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Meaningful and Marketable: Community Service in the Job Search

You've done a lot of community service and are beginning your job search...how can you communicate what you've done?

Highlight transferable skills in your resume. You have gained skills that can be applied in a varied of settings. The challenge is to translate these skills into a vocabulary understood by audiences outside the world of community service.

Demonstrate community involvement. In addition to developing “real life” skills, community service also demonstrates your ability and desire to be involved with your community. Employers often seek employees who value volunteering and community involvement.

Talk about your experience in interviews. Many employers who conduct interviews assume that past behavior is the best predictor of future behavior. Be able to draw meaning from your experiences and demonstrate your ability to utilize these lessons creatively to master new challenges.

Articulate competencies. Competencies you may have gained through community service include: interpersonal skills, oral and written communication, leadership, creative problem-solving, conflict management, ethics and values, flexibility, initiative, listening, dealing with paradox, perseverance, self-awareness, time management, work/life balance.

Visit the Career Center! The Career Center can provide help with your resume or interviewing skills, in addition to helping you explore careers in the non-profit service industry. Contact them at: (714) 278-3121, careercenter@fullerton.edu or stop by Langsdorf Hall 208.

Source: Washington University Office of Student Activities & Career Center

Use action verbs

Skills you may have gained through community service include:

  • Management/Leadership Skills: coordinated, established, improved, initiated, led, motivated, organized, oversaw, planned, reviewed, streamlined, strengthened, supervised.
  • Communication/People Skills: arranged, authored, collaborated, developed, directed, edited, negotiated, observed, participated, presented, proposed, publicized, summarized.
  • Research Skills: analyzed, collected, conducted, critiqued, examined, explored, gathered, identified, interviewed, organized, researched, reviewed, systematized.
  • Technical Skills: adapted, applied, calculated, designed, developed, installed, maintained, operated, repaired, standardized, upgraded, utilized.
  • Teaching Skills: advised, coached, communicated, coordinated, developed, encouraged, explained, facilitated, guided, instructed, motivated, taught, trained, tutored.
  • Financial/Data Skills: administered, allocated, analyzed, budgeted, calculated, managed, planned, prepared, projected, reduced, researched.
  • Creative Skills: acted, adapted, combined, conceptualized, created, designed, established, founded, initiated, integrated, introduced, modeled, planned, revised, revitalized.
  • Helping Skills: advocated, assisted, cared for, coached, collaborated, counseled, guided, helped, prevented, provided, represented, resolved, supplied, supported, volunteered.
  • Organizational/Detail Skills: arranged, catalogued, compiled, corresponded, generated, implemented, maintained, obtained, organized, processed, supplied.