the journey but neglected in the CV. Sometimes out of modesty, sometimes because it's not clear how to include it without seeming weak. Yet, if well structured, it can become one of the strongest elements of your entire profile. Including volunteering in your curriculum is not just a matter of filling space: it's a strategic choice. It demonstrates initiative, vision, ability to work with others even without financial gain. But to have real impact, it must be told in the right way, with concrete examples and attention to detail. In this article we see how to do it effectively, without forcing, with the goal of truly valuing who you are — even if your path is not yet full of professional experiences.
Why volunteering can make a difference in your CV
Volunteering tells much more than it seems. It's not a marginal activity, and whoever writes a curriculum without including it — if significant — is missing a concrete opportunity to stand out. In a world where recruiters receive dozens of similar CVs, made up of identical school experiences and standard skills, volunteering becomes a signal of authenticity.
What exactly does it demonstrate? First of all, personal initiative. No one forces you to volunteer. Those who do often choose to dedicate time and energy to something that has value for others. This tells a disposition to commitment that goes beyond "I only do what's necessary".
Second, it reveals adaptability. Many volunteering activities take place in unstructured contexts, with limited resources or in multicultural environments. Those with experience in this field have almost always had to improvise, collaborate, find quick solutions — all skills that companies today actively seek.
Finally, volunteering helps fill the silence. In the CVs of those starting out, it can happen to have few elements to include. But a concrete volunteering experience, well told, is worth more than a generic online course or a half sentence thrown into the "interests" section.
What recruiters really look for in volunteering experiences
When a recruiter reads the word "volunteering" in a CV, they're not looking for good deeds: they're looking for signs of professional behavior in non-mandatory contexts. The point is not to have volunteered, but how you did it. Duration, responsibility and context are three elements that can transform a simple activity into real added value.
Duration means commitment. An experience that lasted months or years, perhaps with some regularity, demonstrates consistency and reliability. Conversely, a one-day spot activity — if not well motivated — risks appearing as filler.
Responsibility makes the difference. Did you coordinate other people? Manage a project? Create content, plan activities, solve problems independently? Every time you had an active role in volunteering, not just an executive one, you're showing leadership, problem-solving, entrepreneurial spirit.
Context, finally, helps give depth. Volunteering with a structured organization, perhaps well-known, or in a multicultural environment, in difficult conditions or outside Italy, amplifies your profile's perception. But be careful: even "neighborhood" volunteering can be powerful, if told with honesty and clarity.
The recruiter looks for proof, not statements. If you can describe concretely what you did, how long it lasted, who you worked with and what you learned, you transform a free act into a real professional asset.
When it makes sense to include volunteering experiences
Not all volunteering experiences deserve a place in the CV, and it's important to understand this before writing. Including them "anyway" can be counterproductive, especially if they risk seeming forced, irrelevant or included just to fill space.
The first criterion is consistency with the role you're applying for. If you're aiming for a position in social, education, third sector or humanitarian field, it's clear that any well-structured volunteering activity strengthens your application. But even in more "classic" business contexts, certain experiences can become strategic — as long as you know how to highlight the transversal skills you developed (leadership, teamwork, stress management, communication).
The second criterion is experience quality. If you volunteered for two hours at a booth once, it's hard to extract anything useful for the CV. But if you actively participated in a project, took on responsibilities, gave continuity to your commitment, then it's worth telling.
The third criterion is linked to career stage. In junior profiles, volunteering is often the only space to show concrete abilities. In these cases it makes all the sense to include it. In a senior CV with years of structured work experience, meanwhile, it might take a back seat — but it can still make sense if consistent with company values or target role.
A good CV is always a reasoned selection, not an exhaustive list. Volunteering should be included when it adds something that would otherwise be missing or reinforces a specific message about your profile.
Where and how to write volunteering in your curriculum
How you present volunteering in your CV can completely change the impact it has on the selector. Including it in a generic way or relegating it to the bottom of the document makes it invisible. Placing it strategically and describing it with precision, however, can make it emerge as a genuine strength.
The first choice to make is where to position it. If the experience is particularly relevant to the role you're applying for — for example, you tutored struggling students and you're applying for a training position — you can include it in the "Professional Experience" section, provided you clearly specify that it's volunteering. This way, the message is strong: "I did something relevant, even though it was unpaid".
If instead the experience is significant but less directly related to the role, the ideal section is "Extracurricular Activities" or "Volunteering Experiences". It's an elegant choice, showing transparency and valuing the activity without forcing.
How you write it matters as much as where. Avoid vague descriptions like "Helped at a local association" or "Participation in charitable initiatives". Be concrete: indicate the organization, period, role, activities performed and, if possible, results achieved.
Here are some effective formulations you can use and adapt to your case:
- Association XYZ - Treviso (2022 - today) - Volunteer responsible for logistics support for social events. Coordination of a team of 5 people, supplies management, contact with suppliers and sponsors.
- "After-school Solidarity" Project - Padua (March - July 2023) - Tutoring activities for middle school students in fragile socio-economic context. Weekly Italian and math lessons, management of relationships with families and teachers.
- Food Bank - Milan (December 2021) - Active participation in the national food collection day: collection, cataloging and distribution of food.
These are concise, clear examples, and show in a few lines real skills: management, communication, reliability.
Instead avoid impersonal or too generic phrases, and don't dwell on irrelevant details (e.g. personal motivations or emotions). The CV is not a motivation letter: it's a positioning tool.
The most effective soft skills to highlight through volunteering
Volunteering is one of the richest contexts for developing authentic soft skills — often more deeply than many work experiences. The problem is that CV writers tend to write them vaguely, or list them without showing them. But a soft skill is worthless if not backed up by a concrete example.
Which are the strongest to highlight? It depends a lot on the type of activity you did, but some transversal skills emerge almost always.
Which are the strongest to highlight? It depends a lot on the type of activity you did, but some transversal skills emerge almost always. Teamwork ability: almost every volunteering experience involves interaction, coordination, managing activities with others. If you collaborated with a group, tell about it. Specify the type of team, common goals, your contribution.
Effective communication: if you interacted with the public, managed relationships with users, families, beneficiaries or sponsors, you developed real communication skills. This is essential especially in customer-facing or relationship roles.
Problem-solving and adaptability: in volunteering, you often work in unstructured contexts. If you had to face unexpected events, find quick solutions or adapt to complex situations, don't take it for granted. These are valuable skills.
Leadership: if you coordinated activities, people or small projects, even informally, you can legitimately cite operational leadership. You don't need to have had a formal title: just describe the role you played and the result.
An easy way to bring out soft skills is to use the formula: action + context + impact. For example: "Management of the fundraising shift during a local charity event, with coordination of 10 volunteers and exceeding the target by 15%."
You don't need to use the term "soft skills" in your CV. But you need to show them, clearly. Volunteering is the ideal place to do it.
Volunteering, CV and lack of experience: how to manage the void
Many find themselves filling out their first CV with a sense of emptiness. No work experience, no internships, maybe just a few college courses. It's a common situation, especially among those who just finished school or changed paths. In this scenario, volunteering becomes a key resource to give shape and substance to your profile.
In these cases, you shouldn't fear "filling" with volunteering: you should value it. Whoever reads your CV doesn't expect you to have ten years of experience if you're applying for a junior position. They expect consistency, clarity and willingness to work. Volunteering — if told well — communicates all of this.
Insert it in a strategic position: not at the bottom, but near experiences or right after training. Show that you've practiced, even in unpaid contexts, some of the skills that will be needed in work. And if the experience is recent, even better: it demonstrates current involvement and active participation.
Avoid justifying yourself or writing phrases like "having never worked...". You don't need to explain what's missing, but enhance what's there. An effective CV is not the full one, but the credible one.
Also include extracurricular activities: organization of school events, peer tutoring, participation in Erasmus+ projects, well-managed school-to-work programs. Everything that can show operational skills, initiative and responsibility helps fill the apparent gap of a CV without classic experience.
When volunteering becomes a strength in your CV
Waiting to have a "perfect CV" is one of the most common mistakes. But the truth is that a good curriculum isn't born when everything is complete, but when you start building it with awareness. And volunteering is one of the first foundations you can lay, right from the start.
Whether you've already had experiences or not, the right time to start including volunteering in your curriculum is now. Because every activity tells something: who you are, how you move through the world, how you manage relationships and how willing you are to put yourself on the line even without receiving something in return.
Don't wait to have a job to feel "authorized" to talk about yourself. Start from what you've already done — even if it seems small — and use it to define your profile with clarity, concreteness and pride. An effective CV doesn't lie and doesn't exaggerate: it tells with clarity what matters. And volunteering, if well written, matters a lot.
Frequently asked questions about volunteering in CV
Does volunteering count as professional experience?
Yes, if it's continuous and well-structured. It demonstrates commitment, relational skills and operational abilities even without pay.
Better to include it under "experience" or in a separate section?
It depends on relevance: if consistent with the role, it can go under experience. Otherwise better "Extracurricular Activities".
How to enhance volunteering if I have little work experience?
Tell role, context and what you learned. Focus on transversal skills useful outside volunteering too.
Should short volunteering go in the CV?
Only if relevant for the role. Short but intense activities can be useful, but avoid what appears marginal.