Can Volunteer work count as an Work experience?

caliotter3 · Mar 23, 2012

Although employers may tell you that unpaid work is not considered, look at it this way. If you put it on your resume and they bother to read the resume, it forms some type of impression on the reader, especially if your entries are well-worded. If you don't list it, it can't form an impression.

loriangel14, RN · Mar 23, 2012

I'm sure many of us New Grads are volunteering to gain some experience while we look for our first job. However, I was wondering if I should put down my current clinic as my "current employer." Usually there's a spot in online applications where this would go. Does anyone know if it's okay from a Nursing HR standpoint? For salary/wage I was gonna put $0.00. I currently volunteer as an RN and my last paid job was being an assistant to an office assistant.
I have googled this and haven't found any helpful answers since I have already been listing my volunteer experiences on my resume. Allnurses always has people giving constructive answers

No. Only a paid nursing position would be counted as experience.

Altra, BSN, RN · Mar 23, 2012

Definitely put it on the resume and online application, but no, it is not employment paid at a rate of $0.00. Make sure to mention it in the cover letter, whether on paper or electronic ... or somewhere in a free text box of the electronic application.

noahsmama · Mar 23, 2012

This is exactly what I did when applying for my first nursing job, and I'm quite certain that it helped me get an interview. I had volunteered at the same hospital, and put that down as my most recent job, with a pay rate of $0.00. I know the nurse manager who hired me noticed this, because she mentioned the fact that I had volunteered at the hospital when she phoned me to set up an interview.

Does it count as experience for jobs which require experience? No. Can it get you an interview? Quite possibly. So yes, definitely put it on your resume.

Good luck!

mixtapes · Mar 24, 2012

Great point to bring up! I have been thinking the same question. I feel like my volunteer experience is just as lengthy as my other experience. We want to get some recognition for it, right? Any other advice from experienced nurses would be helpful.

vashtee, RN · Mar 24, 2012

I hadn't worked (for money) in many years when I applied for my current position, so I listed all my volunteer work on my resume so they wouldn't think I did nothing during all that time.

It seems to have worked for me...

Leonardo Del Toro, RN · Mar 24, 2012

No. Only a paid nursing position would be counted as experience.

That much is true but it doesn't end there. I think that today putting all your eggs in one basket might very well be the way to go. With thousands of greatly qualified new grad applicants all over the map you must find something that will set you apart and make you noticeable. Think about it. There are only a few openings out there and for every one of these there are thousand of applicants. When time comes to disperse these few openings, who do you thing they going to give them to? They are certainly not to just give them to anybody out there. They will first give them to who they know, or can trust of have something they can grab on to. It's time to get personal here. Volunteering is really about showcasing yourself and also getting to know the staff you could possibly be working with as soon as an opportunity comes along. So volunteer where you want to work if all possible. When the economy get's smaller as of now the trick is to get personable and be part of something. If you sit in front of your computer and think you'll get in...maybe but it's kind of like playing the lotto.

By the way I don't think the economy is small in health care. Is more like hospitals are making a killing with the crisis and trying to squeeze everything out of nurses (their biggest pay roll) they are loving this "crisis". They are paying dividends to their shareholders out of not training new nurses (isn't that smart?) in essence they are investing in a future where the economy is not suppose to get better and they see themselves having thumbs over nurses forever, grilling them and making they work until they fall dead on the floor at age 86. But if the jobs return out there they might find themselves in quite different place. This is the forth year of not training new nurses, so we have a 4 year deficit nurses supply already. They are also no thinking that many of these new grads, specially the young ones get fed up very quickly after looking for nursing jobs for over 2 years and look for some other type of work never to return to nursing. I wonder how many have already left. If this goes one more two years more then the nursing enrollment will also drop...good luck

Meriwhen, ASN, BSN, MSN, RN · Mar 24, 2012

I volunteered before I landed my first nursing job, right at the start of the new grad job market crash. I had it at the top of the resume and job applications for the Experience section, but I made sure to be very clear that this was volunteer/unpaid work, not only by putting $0 as the salary, but included the word "Volunteer" in my job title or description

I don't know how HR viewed it, and IMO I don't think it counts towards any experience requirements. But many nurse managers that interviewed me told me they were impressed by it. One stated it showed initiative and it looked a lot better than if I was doing nothing. I didn't always land the job, but the volunteering definitely didn't hurt my chances and may have even gotten my foot in the door for interviews.