Users of social networking site LinkedIn can now include volunteering activities in their profile.

The new field, ‘Volunteer Experiences & Causes’, allows users to share which organisations they support and give details of any volunteer positions.

Nicole Williams, LinkedIn’s connection director, said: “Professionals often have the misconception that volunteer work doesn't qualify as 'real' work experience. You may be a sales person by trade, but if you organized your nonprofit's fundraising event, you can add skills, like event planning or event marketing, to your profile.

“Having those additional skills can potentially make you a more attractive employee and business partner.”

LinkedIn is a social networking site aimed at professionals and has more than 120 million worldwide users.

It recently carried out a survey which found that 41 per cent of employers considered volunteer experience as valuable as paid experience when evaluating new candidates.