Joining the Peace Corps requires 3 to 6 months of full-time experience with a large commercial or family-run business.
Therefore, before even joining you would have acquired useful professional exposure.
But the real quality experience comes from your time volunteering.
Similar to a mission trip, you are immersing yourself in a community to understand other cultures first-hand.
You also gain working experience while simultaneously helping those in need of aid or guidance.
Here are some instances when mentioning your Peace Corps experience will be most valuable.
Should you mention your Peace Corps experience on your resume?
Mention the Peace Corps if it is relevant. Include it if you gained transferrable skills that are emphasized in the job description. If your target company puts importance on helping others, your Peace Corps experience will come in handy. Don’t add it if you have other more relevant experience.
Yes, if you are applying to a similar industry
If you are applying to a position that is similar to your work for the Peace Corps, you should add it to your resume.
It will let the recruiter know that you gained exposure to similar tasks and responsibilities.
Adding your Peace Corps experience will also demonstrate your familiarity with the position and will signal that you will fit in easier and quicker.
Yes, if you want to demonstrate certain skills
If during your time volunteering for the Peace Corps you polished skills that are essential to the job description, specify them.
Make sure to write it in a way that shows your proficiency.
The best way to do this is to mention your accomplishments with these skills and try to add quantities.
Yes, if your target company emphasizes helping others
It is important to read the About Us and CSR page on your target company’s website.
Not only will you gain an understanding of their culture, mission, and vision, but also what they put importance on.
If you read that they repeatedly mention their contribution to their own and other communities, adding Peace Corps to your resume will do you good.
It will demonstrate to the recruiter that you have the same values and can help break the ice in the interview later on as they like to discuss such experiences.
No, if you have other more relevant experience
The worst thing to do is crowd your resume.
According to studies done, recruiters decide the type of candidate you are in the first 6 seconds of looking at your resume.
It will be hard for them to have a good impression if there is too much there.
That is why it is vital to only include the most relevant and most impressive experiences.
If there is not much space left on your resume and other volunteering or work experiences would be more important, prioritize them.
You can save your Peace Corps work for your cover letter where you can even give more details.
How to list Peace Corps on your resume
List your Peace Corps experience in your work or volunteering experience section, wherever it would be more relevant. You can also add it to your professional summary. Use a specific title for your Peace Corps work and mention quantifiable personal achievements.
Add Peace Corps in your work experience section
If your Peace Corps work was relevant to the job description, don’t list it in the volunteering section where it might be overlooked.
Put it along with your other work experiences at the top of the resume.
List it like you would any other job with the job title first, followed by the company, location, date, and achievements.
Peace Corps in the work experience section example:
Work Experience
English Teacher
U.S. Peace Corps | Lilongwe, Malawi | Dec 2016 – Aug 2018
- Conducted weekly classes and utilized student-centered teaching strategies that raised student engagement by 85%.
- Organized an afterschool English conversation club for over 100 students.
Add Peace Corps in your volunteering section
List Peace Corps along with your volunteer experiences if you have more relevant jobs to mention in the work experience section.
It is still important to list significant and relevant achievements rather than just your duties, no matter what section it is in.
Peace Corps in the volunteer experience section example
Health Services Manager
U.S. Peace Corps | Ibadan, Nigeria | May 2015 – Feb 2017
- Oversaw the buying and distribution of 85 different drugs for the hospital dispensary.
- Implemented a vaccination campaign in 20 villages.
Add Peace Corps in your professional summary
Sometimes, you will notice that a lot of your Peace Corps experiences correspond to the job description or overall values of the company.
In this case, it would be best to add it in your professional summary as this is right at the top of your resume and most likely the first section recruiters read.
Mention your involvement and how it is contributing to your expertise.
Peace Corps in the professional summary example
Professional Summary
10+ years of experience working abroad in developing countries with federal government agencies and multicultural teams. Proficient in negotiation, communication, and project management.
Use a more specific title than ‘Peace Corps Volunteer’
When writing the title, don’t just write ‘Peace Corps Volunteer’ as it is not specific enough.
While serving for the Peace Corps you would have been doing your individual work and were not just a general volunteer.
‘Peace Corps Volunteer’ downplays your contribution.
Put your job title instead, and in the part where you write the company name, write Peace Corps.
Mention quantifiable personal achievements
As with any experience, whether it is a job, internship, or volunteering experience, give quantifiable personal achievements.
Be sure to write personal accomplishments rather than the organization’s.
You can add a line explaining what the Peace Corps’ objective is but in the actual bullet points, focus on your input.
Anyone can simply search what Peace Corps is or what they do, they cannot search what you did.
It is also essential to add quantities to put your impact into perspective, just listing tasks or responsibilities is never enough.
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