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Note: I asked the same question in the Workplace forum but it was closed and I was asked to re-ask here.

I am looking for a concise and professional-sounding expression to use in my resumes and bios to explain that my career history covered "non-business" employment as well, in addition to businesses. This is to emphasize my diverse experience, but without going into too many details (as my ultimate focus will be business-related).

When I say "non-business" I mean: NGOs, NPOs, government, professional societies, institutions.

I already discarded "non-profit" as that hints at "volunteering" — which is not the only thing I did. I have done a lot of contract work with local government branches and authority as well as professional societies. "Public sector" would exclude private not-for-profits.

Do you have any suggestions?

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  • Non-private, perhaps? Not exactly elegant, though…
    – Janus Bahs Jacquet
    Commented Feb 1, 2014 at 11:15
  • 2
    The public and charitable sector?
    – WS2
    Commented Feb 1, 2014 at 11:18
  • Provided professional contract services for non-profits, private, and public sectors. However, I wouldn't necessarily discount the details regardless of being paid or not. Who cares really? If you led a team of 6 people to achieve a publicity campaign that raised $300k, or designed a website on budget and on time for a non-profit, that's important info.
    – CoolHandLouis
    Commented Feb 6, 2014 at 13:20
  • Private not-for-profits are still generally referred to as public sector.
    – David M
    Commented Feb 26, 2014 at 20:53

1 Answer 1

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The term "noncommercial" exists:

noncommercial — 1. (Commerce) not of, connected with, or involved in commerce: noncommercial organizations.

This seems very similar in definition to nonprofit organizations. Wikipedia seems to consider them roughly the same:

A nonprofit organization, or not-for-profit organization, often called a nonprofit and non-commercial organization is an organization that uses surplus revenues to achieve its goals rather than distributing them as profit or dividends.

The pair of terms seems relatively common so I suggest "various nonprofit and noncommercial organizations."

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