LDS Mission on Resume: How to Put Missionary Work on Resume

A professional resume has to be written very carefully, keeping in mind that all those experiences that are relevant to the job you’re applying for are included in it. While a lot of the time, you will be very clear about which experiences to include on your resume, some kinds of experiences are not as straightforward for people. One such example is an LDS mission.

If you have just returned from a mission and need to apply for a job now, should you be putting the LDS mission on your resume? And if so, how exactly should you do it? We are here to guide you on why and how you should create a missionary resume. Let’s find out.

Should I Put LDS Mission On Resume?

Like most of your other experiences, it is important to figure out the relevance of your church service to the job that you’re applying for before adding it to your resume.

However, the good thing about such a mission is that it can be added to most resumes regardless of the relevance. This is why:

• A missionary resume showcases to employers that you have learned a number of key soft skills that pretty much any company would appreciate. These include skills like leadership, knowing how to follow orders, giving presentations, communication, teamwork, and more. Learning these skills at a young age can separate from you a lot of other applicants who are recent graduates and don’t really have a lot of professional experience to showcase.
• No matter what page number on resume you add your missionary experience to, it will tell hiring managers that you have done something quite unique in the prime years of your life. It shows them that you are motivated and excited by the prospect of volunteer work and helping communities, which a lot of others might not be.

So, if you’re still wondering whether you should add your LDS mission on resume, this should help give you a little more confidence in showcasing your experience. Just like most people never have to ask the question, ‘do you include GPA on resume?’, they shouldn’t have to ask this question either if they have learned something relevant from it.

Instead, what they should know is exactly how to put LDS mission on resume because that is something that can seem a little confusing at first.

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How to Put Missionary Work on Resume?

There are different ways in which you might want to list such an experience on your document. A lot of people might end up adding it at the very bottom of their document under a single bullet point, but that should not be done.

Instead, this experience should be included just like any other professional or volunteer role. The idea is to explain what you have done during your mission and what you have learned from it so that you can market this role to your potential employers.

Examples

• If you have recently completed a mission, you should include it in the ‘Experience’ section of your document. Talk about it just like you would talk about any other job. List the time period of your mission, the organization you worked for, and the role you had. Then, write in detail about what your role entailed and what you learned. If you are wondering how many bullet points per job you should add, 3-4 usually work well. Or you could always write the description as a short paragraph too.
• If you went on a mission some years ago and have had other relevant job experiences since then, it would be better to list your mission in the ‘Volunteer Work’ portion instead. In such a case, you can very quickly and concisely talk about your experience in one or two sentences. This will still give the employer a view of your volunteer work while highlighting your relevant professional experience much more.

Does Missionary Work Look Good On A Resume?

Now that you’ve figured out how to create a missionary resume, you might be wondering if it actually looks good or not. Well, in most cases, there is no harm in including it and it actually does look good.

When a hiring manager sees that you have done such volunteer work, they will likely think of you as a motivated and helping individual. It will also show them that you have a strong character, as well as giving you an interesting point to talk about in an interview.

Not only that but writing about an LDS mission will also showcase all of the important skills you have learned. Such skills are very important for most companies these days as the world gets more and more globalized. Companies increasingly look for people who are good at socializing, communicating, and holding their ground – all of which you may have learned very well during your service.

When Should You NOT List LDS Mission On Resume?

You may not want to include this experience in the following cases:

• You have a lot of relevant professional experience to showcase and you don’t need to demonstrate your soft skills via this experience.
• You did not have any roles during your service with demonstrable skills and achievements.
• You’re applying for a job where the things you have done during your service are not relevant. This is especially true for tech and engineering-related jobs.

As you can see, answering whether or not to include this experience is not always as straightforward as figuring out do you include GPA on resume. You should always think about how relevant it is to the job you’re applying for.

If it is a job in marketing or sales where you need to have good communication skills, then it might help to add this experience but in the case of other industries like software development or wildlife conservation, it may become irrelevant.

Key Takeaways

• There are many benefits of including your missionary experience on your resume, especially for roles in which you need soft skills like teamwork, leadership, and communication.
• If you do add such an experience, make sure to actually talk about it and explain what you have done in this role and what you have learned from it so that your employer understands why you value it so much.
• Focus on talking about the social and interpersonal skills you have developed during this role rather than any other aspects.
• For a job that is completely unrelated to your experience, it may be a good idea not to add it.

FAQ

How do you put a mission trip on your resume?

You can add it just like you would add another job or volunteer experience. It is important to highlight the key things you have learned from it and why you think it is relevant to the job you’re applying for.

Where should I put volunteer work on my resume?

If it is a very recent experience, you can include it in the ‘Work Experience’ section and talk about it in detail. If it is an older experience, you can add it in a separate ‘Volunteer Work’ section and write very briefly about it.

How do you put an LDS mission on your resume?

Adding such a mission to your resume should be treated like your other work or volunteer experiences. Mention the role you had, the organization you worked for, and the time period at the top. Then, concisely explain what you did during your service and what you learned from it.

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