Nothing’s worse than looking at your resume and wishing you had something more, especially during the middle of the school year when it’s a little late to just join a new organization or try out for a sport. But don’t worry, you aren’t out of the fight! Check out our resume tips to add some extra (and valuable) lines to your resume!
1. If you can’t join any student organizations, make one
Look into your school’s policy on creating a new club or organization. It doesn’t have to be anything super profound because colleges don’t really look at extracurriculars as a measure of intelligence, they look at them to see if you can take initiative-are you a leader or a follower? That’s why being “Founder and President” of a club can very well be a better alternative to just being a member of pre-existing organizations.
2. Get service hours
I don’t know what it is, but for some reason, people appreciate giving back to the community. If you don’t already have a superfluous amount, going for extra services hours shows schools that you don’t need some position of authority to contribute to society. That’s critical, because the brightest leaders don’t have others work for them; leaders are supposed to serve their constituents. This means that if you don’t have a proven record of service, you aren’t proven as an effective leader.
3. Develop special skills
This one is critical for both school and the job market. If you have free time on your hands, learn basic computer skills. Know the ends and outs of MS Excel. It may be boring, but learning it well will make you much, much better off than someone who doesn’t know it. The importance of learning Excel (especially if you want to do business) cannot be overstated. Another program I’d recommend learning is SQL, its pretty cool because you get to code and it looks way more complicated than it actually is. Trust me, you can learn SQL using free resources that are just a Google search away. If you learn these things as a high school student, they’ll put you way ahead of the game.
4. Spice up your interests section
If your resume doesn’t already have an “interests” section, add one! A friend of mine swears he got an internship for a consulting firm because he put “monetizing World of Warcraft” in the interests section of his resume. It’s critical to fill this part out with specific interests that are well… interesting. Don’t just say “basketball” because that doesn’t get whoever is on the other side engaged in your personality. You’re better off being your true self and giving a detailed account of your interests even if it makes you seem a little unordinary. After all, what university or employer says “we prefer to accept ordinary people.
Next time you have an extra hour, use these resume tips to start something new that will strengthen your resume. Usually, the “starting” is the hardest part of starting something new. Once you get over that hump of beginning a new activity, it will only get easier to learn in the future and you may have developed a new hobby that you enjoy! Even if you don’t enjoy learning all this stuff (believe me, things like Excel can be a lot more frustrating than fun), it’s still worth it.