Meaningful and Marketable: Community Service and the Job Search

If you are interested in a career in public service or the non-profit sector, be sure to visit Resources for Careers in the Common Good

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No matter what career you’re interested in pursuing, your community service experience is quite valuable in defining your values and developing knowledge and skills. Be sure to communicate your community service experience effectively by following these tips!

• 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 in Umrath Hall can provide help with your resume or interviewing skills, and can also help you explore careers in public service.Visit the Career Center website, or contact the Career Center at careers@wustl.edu or 935-5930.
• 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.