Jeff G.
Group Talent Acquisition Manager
Jeff’s Enterprise Mobility story started in West Virginia. After wrapping up his college football career, his focus on teamwork made him the perfect candidate for our Management Trainee program. From here, he moved on to become an Assistant Manager, Branch Manager, and eventually a Talent Acquisition Specialist. This is where Jeff discovered a new passion — finding, developing, and retaining top talent. Over the past nine years, Jeff has continued to advance his career in the field of Talent Acquisition and Human Resources, with his skills and love of collaboration leading him to become a Group Talent Acquisition Manager!
Turning Volunteer Experience into Professional Work Experience
Imagine you’re a candidate interviewing for a customer service job, but the only work experience you have is working on an assembly line in a factory. The interviewer asks you to give an example of a time you went above and beyond for a customer. What would you say?
In my role as a Talent Acquisition Manager, I spend a ton of time reviewing resumes and conducting interviews. Resumes are a strong indicator of whether or not a candidate is suited for a role. If I see relatable experience, there’s a good chance that the candidate will be able to provide stories and examples that highlight the core competencies we look for. If If I don’t see relatable experience, I’m going to have concerns about the candidate’s ability to answer my questions with applicable examples.
Let’s switch the scenario up a little bit and add volunteer experience to your resume in this example. When I receive your resume, I see that you spend time at a food pantry serving members of your community. I could then ask about your volunteer role. This opens the door for you to explain that you volunteer several times each year serving meals to your neighbors. You may not think of that as conventional “customer service” experience, but you know who probably would? The interviewer! And I’d be willing to bet that if you included that volunteer experience on your resume, the interviewer would count that as part of your years of experience.
If you’re looking for an internship or are early in your career, consider sharing examples of volunteer experience to strengthen your resume. You’ll often be asked in an interview, “Can you give me an example of a time you went above and beyond for a customer?” This is a behavioral-based interview question that many Fortune 500 companies use to make hiring decisions. When providing these examples, remember that we’re looking for real stories from your past where you’ve performed a similar task. Experience you gain volunteering is just as valuable as the experience you’d gain in a paid job. Use it to your advantage.
As you are thinking about your future career, are there any skill sets or competencies that you'd like to gain or improve upon? Thinking about this could help you be intentional when filling any gaps in your resume. If you’re interested in a career in sales and know you’ll be asked to share some stories relating to your people skills, I recommend volunteer opportunities that will put you in front of people versus ones that may be purely labor based. If you’ve found that teamwork is an important competency for a role you’re interested in, make sure you’re volunteering with organizations that require collaboration.
Lastly, you need to decide how to include this information in your resume. There are a couple of common formats that work well. I would recommend including a section specifically labeled as “volunteer experience” or adding it to your chronological work experience. When you include the time you spend volunteering on your resume, you also share your connection to one of our founding values at Enterprise Mobility. We believe in strengthening the communities we serve through volunteerism and philanthropy.
I hope you now know that volunteering could be the x-factor in moving to the next round or landing the job. If you aren’t confident in your work experience, this is a tried-and-true way to both support your community and to develop the skills and stories that will help you secure your dream job.
