When a business is recruiting, it is natural to focus first on paid experience.
You look at where someone has worked, how long they stayed, what responsibilities they held and whether they have done a similar role before. That makes sense. Paid experience can give you confidence that a candidate understands the working world and has the skills needed to step into the job.
But it should not be the only thing you look at.
Volunteering experience is often one of the most overlooked parts of a CV. It might sit quietly near the bottom, given just one or two lines, or be treated as something “nice” rather than something useful.
That is a shame, because volunteering can tell you a lot about a person. Sometimes, it tells you things a job title never could.
Volunteering Can Show You the Person Behind the CV
When someone gives their time to a charity, community group, school, sports club, local event or support organisation, it often says something about who they are.
It can show that they are willing to get involved. It can show that they care about something beyond themselves. It can show commitment, empathy, reliability and initiative. It can also show that they are the kind of person who steps forward when help is needed.
For a growing business, those qualities matter.
Of course, volunteering alone does not make someone the right hire. You still need to understand their skills, availability, expectations and fit for the role. But it does give you something worth exploring properly.
Because in many businesses, especially smaller or growing ones, the person’s attitude can be just as important as their experience. You can often teach systems, processes and ways of working. It is much harder to teach someone to care.
Unpaid Does Not Mean Unimportant
One of the biggest mistakes employers make is assuming that unpaid experience is somehow less valuable.
But plenty of volunteering roles carry real responsibility.
Someone helping at a youth group may be learning patience, communication, safeguarding awareness and how to support people with different needs. Someone involved in a sports club may be organising fixtures, handling parents, setting up events, managing equipment or encouraging younger members. Someone volunteering in a charity shop may be gaining customer service experience, cash handling, stock control and confidence speaking to the public.
The setting may not be a traditional workplace, but the skills are still real.
In some cases, volunteering gives people more responsibility than their paid work has. It may put them in situations where they need to think on their feet, solve problems, work with others and represent an organisation well.
That is all useful information when you are trying to understand what someone could bring to your team.
A Short CV Does Not Always Mean Less Potential
Not every candidate has a long employment history.
Some people are just starting out. Some are changing career. Some have taken time out to raise children, care for family, study, relocate or deal with health challenges. Others may have been trying to rebuild confidence after time away from work.
If your recruitment process only values traditional employment history, you may miss people who have a lot to offer.
Volunteering can help fill in that picture.
It can show that someone has stayed active, contributed, learned skills and remained connected to people and responsibilities. It can also help explain gaps in employment in a more positive and human way.
At Green Bee, we always encourage businesses to be clear about what a role genuinely needs. A good job advert should explain the role, responsibilities, requirements, perks and benefits clearly, instead of becoming a long wish list that puts people off before they apply.
That clarity matters because once you know what is truly essential, you can start to look more openly at candidates who have built their experience in different ways.
Volunteering Can Reveal Motivation
One of the hardest things to judge in recruitment is what really motivates someone.
A CV can show what they have done, but it does not always show why they care, what drives them or what kind of environment they are likely to thrive in.
Volunteering can give you clues.
If someone has spent time supporting a cause, helping a club, working with young people, fundraising, mentoring, organising events or contributing to their local community, it can tell you something about their values. It may show that they enjoy helping others. It may show that they like being part of a team. It may show that they are proactive, community-minded or willing to learn.
For a values-led business, that can be just as important as technical experience.
Green Bee’s own approach is built around personal service, transparency, fairness and making sure clients and candidates feel valued. When a business cares about culture and not just capability, volunteering experience can help you understand whether someone may be a good fit.
It Helps You Recruit for Potential, Not Just the Finished Article
Not every great hire arrives perfectly packaged.
Sometimes the best person for your business is not the one with the longest CV or the most obvious experience. Sometimes it is the person with the right attitude, the right foundations and the willingness to learn.
Volunteering can help you spot that potential.
It gives you something meaningful to talk about at interview. You can ask how they got involved, what they were responsible for, what they learned, what challenges they faced and what they enjoyed most. The answers can reveal how they communicate, how they reflect, how they handle responsibility and how they think about other people.
That can be far more useful than simply counting years of paid experience.
Recruitment works best when it helps you understand the person, not just the paperwork. Green Bee’s candidate process is built around regular communication, proper engagement and making sure candidates receive closure throughout the process. That human approach is important because strong hiring decisions come from looking a little deeper.
A Wider View of Experience Can Strengthen Your Team
When businesses overlook volunteering, they can accidentally narrow their own talent pool.
They may keep looking for the same type of candidate, with the same type of background, and then feel frustrated when those candidates are hard to find, too expensive or already employed elsewhere.
Being open to volunteering experience does not mean lowering standards. It means recognising that relevant skills can be built in more than one place.
That mindset can help you find people who might otherwise be missed. It can support better hiring decisions, improve diversity of thought and bring fresh energy into the business.
For growing businesses, this matters. Recruitment is not just about filling a seat. It is about building the team that will help you move forward.
Ask About It Properly
If a candidate has volunteering experience on their CV, do not skim past it.
Ask about it with genuine interest.
Find out what they did, why they got involved and what they learned. Ask what responsibility they had, how they handled challenges and what skills they think transfer into the role they are applying for.
You may discover that the experience is more relevant than it first looked.
You may also find that the way someone talks about their volunteering tells you a lot about their attitude. Pride, commitment, humility, enthusiasm and care often come through in those conversations.
And those qualities can be incredibly valuable in the right team.
Final Thought
Volunteering experience should not be treated as a nice extra at the bottom of a CV.
It can be evidence of character, commitment, transferable skills, motivation and potential. It can show you how someone behaves when they are part of something bigger than themselves. It can give you a better understanding of who they are and what they may become with the right support.
Of course, you still need to assess whether the person can do the role. You still need to be fair, structured and clear about what the business needs.
But do not overlook volunteering just because no one was paid for it.
Some of the best qualities you need in your team may have been built outside traditional employment.
And if you are willing to look a little deeper, volunteering experience might help you find someone who does not just fill a vacancy, but genuinely strengthens your business.
