How do you put volunteer work on a CV?
Put volunteering that relates to the job under Experience, written like a job with role, organisation, dates and results, and mark it as voluntary. Unrelated but ongoing service goes in its own Volunteering section lower down.1
Written 13 October 2026. CitedCV. How we write our guides
Choose the heading before you write the entry
The placement decides how much weight the reader gives the role, so settle it first. Career services agree on the principle: volunteering is real experience, and the closer it is to the job, the higher it goes.
| Your situation | Where it goes | Who says so |
|---|---|---|
| The volunteering uses skills the job advert asks for | Experience (or Work experience), in date order with paid roles | UC Davis Career Center: career-related volunteering goes in Experience; Prospects: it can sit under Work experience |
| Ongoing commitment unrelated to the job | A separate Volunteering or Community Service section near the end | UC Davis: a Community Service section for meaningful activity not related to your goals |
| A student society or club role with responsibility | Leadership and Activities | Harvard template: formatted like Experience, and movable above it when more relevant |
| A one-off event or a single day | Usually nowhere, or one line under Activities | UC Davis: list activities with significant or ongoing time, not single events |
| A period out of work spent volunteering | Experience, so the dates close the gap | Prospects: do not be afraid to say you took time out to volunteer |
Short work history: lead with it
The National Careers Service tells first-job applicants to focus on skills from projects, work experience or volunteering, and to include placements, volunteering and paid jobs in the work history. If volunteering is most of what you have done, it is your experience section.
What a volunteer entry contains
- A role title with the word Volunteer in it, such as Volunteer Shop Assistant or Volunteer Maths Tutor.
- The organisation and the town or city.
- Start and end month and year, or "to date".
- The time commitment when it is part-time: "Saturdays, 4 hours" or "about 6 hours a week".
- Two or three bullets, each an action with a result, the same way you write paid roles.
Why the word Volunteer belongs in the title
GOV.UK states that volunteers are not paid for their time, though they may get expenses. An employer reading "Shop Assistant" next to a charity shop may assume a paid job and expect a payroll reference. Saying Volunteer up front avoids that mismatch and costs nothing; the work is no less real.
Write results, not good intentions
"Passionate about helping others" tells the reader nothing they can check. Write what you did and what changed: how many people, how much money raised, how many shifts, what you set up that kept running after you left.
One volunteer role written three ways
This is the worked example. Leah Morgan (invented) has spent two years at a food bank and is applying for three different jobs. The facts stay the same; the placement and the emphasis change. All names and numbers are made up.
Before: a duty list
"Food bank volunteer. Responsible for sorting donations, helping clients and other tasks as needed."
Version A: Experience entry for a logistics coordinator job
- Volunteer Warehouse Coordinator, Northside Food Bank, Leeds | Mar 2024 to date | Tuesdays and Saturdays, about 8 hours a week
- Rebuilt the stock rota for three donation points, cutting expired items thrown away from about 40 kg to under 10 kg a month.
- Train new volunteers on intake and stock rotation; 14 trained in 2025.
- Plan the weekly van route to four partner churches and two schools.
Version B: Volunteering section line for an accounts assistant job
"Volunteering: Warehouse coordinator, Northside Food Bank, Leeds, 2024 to date. Keep the weekly stock sheet and reconcile it against donation logs."
Version C: one line under Activities for a graduate scheme
"Weekly volunteer at a city food bank since 2024; coordinate stock and train new volunteers."
The facts do not grow between versions; only the selection does. If you cannot back a number with a record or a supervisor who would confirm it, write the line without it.
Matching volunteering to the job you want
The National Careers Service gives four pairings of volunteering and careers. The right-hand column is our example of the CV line each one produces.
| Target career | Volunteering NCS suggests | CV line it can produce (invented) |
|---|---|---|
| Nursing | Volunteering in a care home | Volunteer, Elmside Care Home: weekly activity sessions for 20 residents, two of them living with dementia |
| Media | A blog, or communications for a local charity | Volunteer Communications Assistant: wrote 30 posts and the monthly newsletter, 1,200 subscribers |
| Teaching or childcare | An after-school club, Brownies or Scouts | Assistant Leader, Scout troop: plan weekly sessions for 18 children aged 10 to 14 |
| Working with animals | Pet sitting or dog walking | Volunteer dog walker, rescue centre: two walks a week; trained to handle reactive dogs |
Checks an employer can make, and the sources here
References and background checks
Prospects notes that a volunteering supervisor can be named as a referee on later applications, which helps when you have little paid work. Roles with children or vulnerable adults often need a Disclosure and Barring Service check; the National Careers Service tells volunteers to sort out identity, references and DBS clearance in advance. An employer can ask the organisation to confirm your dates and role, so write them as the organisation would.
| Claim | Source, read 13 October 2026 |
|---|---|
| Career-related volunteering in Experience; Community Service section; ongoing, not single events | UC Davis Career Center, Resume, CV and Cover Letter Guide |
| Volunteering under Work experience; time out to volunteer | Prospects, How to write a CV |
| Supervisor as referee; skills gained | Prospects, Volunteering (August 2025) |
| Include volunteering in work history; first-job advice | National Careers Service, CV sections |
| Four career pairings; DBS clearance | National Careers Service, Advice on volunteering |
| Leadership and Activities can move above Experience | Harvard Mignone Center, bullet-point resume template |
| Volunteers not paid for their time | GOV.UK, Volunteering: pay and expenses |
What not to do with volunteering
- Do not inflate the title. "Event Manager" for helping at one fun run will not survive a reference call.
- Do not list a membership as volunteering. Paying a subscription to a charity is support, not work.
- Do not pad with single days if you have longer roles; UC Davis asks for significant or ongoing commitment.
- Think before naming a religious or political organisation. It can disclose beliefs you may not want to share; the hobbies and interests page covers that choice.
- Do not call a paid internship volunteering, or the reverse. Unpaid internships are their own question; label them as internships.
Where to go next
- Volunteering abroad through the European Solidarity Corps has its own profile and motivation statement; see the ESC page.
- If volunteering filled a period out of work, the employment gap page shows how to word the dates.
- If you won recognition for the work, such as a volunteer of the year award, list it on the awards page format.
- Prospects lists UK places to find roles, including Do-it, NCVO, Reach Volunteering and the national volunteer centres for Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.
CitedCV can write the entry from the facts you give it, unpaid roles included, and keeps each line tied to those facts. It cannot confirm the dates or numbers for you, so enter them as your records show.
Questions people ask
Does volunteer work count as work experience?
Yes. The National Careers Service tells applicants to include volunteering with placements and paid jobs in their work history, and Prospects says it can sit under Work experience.
Where do you put volunteer work on a resume?
Under Experience when it relates to the job, and in a separate Volunteering or Community Service section when it does not. UC Davis Career Center gives that split.
How do I list volunteer work with no paid experience?
Make it your Experience section. Write each role with title, organisation, dates and two results, exactly as a paid job, and put the word Volunteer in the title.
Should I put one-day volunteering on my CV?
Usually not. UC Davis asks for activities with significant or ongoing commitment; a single event fits one line under Activities at most.
Can I use my volunteer supervisor as a reference?
Yes. Prospects says you could name your volunteering supervisor as a referee on future job applications.
Should I say a role was unpaid on my CV?
Yes, put Volunteer in the title. It stops an employer assuming a paid job and expecting a payroll reference, and it takes nothing away from the work.
Should I include volunteering for a church or political party?
It is your choice. It can be strong evidence of a skill, but it also discloses beliefs; name the skill and decide on purpose whether to name the organisation.
How far back should volunteer experience go?
As far as it stays relevant. Ongoing or recent roles near the job stay; old, unrelated ones can go once your paid experience fills the page.
Sources
- UC Davis Internship and Career Center, Resume, CV and Cover Letter Guidecareercenter.ucdavis.edu/sites/g/files/dgvnsk15461/files/inline-files/CRM%20Resume%2C%20CV%2C%20and%20Cover%20Letter%20Guide%20%28Print%29.pdf
- Prospects, How to write a CVwww.prospects.ac.uk/careers-advice/cvs-and-cover-letters/how-to-write-a-cv
- Prospects, Volunteeringwww.prospects.ac.uk/jobs-and-work-experience/work-experience-and-internships/volunteering
- National Careers Service, CV sectionsnationalcareers.service.gov.uk/careers-advice/cv-sections
- National Careers Service, Advice on volunteeringnationalcareers.service.gov.uk/careers-advice/advice-on-volunteering
- Harvard College Mignone Center for Career Success, Bullet point resume templatecareerservices.fas.harvard.edu/resources/bullet-point-resume-template/
- GOV.UK, Volunteering: pay and expenseswww.gov.uk/volunteering/pay-and-expenses