What are extracurricular activities and why include them?

Extracurricular activities are programs outside of your academics, like clubs, athletics, and honor societies. Your involvement in college extracurriculars can help you build your skills and confidence. Perhaps you:

• Were president of the Art Club

• Volunteered at the U-Knighted Fair

• Played on the volleyball team

• Participated in Alpha Beta Gamma, the National Business Honor Society

• Participated in a class project with another school from abroad

This experience can be helpful to include on your resume. Especially as you are beginning your career, your involvement as a college student can be included on your resume to demonstrate your great transferrable skills.

What to include?

You will want to include the experiences that show your skills and readiness for this new job. For example, if you were involved on the baseball team and applied for a tutoring job, you would want to show your transferrable skills, such as mentorship and collaboration skills. Your resume may include something like, “Mentored new players on the team, supporting 3 rookie players into starting roles” or “Collaborated with co-captains to organize pre-season workouts and bonding events”.

Remember: You can create a master resume with all this information. When you are ready to apply for a job, you can edit and remove less relevant content.

Which extracurriculars do you include to tailor your resume?

You’ve listed all of your extracurriculars…now what? It’s time to identify the skills you need for this job. You will want to review the job description for inspiration and pay careful attention to the job duties. Reviewing this description will help you identify keywords and responsibilities for this position.

In addition to reviewing the job, you will also want to check out the company, looking at its website and social media. This context will help you see the company’s values and priorities. Do they value teamwork? Do they want people who are problem solvers?

Where do I list my experience?

Where you list your extracurriculars will depend on the job application and your transferrable skills. Consider how your extracurricular activities are relevant to the application.

Here are three common options:

• Experience section: Including your involvement under an “Experience” section is a great way to show your transferable skills if you do not have paid work experience. Let’s say you are applying to a social media internship, you will want to include how you managed the Student Government’s social media accounts and increased their followers by 25% in a year – that would be super relevant for this role.

• Education section: You may consider this section if you are involved in an honor society or academic-related organization that relates to your future career. If you are involved in the National Business Honor Society and plan to pursue accounting, including this membership would be relevant.

• Separate section: You may decide to create a dedicated section for your experiences if you have multiple items that are relevant to the job application. This section could be titled “Leadership Experience” or “Extracurricular Activities”, whichever best reflects your experience. If you have work experience, avoid mixing your paid and unpaid experiences. Creating this separate section can showcase your transferable skills and help you highlight your extracurricular experience.

Key Takeaways

Your extracurricular activities can be an excellent way of showcasing your technical and soft skills on your resume. 

Remember: always consider your reader and tailor your resume. You want the hiring manager to read your resume to see why you are the best candidate for the job. Quality over quantity matters most!

Want resume feedback? Schedule a meeting with Career Services. Navigate is the most efficient way to schedule a meeting. You can also reach us by email: careerservices@necc.mass.edu.

Looking to apply for jobs? Check out NECC’s job board, Handshake: https://app.joinhandshake.com/edu

A career is not just a job, it’s much more than that. A career combines your education, training, and overall experience, as well as your values, interests, and strengths. Your career goals and plans develop over time and connecting with Career Services early can help you get a strong start in this process. We have exploration resources to help you research and learn about different occupational areas and set career goals and plans. We also have tools and support to help you prepare for your next steps if you already know what you want to do.

Here are 5 reasons to connect with Career Services early in your college journey.
1. Identify interests, values, and priorities
a. Reflecting on what matters most to you can help you make decisions more efficiently. When it comes to job searching, you may assume these priorities and filter your search by location, salary, etc. Connect with Career Services for career assessments and additional tools to help you identify how your interests relate to your future career.

2. Researching occupations, industries, and companies
a. Start researching your future profession, learn about the required skills, and your salary expectations. There are many virtual resources and in-person opportunities at NECC to help your research.

3. Start networking
a. Networking is a crucial component in internship and job searching, plus it’s a great way to learn about occupational areas of interest. Connect with Career Services to learn how to do it and why it is important.

4. Guidance on resumes and cover letters
a. Creating a resume and cover letter early sets you up for success in the future. You can schedule a meeting with Career Services to receive feedback and learn how to tailor your materials for a specific job application.

5. Strategize for job and internship search
a. There are more job search tools than Indeed.com. Connect with us early to discuss your career goals, how to apply your skills from classes, and additional search tools – including Handshake!

To meet with Career Services, schedule a meeting through Navigate or email careerservices@necc.mass.edu. Meetings are available on the Haverhill and Lawrence campuses, plus Zoom.

Searching for a job can take longer than expected. Did you know the average time from application to accepting a full-time job in 2022 is three to six months? Preparing for your search, applying and interviewing, researching companies, and successfully landing a position requires patience and diligence.

Here are Career Services’ top 5 tips for job searching:

1. Login to Handshake.
• Handshake is NECC’s job board and much more! Attend free employer-hosted events, search for internships and jobs, and check out NECC’s Career Center Resource area for templates.
• To get on to Handshake, login to your MyNECC Portal and scroll to the bottom of the homepage. Click the Handshake login on the left-hand side.
2. Prepare!
• Creating a resume and cover letter is a great first step in your job search. It’s best to proofread your application materials, making sure they are free of spelling and punctuation mistakes. Then ask yourself, are your application materials telling your story? Do they contain relevant information that shows you are the best candidate for the job? Are they clear, concise, and easy to read?
• Pro tip: Reach out to three qualified people to give you feedback. Career Services can be one of them! It’s good to have a small group of people provide suggested edits before you apply.
3. Keep Track of Your Applications.
• Save the job description as a Word file or PDF. You may find the job posting has been taken offline when you go to interview, and you will be thankful to Tracking your applications in a journal or separate Excel document is a great idea.
• Another helpful tool is to create a spreadsheet to track your applications. List the company name, the job title, and the date you applied in a document. You may find yourself creating multiple accounts and applying to different companies. This spreadsheet is a good place to keep your account info, reminders, and notes about the role and company.
4. Networking and Events.
• Sometimes the best job for you is one not listed on a website. Attending events – virtual or in-person – and meeting people in the roles or company you want to work for is an excellent way to discover these unlisted opportunities. Take initiative today! Create a LinkedIn account and start connecting with friends, family, NECC alumni, and more.
5. Beware of scams.
• If the job listing seems too good to be true, it likely is. Here are five common signs of a scam:
1. A job post that claims you will make a thousand dollars a week by working from home is a common example.
2. Jobs with poor grammar and multiple misspellings.
3. The email address isn’t right. The company name is misspelled or the email ends with Gmail or Yahoo.
4. There’s an upfront cost. You’re asked for pay for your own laptop and equipment with a promise of being reimbursed.
5. You’re asked to send a resume and there’s no specific job posting. Someone could be looking to get your contact information, such as your home address, phone number, or email.

Want to connect with Career Services?

It’s never too early to connect! Our services are FREE for students and recent alumni. We help you build career development knowledge, skills, and tools that will help you now and throughout your career.
Zoom and in-person appointments are available. Schedule through Navigate or email careerservices@necc.mass.edu with questions.