The pros and cons of volunteering during your job search

Following the dismantling of the U.S. Agency for International Development and sectorwide layoffs in 2025, many professionals began the new year ramping up their job searches. As of Jan. 13, 2026, more than 258,000 global and 23,000 U.S. jobs have been lost, according to the USAID Stop-Work tracker. While volunteering during a job search may seem counterintuitive — pulling focus from applications — job seekers and experts told Devex it can open up unexpected opportunities, allow for skill development, and provide structure during an uncertain period. One study that sent 2,000 fictitious CVs — half of them with volunteering experience — to employers in the United States found that profiles citing volunteer work receive 45% more callbacks for interviews. Additionally, data collated by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development tracking students from adolescence into adulthood shows that volunteering has tangible economic benefits, including 4%–8% higher wages in adulthood, increased chances of employment, and greater resilience during career transitions. For Andrea Grimaldi, a federal worker specialized in early childhood education, volunteering has helped in navigating the shifts in the sector and the emotional toll of the layoffs. “It’s a little bit of healing yourself by giving yourself and being part of something that’s bigger in a positive way, rather than just ‘I was part of a mass firing.” Grimaldi was well-versed in switching jobs with the ebbs and flows of funding cycles, but things felt different when she was part of the mass layoffs from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services last February. “I was absolutely not ready to look for a new job, because I was traumatized. There was no way I was going to be able to go out there and have an interview and show my best face,” she said. Volunteering became her “secret sauce,” adding structure to the day, providing something to focus on, and an excuse to leave the house, she explained. A sense of purpose amid uncertainty Having started volunteering with her union, Grimaldi now runs the mutual aid group for her chapter, which provides support to other job seekers. Since losing her job, she’s found volunteering her time a way to give back — she supports a young adult refugee from Afghanistan in transitioning from college to the job market through the Global Mentorship Initiative run by USA for UNHCR. Grimaldi also finds that volunteering provides a much-needed confidence boost and eases job-search rejection because you know that your skills are needed somewhere. “It helps give a little bit of dignity to this moment in time, because you’re at war with yourself a little bit. Each day that you’re not working, your confidence sinks a little bit,” she said. For Erin Doss, a former democracy and governance officer with USAID who was uprooted from her overseas assignment in Moldova, volunteering helped her connect with her new community in Hanover County, Virginia in the United States. “It was fairly clear to me that things were getting destroyed at such a rapid rate that there was no point in looking for a normal job in my sector,” she said. Upon relocating her family, Doss began looking for community groups working around local democracy and joined Rotary International, Braver Angels, and League of Women Voters, among others. “I just planted a lot of seeds and they have all started to grow at once. So I tell people I'm underemployed and overcommitted,” said Doss. Through these organizations, she also continues to advance her personal mission to educate the local community on the impact of the Trump administration on U.S. interests and global influence, she explained. Getting your foot in the door Douglas Mercer, managing director of talent attraction and acquisition with Save the Children US, began in global development by volunteering as a reference checker in the human resources department of Médecins Sans Frontières, before being hired by the organization. A perk of volunteering is precisely having access to internal job opportunities that may come up, he said. Later, as an MSF recruiter, he often recommended standout volunteers for internal job opportunities. “I would bring in volunteers all the time, some of them were just rock stars,” he said. He advised professionals to highlight skills, awards, and achievements they’ve gained from volunteering on their résumés — something he would count toward a candidate’s relevant cumulative work experience, as would his compensation team. For Violeta Vajda, a volunteering veteran with nearly 40 years in civic and community work, volunteering also offers long-term career value. During her 14 years as a program and advocacy officer at Voluntary Service Overseas, she saw how volunteering helps people move up in their careers. It shows potential employees that you can think big and complex, she explained. “If you only think instrumentally, you’re not gonna to fly, you’re gonna keep sitting on a level where instrumental is important.” In the current competitive development job market, Mercer urges job seekers to think outside the box and use volunteering to build new skills and explore different sectors, rather than trying to return to their previous roles. Developing new skills, exploring new sectors Jan Cartwright, who volunteered before she lost her job as an institutional support contractor in the communications office of USAID’s management bureau, learned InDesign while supporting a local music festival — a skill she later applied in her agency work. “There’s more grace to learn [a skill] when you’re stepping in as a volunteer … I was able to do it through trial and error,” she said. “You actually learn some hard skills and then you’re able to take those into something that’s paid or useful to organizations in the future.” Following the layoffs, she stepped up her volunteering and took on a mentorship role with the communications team at Kenyan nonprofit Light Up Hope, an organization she knew through previous collaborations. The experience benefits both parties, she explained, but “probably helped me more because it let me stay engaged with this work that I love.” Cartwright also started volunteering with a local advocacy group supporting public servants, which she believes helped land a role with the State of Colorado in January this year. “Support for public servants was something that came up in my interview,” she said, adding that for those transitioning from global experience to a U.S. context, demonstrating engagement with relevant local work is a plus. Now working 30 hours a week, Cartwright’s schedule is getting packed, but it’s proving difficult to walk away from the commitments she found valuable. She added that, while many small organizations can’t fund the activities volunteers support, people should be mindful in choosing engagements so they don’t detract from potential job opportunities. Vajda highlighted that volunteering is a privilege, as not everyone can access opportunities or take on unpaid work despite potential future benefits. “It’s not always that you will get enough back if you’re not privileged enough in the first place,” she cautioned. Vajda also emphasized that such opportunities need to be well-organized to truly benefit volunteers. But she has no doubt that her prior experience — including time as a Green Party activist in the United Kingdom — helped her secure a role at the National Democratic Institute of Hungary, from which she was laid off last year due to USAID and other donor funding cuts. Currently, Vajda is juggling two volunteering gigs and her new job as the executive director of Phiren Amenca, an international network supporting Roma youth participation, including through volunteering opportunities. She believes volunteering should be a constant throughout life – it’s something that offers value during employment and in between jobs. Update, March 6, 2026: This article has been updated to clarify the description of the organization Light Up Hope.