by Gloria Conner
Like many freshmen I came to college with simple goals: get involved on campus, make lots of friends, make a difference in my community, and graduate with a great job. While I accomplished my goals, it was not until much later in my academic career that I saw the real value of student organizations and leadership to my resume.
I originally wanted to become involved on campus as a way to meet new people and become involved in different conferences and activities. On my campus, there’s a yearly activities fair where all established student organizations—from Greek houses to academic honorary student organizations—set up tables displaying information about their organization.
I attended the fair and signed up for every organization’s e-mail list without discrimination. After two weeks of a full e-mail box and a schedule overly packed with organizational meetings every single night of the week, I realized it was probably more important to limit my social involvement to around two or three organizations.
Keep in mind that being a member of a highly restrictive student organization that maintains grade point averages and focuses on integrity and morals is a big plus to potential employers. But even if you are not a member of the “best and brightest,” the goal of including student organizations on your resume is to show that you have leadership abilities and can easily work with diverse groups of people. In my case, being a minority on campus, I felt joining an organization like the Black Student Union would be a great way to still feel connected and find mutual friends of color. I am also religious, so I chose to join a nondenominational-based Christian student organization. And to top it all off I joined a business student association.
Being a part of a student organization is great, but it shows more initiative to be in a leadership position within the organizations you have joined. It was a few weeks into the semester before the Black Student Union was taking applications for interested freshman to become a part of their Big 12 Black Student Union delegate committee. The job requirements were simple. Become a part of the executive board; attended all the meetings and travel to other Big 12 schools to find solutions to discrimination and enrollment issues on each campus.
I applied. And once I became a part of the executive board, I saw a whole different side to student leadership. The presentation you see from a general member’s perspective does not account for all the time, effort, or expenses necessary to serve the members. Think about student clubs and organizations as mini-enterprises. Most clubs have executive boards with presidents, treasurers, project leaders, and committees. This is not so far off from the structure of many companies. As you gain experience in an organization, take the business aspects of your position and start thinking about all the responsibilities and roles that comprise it.
Being in leadership was a fun and exciting opportunity, and I felt like I was making a big difference not only within Black Student Union but throughout the whole campus. However, by focusing on my leadership in student organizations I also was able to add leadership skills to my resume and focus on other innate abilities that employers consider relevant.
The best way to look at how to make your student membership relevant on your resume is the same way you would describe any job you might hold. This could be done by simply listing all your responsibilities in a dull numerical fashion or it can be viewed as an opportunity to put your creativity in words. Since the student organization might be working with less than $1,000 or completing projects with less than thousands of participants the exact numbers may be less important than the progress you make during your term.
For example, you could list “managed $150 in local bank account.” Or you could say “sustained financial records during 25 percent monetary budget gains.” Remember, the point is not to focus on the actual funds, but to showcase your abilities.
Your abilities come through in telling how you deal with change, unexpected situations, diverse groups of people, company growth, and other important business issues. In my case, during my term as a delegate for the Black Student Union, I headed the delegate committee into being awarded the “Most Outstanding” Black Student Union within the Big 12 colleges for 2005-2006. This highlighted leadership, research, willingness to travel, and management of the expenses of the scholarship writing project. That’s what I put on my resume.
As my academic years went by I joined, quit, re-joined, established, and redefined dozens of student organizations on campus, never taking into consideration that in fact I was becoming a strong leader and that the changes I was making within the university community were not only desirable by employers and recruiters but actively sought. I realized later, after meeting with my career adviser, that I (like some other college students) had little relevant real-world experience on my resume, which could end up making it look bare. So I had to simply focus on my abilities vs. occupational experiences.
For me, it was important to remember that companies are not looking for experienced professionals on college campuses, they are looking for entry-level professionals and interns that possess the traits and abilities that their companies value. Having a resume with substantial leadership skills that highlight my ability to work with diverse groups of people is one great way to draw attention to my traits and abilities.
By sharing my success with you, I hope to help you fill your own resume.