The short answer
Put them in their own section called "Volunteering", or "Volunteering and Activities" if you have a team or club too. Each entry gets four things: what you were, where, when, and one to three short lines about what you did. If you have no paid work yet, this section goes near the top, right after when you can work.
A manager hiring for a first job is looking for one thing more than any other: will this person show up and do what they said they would? A season on a team or a year of Saturdays at a food bank answers that question better than any word you could use to describe yourself.
What each entry looks like
Volunteer, Westside Food Bank
Sep 2025 to present
Sort and shelve donations most Saturdays
Player, Riverside Wolves U16
2024 to present
Attend practice twice a week and games on weekends
Member, Robotics Club, Northfield Secondary
Sep 2025 to present
Wired the drive motors for the team's competition robot
Assistant Coach, U9 house league
Summer 2025
Ran warm-ups and drills for 12 players at weekly practices
The title is what you were, in the words people there would use. If you didn't have a special role, "Volunteer", "Player" or "Member" is right. Captain, treasurer or assistant coach only goes on if that was really your role.
How to write the lines
Each line answers one of three questions: what did you do, how much or how often, and what came of it. Start with a plain action word, leave out "I", and keep it to one line.
Being a member is enough. You don't need to have led anything. If you can't think of a number, a plain line about what you did is better than a big one you would have trouble explaining in an interview.
Should you list your hours?
Only if you kept track and the number tells the reader something. "About 80 hours over two years" shows commitment. "40 hours" on its own can read like you did the minimum your school required, even if you didn't. Often, how often you went says more: "most Saturdays since September" is easy to picture and easy to talk about.
Whatever you write, it has to be true. A manager may call the place you volunteered, and an interviewer will ask about anything on the page.
Hours you did for school count
If you did volunteer or service hours because your school required them, they still count as experience. Put them on your resume the same way as any other volunteering. Where you did them and what you did matter more than why.
Whether your school requires hours depends on where you live:
Where the section goes
On a first resume, put the strongest things near the top:
- Your name and how to reach you
- A short summary, if you have something real to say (optional)
- When you can work
- Any paid work, including babysitting and odd jobs
- Volunteering and activities
- School, and when you expect to finish
- Certificates and skills
If you have no paid work at all, volunteering and activities moves up to take its place. Once you have a few jobs, this section moves lower and gets shorter, but a long-running commitment is worth keeping.