Volunteer Profile Best Practices and FAQ

Download Best Practices and FAQ

Our clients have told us that they want to see the strong network of volunteers we have to help them with their business - even if they only mentor locally. To meet this need, all volunteer profiles have the option of being searchable on www.score.org. This will aid in our client success and will help improve your ability to identify co-mentors. Please follow the recommendations below to optimize your profile for the client mentor search.

Requirements to Post Volunteer Online Profile – Your profile cannot be made visible unless these requirements are met

To make your profile viewable on score.org, you:

• Must have a picture associated with your account.
• Must select a minimum of one and maximum of 6 areas of expertise and 6 industries.
• Must provide a career summary (“How I Can Help You” information for clients).
• Must select or update the languages section of your profile.

If you have questions about any of these requirements, contact marketing@score.org.

Optimizing Your Profile

1. Add a picture to your profile. Clients are more likely to choose mentors with photos. Your picture should be a quality photo (not grainy or blurry). Follow steps 3-7 on page 3 of this guide to add a new photo to your profile. If you need assistance, contact the SCORE Help Desk.
2. Update your career summary to explain how you can use your experience to help the client. Your career summary should emphasize the skills and knowledge that you’ll use in mentoring sessions. This will not only give clients a better understanding of what you have to offer but will help ensure that you get the kind of requests you prefer. (Note: Clients will not see career summary. It is named “How I Can Help You” on the client-facing site and will be updated on the back end in the coming months.). Your summary is not your resume – it should be engaging and conversational.  If you’d like clients to know more about your professional experience you can include a link to your LinkedIn profile.
   1. It is important that your skillset is mentioned in the first sentence. This is what will be visible to clients in the search results. We strongly encourage you to use the keywords by which you would like to be found. Example: I can help improve business performance in marketing, operations and finance.
   2. The next sentence should be just as strong and should correlate your experience with your mentoring ability. Example: As a banker, management consultant, entrepreneur and professor, I have helped countless small businesses in the areas of marketing, operations, and finance. I provide financial management support, business development assistance, and marketing expertise to banks, businesses, universities, and government agencies.
   3. The rest of your profile can provide more information about your experience, accomplishments, philanthropic efforts, or personality. This should be provided in essay format. Resume format is not recommended. If you wish to use an acronym in your career summary, first spell it out then put the acronym in parenthesis. Example: Client Outcomes and Relationship Engagement (CORE)
3. When selecting your expertise and industry experience, please select the areas in which you are well-versed and can provide thorough advice and information. Clients will use this information to determine if you are a good fit for their mentoring needs. Selecting areas in which you are not an expert will lead to a poor experience for both you and your clients. Make sure your expertise and industries correspond with what’s written in your bio. For example, if you select the nonprofit industry, your career summary should demonstrate this experience. If you select the retail industry but your career summary is all about manufacturing, a client is less likely to feel you can help them with retail questions.