Community Service & Volunteering
Gain real-world experience before you graduate by adding community service and volunteering to your resume. Volunteering lets you develop professional skills, expand your network, and actively explore career interests. Connect with UT and our community partners to find an opportunity that fits your career goals.
What counts as service
Service comes in many forms. Understanding each type helps you choose the service experience that best aligns with your goals.
Service learning
Service learning is a form of experiential education in which students engage in activities that address real human and community needs while participating in structured opportunities for reflection. It is typically completed as part of an academic course or program, connecting service directly to learning outcomes. Students receive ongoing supervision and guided reflection from designated faculty or staff, helping them make meaning of their experiences while building skills that translate into academic, personal, and professional growth.
Explore service learning at UT
Volunteering
Volunteering is the giving of your time to an organization or a cause. You can volunteer independently or as part of a team, formal program, or class, with opportunities that may be short-term or long-term. Along the way, you can learn about a cause, demonstrate your commitment, build your network, and discover new opportunities. It is the most flexible way to start. Simply pick a cause, give a few hours or a semester, and see what you learn.
Looking at AmeriCorps, Peace Corps, or another year of service after graduation?
Year-long service corps programs like AmeriCorps, Peace Corps, Teach for America, and City Year are designed for after graduation. To learn more about these opportunities, visit the Gap Year & Service Corps Jobs page, where you can compare them alongside other gap-year options.
Find a starting point
Start here to explore service opportunities, learn about causes, and connect with partner organizations already coordinating service for UT students.
UT-internal coordinators
Start with the UT offices that coordinate service for students. They know the campus partners and can connect you to opportunities quickly.
- Clay and Debbie Jones Center for Leadership & Service – UT’s home for student service, offering short-term volunteering, service-focused student organizations, alternative break trips, and Ignite leadership programs.
- Service Learning at UT – Connects you with faculty-led service-learning courses where community engagement is built into academic coursework with reflection and credit.
- VOLink (UTK Engage) – UT’s student engagement platform where you can find service events, track involvement, and connect with student organizations hosting volunteer opportunities.
Regional partners (Knoxville and East Tennessee)
Already know you want to stay close? These regional hubs connect you to Knoxville-area and East Tennessee opportunities across hundreds of partner organizations.
- Volunteer East Tennessee – Inspires service by equipping organizations and mobilizing volunteers to connect with one another and strengthen East Tennessee communities.
- Voluntourism with Visit Knoxville – Highlights local nonprofits and projects so visitors and residents can combine Knoxville experiences with meaningful short-term service opportunities across the community.
- United Way of Greater Knoxville – Serves as a regional hub connecting volunteers with local nonprofits and community initiatives, helping you find meaningful ways to support Knoxville and East Tennessee.
- Volunteer Tennessee / Tennessee Serves Network – A statewide portal where you can search volunteer needs by location and interests across Tennessee.
National and international resource hubs
Looking beyond Knoxville? These national hubs list volunteer opportunities across the country and internationally, helping you plan for the summer or a future move.
- Idealist.org Volunteer Resource Center – Provides an overview of volunteering and its career benefits, offers guidance on finding opportunities that fit your goals and interests, and features listings across both U.S. and international locations.
- Volunteer.gov – A central portal for volunteer roles with U.S. federal agencies, including national parks, forests, wildlife refuges, and public lands across the country.
- International Volunteer HQ (IVHQ) – A major international volunteer travel provider offering short- and medium-term projects in 40+ countries for students interested in structured global experiences.
- Network for Good – Hosts a national database of nonprofits and volunteer opportunities, helping you identify organizations and roles that match your interests.
Make your service count for your career
Service builds many of the same skills you gain in an internship. These tips help you show that experience on your resume and in interviews.
- Track what you do. Keep a running list of the projects, events, hours, and impact you contributed to so you remember details later. Even short-term or one-time volunteering adds up and gives you concrete examples for resume bullets and behavioral interview questions.
- Translate service into skills. Project management, communication, teamwork, problem-solving, leadership, and intercultural competence all grow through service. Name the specific skills on your resume, then use clear stories from your service to show how you applied them in interviews. Those are four of the seven career competencies employers ask about.
- Use service to explore a career. Volunteering in an industry or role you are curious about lets you test-drive the work before committing. Talk with staff about their day-to-day, ask how they got into their roles, and notice what kinds of tasks energize you.
- Talk to a coach about how to position it. A career coach can help you translate your service into language that fits the internships, jobs, or graduate programs you are targeting. This is especially helpful if you do not yet have a paid internship and want to highlight your experience with employers.
Not sure where service fits in your career plan?
A career coach can help you choose service opportunities that fit your goals and turn them into resume bullets and interview stories that land. Schedule an appointment to talk through your options and build a plan that works for you.
Talk with the Jones Center for Leadership & Service