义工经历是否写进简历须三思而后行

    高性能存储阵列制造商Scale Computing首席执行官杰夫•雷迪近日刚刚结束了一轮面试。该公司招聘职位的职责之一是组织召开美国印第安纳波利斯市全体制造商大会。其中一位应聘者的简历内容与众不同，上面记述了她连续数年为当地一家慈善机构规划年度募款活动的经历。

    “对我来说，她的这份经历简直棒极了。她一直坚持了4到5年；这证明她真的喜欢这项工作，不然她不会不计报酬的干了这么久，”雷迪说。

    她的义工经历之所以能够脱颖而出，是因为她在简历中描述了自己的活动策划经历，以及与会者人数，很明确地说明这份工作的责任重大。“我只会拿出四五秒的时间，对简历一扫而过。因此，求职者必须利用这个机会吸引我的注意力，”雷迪说。“就她的简历而言，就像是在说：我是这个大型慈善活动的主要策划者。”

    像雷迪一样，越来越多的企业老板开始关注求职者在公益事业上投入的精力。因为他们注意到，近来经济的不景气致使许多有才干的员工也卷入了失业大潮，因而把更多精力投入到了公益活动。商务社交网站LinkedIn近日的一项调查发现，目前有41%的招聘经理会将志愿者经历与从业经验同等看待。

    那么，什么样的经历可以写入简历，怎样才能诚实地展示自己最好的一面呢？对此，很多求职者忧心忡忡。LinkedIn所调查的专业人才中，具备义工经历的人数比例达89%，但只有其中的45%将这些经历写进了简历。

    “人们不确定雇主是否会对义工服务和有偿工作一视同仁，”再入职规划公司iRelaunch.com联合创始人卡罗•费舍曼•科恩说。“不过雇主们却表示，如果求职者的义工经历确实与他们的职业目标相关，就应该把它写入简历。”

    例如，一位社会医疗工作者因为照顾孩子而选择离职。后来她凭借救济院志愿者服务的经历成功获得另一家救济院提供的一份有偿工作——志愿者经理。她希望这份工作最终能够助她走上社会医疗工作者的岗位。科恩指出：“她目前的工作环境让她每天都能接触到大量的社会医疗工作者，他们会告诉她哪里是最好的工作场所以及哪里正在招聘。”

    撰写简历时，可以单独列出“义工经历”栏，列出相关义工经历；或将之纳入有偿工作一栏，而大标题就可以简单地命名为“履历”。“内容的编写应该与简历中其他部分一样，一定要使用主动式动词，具体说明工作成绩，并进行量化表述。”

    有时，也可以将所在领域之外的经历写入简历，以展示自己的工作态度与性格。大卫•勃特勒罗现任按揭经纪公司BTS Lending的总裁，但他的履历中却包括自己在（Hugh O'Brian Youth Leadership，HOBY）世界青少年精英峰会长期从事志愿者的工作经历，因为这是他一直热爱的事业。

    勃特勒罗说：“我希望我的老板了解我正在做的事情。这样当我提起往事的时候，他们就不会表现出一脸的惊讶，而那是我所不愿看到的。”据悉，勃特勒罗每年在HOBY世界青少年精英峰会做义工的时间累积起来至少有150个小时。“我希望它能展示出我的全面性……此外，我们的工作关系也因此变得更加融洽。”

    而且，在知名机构做志愿者的经历直接就能证明，求职者完全具备应对挑战性目标的能力。谢勒健身与自行车公司（Scheller's Fitness & Cycling）的合伙人马蒂•谢勒对这方面很感兴趣。该公司位于美国肯塔基州的路易斯维尔市。凡是达到雄鹰童子军（Eagle Scout）级别的求职者，他都会通知他们前来面试。

    “我一向喜欢跟他们交流，尽管我最后不一定会录用他们，”谢勒坦言。“为了获得那种荣誉，这些年轻人会有多么大的付出……这种经历最能衡量一个人的品性。”

    虽然如此，但求职者千万不要得意忘形，把自己做过的每一件好人好事都写进简历。因为这样琐碎的细目清单会掩盖一个人的真实成绩；而且，当招聘者据此提问时，万一不能深入地回答，反而会使自己难堪。

    “不要单纯为了证明自己做过志愿者工作就而滥竽充数，”米利亚姆•萨尔皮特建议道。“那些一年只做一两次的事情，说出来也没有什么意义。”米利亚姆•萨尔皮特目前从事求职指导工作，而且是《职场社交制胜秘笈》（Social Networking for Career Success）一书的作者。

    还有一部分人认为，那些涉及敏感领域的志愿经历最好不要提及，比如宗教信仰，政治以及性取向等。

    科恩表示一些全职妈妈不愿在简历中提及在家长教师协会（Parent Teacher Association）的相关经历，担心会产生负面影响。“有时候，这样的经历被视为是一种耻辱，因为它通常会使人认为这位妈妈孤陋寡闻，土里土气。”

    但如果求职者在家庭教师协会担任主席一职，或肩负重大的责任，这样的成就具有重要的意义，避而不谈就相当可惜。

    此外，如果志愿者服务透露了某些对求职者本人或家庭生活具有重要意义的信息——比如子女状况、性取向，或者宗教信仰——但雇主却因此而对你产生歧视，你还会为这样的人工作吗？

    “这些经历使一个人的人生变得更加丰富多彩，”肖恩•格雷厄姆说。“假如得到一份工作的代价是隐藏这些东西，那这份工作肯定不是你想要的。”肖恩•格雷厄姆现任小企业咨询顾问，且著有《追求心仪的职业》（Courting Your Career）一书。

    译者：李淑玉/汪皓

    Scale Computing chief executive Jeff Ready recently was interviewing job candidates for a position whose duties included coordinating all-hands meetings at the Indianapolis-based manufacturer. One prospective employee's resume included her experience planning an annual fundraiser for a local charity, several years in a row.

    "To me, that experience was awesome. She had done it for four to five years; she obviously liked doing it, or she wouldn't have done it for free," says Ready.

    The volunteer work stood out because her resume described the event planning experience and how many attendees were involved, making it clear that it was a substantial amount of responsibility. "You've got that four or five-second opportunity to say something that's going to grab my attention," Ready says. "In that case it was that I'm the lead event planner for the big charity event."

    Increasingly, corporate bosses like Ready are taking note of job candidates' volunteer efforts. They recognize that in the recent recession, talented employees may have had stretches of unemployment that they filled with unpaid work. A recent LinkedIn (LNKD) survey found that 41% of hiring managers consider volunteer experience equally valuable as paid work.

    But workers still feel nervous about what experience to include and how to be honest while also presenting in the best light. LinkedIn found that 89% of professionals surveyed had volunteer experience, but only 45% included it on their resume.

    "People are wondering whether it's considered as legitimate as paid work experience," says Carol Fishman Cohen, co-founder of career reentry programming company iRelaunch.com. "What we're hearing on the employer side is that if the volunteer experience is relevant to your career goal, include it."

    For instance, a medical social worker who took a career break to care for her children parlayed her volunteer work at a hospice into a paid position at another hospice, as a volunteer manager. She hopes that job will lead to work as a medical social worker. "She's in an environment where medical social workers are walking in every day telling her where are the best places to work and who's hiring," Cohen notes.

    When including relevant unpaid work on your resume, you can either create a separate section called "volunteer experience" or lump it in with your paid jobs under a heading simply titled "experience." Be sure to use active verbs, be specific and quantify your accomplishments -- just as you do with anything else on your resume.

    Sometimes, experience outside your field can be included to demonstrate commitment and character. David Bertorello, president of mortgage brokerage BTS Lending, puts on his resume his long-time volunteer work for Hugh O'Brian Youth Leadership, because it's a cause that's close to his heart.

    "I want my employers to know I have things I'm involved with. I don't want it to come up as a surprise that I have this commitment," says Bertorello, who devotes at least 150 hours a year to HOBY. "Hopefully it's showing them that I'm well-rounded…. It also breaks the ice in work relationships."

    Some volunteer experience at well-known organizations can instantly signal your ability to follow through on a challenging goal. Whenever Marty Scheller, partner of Scheller's Fitness & Cycling, sees that a job candidate achieved the rank of Eagle Scout, he calls that person in for an interview at the Louisville, Ky., retailer.

    "I always want to talk to them. I don't always hire them," Scheller says. "To get that particular honor, it takes a young person who's driven.... It's usually a pretty good barometer for character…."

    Don't get carried away and start loading your resume with every single good deed. You don't want a laundry list that hides your true accomplishments -- or to end up embarrassed if the interviewer asks about something and you can't speak about it in-depth.

    "You don't want to just put something to say you've done volunteer work," advises Miriam Salpeter, a job search coach and author of Social Networking for Career Success. "Anything that was a one-time thing, or twice a year, it may not be significant."

    Some argue that job applicants should think twice about including volunteer experience related to the often-touchy subjects of religion, politics, and sexual orientation.

    Cohen says that some stay-at-home mothers worry about including experience at the Parent Teacher Association. "Sometimes there's a stigma associated with that because it screams suburban mom."

    On the other hand, if you were PTA president or had substantial responsibilities within the organization, your accomplishments may be so significant that you wouldn't want to ignore them.

    Moreover, if your volunteer work demonstrates something important about you and your life -- whether it's your children, sexual orientation, or religion -- would you want to work for an employer that would discriminate against you because of it?

    "All those things help paint a better picture of you as an individual," says Shawn Graham, small business consultant and author of Courting Your Career . "You wouldn't want to work for an organization where you'd have to hide it."