By Vajitha Ghouse
High school students graduating in the 2021-22 school year require a minimum of 20 hours of community involvement.
With volunteer opportunities getting more competitive and you have no work or volunteer experience, you may wonder what to write in your resume. Follow these five tips to get started.
- Do Your Research
Research the types of experiences you want to gain. Non-profits, hospitals, charities, environmental organizations, libraries, or community centers are great places to start. Check their website for volunteer roles available, qualification requirements, and subscribe to newsletters so you can be alerted to new opportunities.
- Describe Who You Are
Capture the attention of the employer with a good profile section in your resume. This is the first section they see, so make it punchy. Add 3-5 sentences briefly describing who you are, your career aspirations, types of volunteer opportunities you are seeking, and your skills.
- Build Up Education Section
Showcase your academic achievements. Include your core subjects and projects. What skills did you use to complete projects? Teamwork, research, analysis, project management, presentation, communication, are all relevant skills to include. If you attended conferences or workshops, select a few and add them.
- Include Work or Volunteer Experience
If you have no prior work or volunteer experience, it might seem daunting to write this section. Were you a reading or bus buddy? Did you help your coach with set up or take down of equipment? Tutored a cousin, helped plan an event, assisted at garage sale? Take those experiences and write a sentence each using the STAR method – situation, task, action, results.
- Specify Extra-Curricular Activities, Hobbies, Computer Skills
Extra-curriculars require discipline, diligence, team spirit, resilience, and confidence. Involved in sports, music, clubs, gardening, or learning a new language? Include what you did, the skills you used and the outcomes. Love social media, spreadsheets, graphic design, producing videos, building computers? Include those computer skills.
Emphasize unique qualifications in your resume using these tips and you are ready to start applying.
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