LinkedIn now allows 'volunteer experience' listings

Members of business-related social networking site LinkedIn can now list their volunteer experiences and causes in their profile. LinkedIn added the new “Volunteer Experience & Causes" field to profiles, to let users highlight and showcase their unpaid or charitable work experience. "Users can click off causes that mean the most to them, fill out an experience profile or add specific organizations — such as the American Red Cross or Habitat for Humanity — that they support," tech site Mashable reported. Mashable noted a recent survey by LinkedIn that found promoting a charitable experience will help one get a job. It said the LinkedIn poll of nearly 2,000 U.S. professionals found that 41 percent said that when they are evaluating candidates, they consider volunteer work just as much as paid work. One in five (20 percent) of the hiring managers surveyed said they gave a job based on a candidate’s volunteer work experience. But Mashable also noted that of the 2,000 professionals surveyed, 89 percent had volunteer experience but only 45% included that information on their resume. — TJD, GMA News