How to add volunteer experience on LinkedIn, step by step

Add volunteer experience on LinkedIn from your profile: click Add profile section, open the Additional group, and choose Add volunteer experience.Click Me, then View Profile.Click Add profile section and open Additional.Choose Add volunteer experience, fill in the organization and your role, then click Save.

The full walkthrough below adds the app steps, what to write and when volunteer work belongs somewhere else on your profile.

Where volunteer experience lives on your LinkedIn profile

Volunteer experience has its own profile section, and it sits in a group many people never open. LinkedIn's help page on adding profile sections splits the options into three groups:

• Core: About, Education, Position, Services, Career break and Skills.
• Recommended: Featured, Licenses & certifications, Projects, Courses and Recommendations.
• Additional: Volunteer experience, Publications, Patents, Honors & awards, Test scores, Languages, Organizations and Causes.

If you've looked under Core and not found it, that's why. Volunteer experience is in the Additional group.

Once you've added it, it becomes its own section on your profile, separate from your paid work.

How to add volunteer experience on LinkedIn on desktop

The whole process runs from the Add profile section button in your profile's introduction area, the part with your photo and headline. It takes a couple of minutes, most of which goes on writing a good description.

Open the section picker

1. Click the Me icon at the top of your homepage, then View Profile.
2. Click Add profile section in your introduction section.

Add and save the volunteer role

1. Open the Additional group and select Add volunteer experience.
2. Fill in the pop-up form, starting with the organization and your role.
3. Click Save.

The entry then shows in its own volunteer section on your profile. Revisit it whenever the role changes.

How to add volunteer experience in the LinkedIn app

On iPhone or Android:

1. Tap your profile picture, then tap your profile photo again to open your profile.
2. Tap Add section in your introduction section.
3. Open Additional and choose volunteer experience.
4. Fill in the page and tap Save.

The app and desktop add the same section, so use whichever is easier. For a longer description, a keyboard helps.

Pick the organization from LinkedIn's suggestions

When you type the organization's name, LinkedIn suggests matching organizations. Choosing one from that list is worth the extra second.

LinkedIn's nonprofit team explains why in its advice to volunteers on LinkedIn. Pick the organization from the suggestions, and its name and logo appear on your profile with a link to its LinkedIn Page.

That link does two things. It lets people see what the organization does without leaving LinkedIn, and it ties your entry to a real, identifiable organization.

If you type the name and skip the suggestion, you lose both. The entry reads as plain text, with no logo and no link.

What to write about your volunteer role

LinkedIn's nonprofit guidance asks volunteers to add their role and a few details about their duties and the impact their role had. That's a good brief.

A strong entry usually covers:

• What you did, in one plain sentence.
• Who it helped, such as the people, the community or the organization itself.
• One concrete result, where you have one.

For example: "Ran the weekend food bank shift, coordinated six volunteers, and set up the stock tracking sheet the team still uses."

Keep it short. Two to four lines is plenty, and it reads better than a paragraph of general statements about giving back.

The details the form asks for

LinkedIn's pages name the organization, your role and a description of your duties and impact. The form on your screen may include other fields as well.

Fill in everything that applies. Dates in particular help readers understand whether this is a current commitment or something from years ago.

If a field doesn't fit your situation, leave it blank rather than forcing something in. An empty optional field is better than a vague one.

Before you save, read the entry once as a stranger would. If it isn't clear what you did and for whom, add a line.

Volunteer experience vs the causes section

The Additional group has two sections that sound similar: Volunteer experience and Causes.

They serve different purposes. Volunteer experience is for roles you've actually held with an organization. Causes is a separate section for the issues you care about.

Use both if they both apply. Causes can show what matters to you even when you're not volunteering right now, and volunteer experience shows what you've actually done.

If you have to choose one, choose volunteer experience. A real role with a real organization says more than a list of interests.

When volunteer work belongs in your experience section

Some volunteer roles are substantial enough to sit alongside your jobs. LinkedIn allows that.

Its rules for the Experience section say an association must reflect professional experience with the named organization, and they list employment, contract work, official internships, volunteer experience and board service as examples.

So a board seat, a long-term leadership role or volunteering that's central to your career story can go in Experience. A few hours a month helping at an event fits better in the volunteer section.

A simple test: would you talk about this role in a job interview as work experience? If yes, Experience is reasonable. If not, keep it in the volunteer section.

Should volunteer work go on your LinkedIn profile?

For most people, yes. It shows skills, values and commitment that a job history alone might not.

LinkedIn has asked this question before. In a 2011 survey announced when it launched the volunteer field, LinkedIn found that 89% of U.S. professionals it surveyed had volunteered, but only 45% listed it on their resume.

The figures are old, but the gap they point to is familiar.

Volunteer experience is especially useful when:

• You're early in your career and have limited paid experience.
• You're changing fields and your volunteering relates to the new one.
• You've taken a career break and volunteered during it.

Volunteering during a career break

If you've stepped away from paid work, volunteer experience can fill in part of the story.

LinkedIn's Core group includes a Career break section, and the volunteer section sits in Additional.

The two work well together. The career break explains the gap; the volunteer entry shows what you did with some of that time.

Keep the tone matter-of-fact. You don't need to justify the break, and the volunteer role doesn't need to be framed as a job.

If the volunteering built skills you'll use in your next role, say so briefly in the description. That's the link a recruiter is looking for.

Finding volunteer opportunities through LinkedIn

Adding past volunteer work is one thing. Telling people you're open to new opportunities is another, and LinkedIn handles it separately.

LinkedIn's help page on finding volunteer opportunities describes an Open to option called Finding volunteer opportunities. There, you can set your areas of interest, your skills and your volunteering locations, including on-site, hybrid and remote.

LinkedIn says setting it makes you findable in People search. LinkedIn's people search also includes an Open to volunteering filter.

So if you want new volunteer roles, not just a record of old ones, set up both.

Show volunteer skills in your skills section

The skills you use as a volunteer are real skills. Your Skills section, in the Core group, is where they get counted.

If you've managed volunteers, run fundraising, organized events or handled a charity's social media, those are transferable skills. Add the ones that matter for the work you want next.

Then mention the skill in your volunteer description too.

A skill listed on its own is a claim; a skill tied to a real role is evidence.

Be selective. A focused list of relevant skills reads better than a long list of everything you've ever done.

Mistakes that weaken a volunteer entry

A few habits make volunteer experience less useful than it could be:

• Typing the organization's name without picking it from the suggestions, so there's no logo or link.
• Listing one-off events as ongoing roles.
• Writing a vague description, such as "helped out with various tasks".
• Leaving an old role as current long after it ended.

Each one is quick to fix. Open the entry, correct it and save.

Keeping volunteer entries up to date

Volunteer roles change more often than jobs. People move between organizations, take on new responsibilities or step back for a while.

Review your volunteer section when your circumstances change. Add an end date when a role finishes, and add a new entry when you take on something different.

If a role grew, update the description rather than creating a duplicate. One entry that shows progression tells a better story than two entries that overlap.

An up-to-date section also helps if you've set yourself as open to volunteering. Organizations can see what you've already done.

Your volunteer experience checklist

Work through these five steps:

• Add the section: Me, View Profile, Add profile section, Additional, Add volunteer experience.
• Pick the organization from LinkedIn's suggestions so its logo and Page link appear.
• Describe your role in two to four lines: what you did, who it helped, one result.
• Choose the right place: substantial roles such as board service can go in Experience.
• Look ahead: set Finding volunteer opportunities if you want new roles.

Open your profile now and add your most recent volunteer role first.

Volunteer experience FAQ

What if my organization doesn't appear in LinkedIn's suggestions?

You can still type its name. The logo and link to the organization's LinkedIn Page only appear when you pick it from LinkedIn's suggestions.

Can board service go in my experience section?

Yes. LinkedIn's Experience rules list board service, along with volunteer experience, among the associations that count as professional experience.

Why don't I see the volunteer experience option?

It's in the Additional group of Add profile section, not in Core or Recommended. Open Additional to find it.