Leading the Pack: How to Build your Ideal Resume through Involvement in Student Activities

So you're exhausted from participating in every activity your high school had to offer? Wake up and get back in the game! Learn about activities on your college campus that will impress both future employers and graduate schools. But make sure to sign up for activities you will truly enjoy. *But I want to stay in bed!* Remember how involved you were in high school? You played a sport, worked on the newspaper, tutored elementary school students, and participated in the student government. Your jam-packed schedule was filled with yearbook meetings and play rehearsals every week. Now that you're in college, you can take a break, right? You don't have to worry about building a resume, unless you're going to graduate school a dim and distant prospect. Not so fast, hot shot. You may walk into your freshman dorm set for four years of beer chugging and laying around, but, trust me, this will get you no where. You may feel overwhelmed with all of the social opportunities at your grasp, but make room amid the fraternity parties and bar hopping to become a part of your campus. Your college is burgeoning with student activities and they need aggressive and responsible individuals to lead them. *Why should I get involved?* As your workload piles up at the corner of your desk and you are plugging more and more student numbers into your cell phone, you might feel like you have no time, or desire for that matter, to navigate the hundreds of campus activities out there. Yet, there are two worthy reasons why you need to join the ranks of involved students. First of all, as much as you think college is your "break," it is not. In the highly competitive job market, you want to get internships during your college summers that will not only help you decide what you want to do in the future but will put you a step ahead of your peers. Jobs require resumes that show leadership ability, conscientiousness, and maturity. Student activities will build an impressive resume and give you the necessary skills to survive in an office setting. In addition, you may decide to go to graduate school in the future, which also requires a complete list of student activities to differentiate between highly qualified candidates. Enough of this talk about getting ahead of the pack and competing with other students. You may not be that over-ambitious, bordering on cutthroat, player of "the game," and that's fine. In either case, you should also be getting involved in activities because you want to. Join a student group to make new friends, gain a sense of community in a larger university, and feel like you are making a difference. Volunteer for a local charity so that you can help others, be a class representative so that you can get your ideas implemented, or join a tap dancing group because you've loved to tap dance since you were five years old. *Here are a few _cough_ resume-building opportunities right on your campus!* *Student Government.* Feel like a grain of sand amid the tens of thousands of people that attend your university? Have a lot of good ideas to improve the lives of the student body? Run for a leadership position in your college's student government. This activity may take more out of you than others, as you campaign for your way to the top. To make it to the planning committee, you will most likely need hundreds of signatures and posted flyers. Be persistent, aggressive, and, most of all, friendly. Keep in mind that there are various governmental and umbrella organizations on your campus. Join the elections committee, student activities council, or student committee on undergraduate education. Become a member of your college's advisory board, the Panhellenic Council (head of sororities), or the sports club council. You will be making a difference by voting on activities, policies, and procedures and your direction, leadership, and initiative will resonate on your resume. Employers want to know that you have the ability to work with groups, manage those below you, organize events, lobby for change, and come up with meaningful ideas. *Student Publications.* Writing is a skill that is important for almost all occupations. Your resume should speak to the fact that you are able to convey yourself intelligently through the written word. Luckily, you don't have to write for a poetry journal if that's not up your alley. Colleges boast a wide variety of journals, newspapers, and magazines catered to the scientist, business-man, politician and even the pre-med buff. Many colleges even offer the opportunity to write for and produce a radio show on a campus station or TV program on a network specifically for university students. Getting experience with publications and media organizations shows that you are both creative and innovative. In addition, it will give you lots of experience in a journalism or communications field. Most importantly, it will hone your writing skills and your ability to operate within deadlines. *Academic Organizations.* Delve deeper into your major and learn more about potential career opportunities. More often than not, your major has an undergraduate advisory board or society that plans activities and events and sometimes even advises on courses and department procedures. An undergraduate economics society might bring in a panel of recent graduates who have successful jobs or host a recruiting fair for summer interns. Obtaining a position in these groups shows prospective employers that you are committed and interested in the subject that you are studying. Fill up your resume with events that you have organized and programs you have established. Working for an academic organization allows you to network with alumni from your major and with future jobs, at the same time as you show these jobs your ability to be a good leader. Also under the academic organization category is the much loved and much hated public speaking groups. As essential as it is to display your writing ability on your resume, it is also indispensable that you show you can confidently address other people and vocalize ideas in the form of a speech. Many universities have debate teams, Model UN, and Model Congress. Getting involved in these activities demonstrates that you are poised, self-assured, and able to present and refute arguments in a coherent and eloquent way. *Service Groups.* Joining a community service venture shows that you truly have a good heart. Service organizations like tutoring programs, drug and alcohol resource teams, environmental groups, and Habitat for Humanity are personally fulfilling and should not be seen as "resume builders." Reaching out to assist a community in need by helping out at a soup kitchen or building houses in a poverty-stricken location is reward in itself. Yet, at the same time as you are showing your philanthropic spirit, you are also conveying to future employees that you are a sincere and generous person. Not only that, but service initiatives take a great deal of time and energy to plan. Metinculous preparation and organization are involved in bringing together a group of students to work on a community project. Think about organizing a training session and schedules for a 24 hour peer hotline. How about putting together a performance for a volunteer theater company? As a leader of a service organization, you will demonstrate that you know how to successfully coordinate large projects. *Sports and Performing Arts.* Everybody wants a team player. Sports and performing groups both require cooperation and collaboration. An a cappella group's performance depends on each member of the group doing their part just as much as a soccer team requires joint effort to win a game. A company wants to know that you will be able to work well with others and that you have the ability to bounce ideas around in a board room without jumping all over your co-workers. From a journalist to a doctor to a lawyer, you must know how to give-and-take and "play nice." Show your potential boss that you will get along with your colleagues by joining your school's jazz ensemble, hip hop troupe, or comedy club. Acting as the captain of the intramural basketball team or varsity swimming shows that you can also manage a group of people. delicious | digg | technorati
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