bristle
Usually I’m calm and collected. I may be a pile of nerves beneath the surface, but I try to only let it show as a nervous laugh or a rueful smile.
Today, I couldn’t hold it in. I was discussing my resume with one of the school’s career advisors. As she was editing my resume, she asked if I had any school activities or clubs to list with my undergraduate degree. When I replied that no, I didn’t have any, she grinned at me and said “So, I guess you had fun in college, huh?”
I know she didn’t mean anything by it, but the implication hit me in the face. I blurted, “That’s because I graduated in three and a half years and worked twenty hours a week part-time!”
I didn’t mean to sound so defensive, but I was. My last two semesters of undergrad were not fun. They were stressful: stressful because of money, stressful because of grades, and stressful because I needed to find a well-paying full-time job. Trust me, I did NOT screw around in school.
But how do I convey that in my resume? There’s no section titled “works well under pressure” or “got good grades despite weird work schedule and frustrating love life.” All the employer sees are the official clubs and organizations to which I belonged. I could list my part-time jobs since they were as much of a learning experience as my time in the classroom.
It just bothers me that it looks like I didn’t care in undergrad about being in a sorority or leading a charitable event. I did care, but I cared about my grades too. I realize that being an MBA student involves networking and club participation. I love this part of the MBA. I love it because it’s what I missed out on in undergrad. However, I don’t want to look like I’m less of a person on paper simply because I had different interests in undergrad.
I know I’m going on about this, but seriously, what would you put on your resume if you could? Deals well with crazy bosses? Get’s everything done on time including other people’s projects? Yeah, I can think of a lot more.
I was in a similar situation as an undergrad. I paid for my (expensive, private) tuition without help from anyone else, so I was forced to work a lot, all through school.
Why was she focusing on the undergrad section of your resume? Employers are going to be looking at your employment history. They may (or may not) be interested in the details of your MBA experience. They certainly won’t be poring over your undergrad days, unless you’re fresh out of college.
While club membership helps in some ways, I can’t really see it ever being an issue unless you lacked significant work experience. Employers want to know who you are. Those kinds of details help, kinda like how I interviewed a guy once who listed bible verses at the end of his resume and cover letter. It showed who he was, but I wouldn’t have recommended it…I don’t really want to know that kind of thing about someone I’m trying to hire. It didn’t show that he was a nice guy, it just seemed creepy and possibly calculated. I’d think the same thing about someone else who listed all sorts of community crap but who seemed like a fake in person.
It’s not an iron-clad rule that you have to prove some streak of sincere and motivated extracurricular involvement, it just shows you’re not boring and selfish, although it really does nothing to show this when you just list things on a resume.
Also, who the hell networks during their undergraduate education? 18-21 year old network marketers?