Not necessarily true... Employers in general including many aviation employers have looked at extra curricular activities including volunteering for a long time. There are many things employers look into that are not obvious to an applicant. A hiring panel is screening you for all manner of things with many applicants being unaware. You could innocently mention in passing that you just bought a new fishing rod and can't wait to try it out; that might have sufficed to answer a question before it was even asked. An interview can start or go bad before you think it is started. How would you like to be in the middle of an interview and find out you have parked you pilot POS in the bosses parking space, Etc. Pilots, for years have been volunteers; most just don't talk about it. The reason it might not have been made a big deal is that they don't want you to think it is a big deal to them, or to a particular employer it wasn't. They would prefer you figured the volunteer deal out on your own. Now that everyone knows, employers might feel they need to find additional hiring criteria... Instead of volunteering at a soup kitchen you may need to start one!