LinkedIn Adds "Volunteer Experience & Causes" Field to Profile

LinkedIn (NYSE:LNKD), the world's largest professional network with more than 120 million members worldwide and over 11 million in India, today announced that members can now add a "Volunteer Experience & Causes" field to their LinkedIn Profile. The company also released data that reinforces volunteer work is a key piece of your professional identity.

In the new "Volunteer Experience & Causes" field, LinkedIn members can add volunteer positions, causes they care about, and organizations they support. LinkedIn members can now list Teach for India, Save the Children, The Akanksha Foundation, Smile Foundation, HelpAge India or any other organization they support on their LinkedIn Profile.

LinkedIn surveyed over 400 professionals in India and found that 71 percent of these professionals have personally had experience volunteering, but only 34 percent of professionals include their volunteer experience on their resume.

"With the job market getting hypercompetitive by the day, professionals will need to showcase every bit of experience that will give their profile the necessary edge," said Hari V Krishnan, County Manager at LinkedIn India. "Moreover, professionals increasingly want to give back to society despite their busy schedules. Experience gained through volunteer work positions you as a preferred choice for recruiters, setting you apart from your peers. This dispels the perception that volunteer work does not qualify in a professional context. In fact, even if you're currently unemployed, you can still actively volunteer and begin to accrue new skill sets."

55 percent of the professionals that LinkedIn surveyed from India stated that when they are evaluating candidates, they consider volunteer work equally as valuable as paid work experience. 29 percent of the hiring managers surveyed agree they have made a hiring decision based on a candidate's volunteer work experience.

"Volunteer experience is an important and relevant part of your professional profile. This kind of experience builds soft skills which professionals can use to manage their career growth," says Hari. "Volunteer experience showcases skills, initiative and can sometimes even identify a shared point of passion with a potential employer or business partner. Whatever be your profession, if you have been involved in any volunteer work like fundraising or event management for a cause you support, you can add skills, like event planning or event marketing, to your profile."

To add the "Volunteer Experience & Causes" field to your LinkedIn Profile:

Click the "Add Sections" hyperlink.

Click the "Add to Profile" button and then fill out the applicable fields.

View a screenshot of the new "Volunteer Experience & Causes" field and get more details on the impact volunteering can have on your career on the LinkedIn Blog: https://lnkd.in/profile-volunteer-field.