How to make your officer experience stand out on your resume
Did you know — recruiters spend less than 30 seconds skimming a resume. Your resume is not a historical record of every single thing you’ve done. It should be tailored for a specific job description and highlight the relevant experiences that align you to that role.
Officer positions demonstrate leadership and your ability to manage, delegate and prioritize, but how you reflect your officer position on your resume is no different than how to highlight any other leadership experience. You need to recognize that the reader may have no experience with Greek organizations. So what did you do with your time as a chapter officer beyond your roles and responsibilities? Focus on impact in your resume. Companies want to know how your time outside the classroom made a difference.
What do I include?
Three questions can help you determine what to include:
- Do you have a story where you made an impact on your organization? Think about the context of the situation.
- What was your specific role? Think about what actions you took.
- What was your impact? If it weren’t for you, what might not have happened?
By answering these questions, you should have enough content to write a resume bullet to addresses a specific qualification of the opportunity you are targeting. Recruiters typically expect resume bullets to follow this format:
Action verb + content + result
Make sure your bullet clearly explains what you did, why it mattered, and how it uniquely positions you as the best candidate for the job.
Where do I include it?
Many university career centers or programs have a resume template you may need to follow to be included in on-campus recruiting. Most templates have three primary sections: Education (top), Work or Leadership Experience (middle), and Additional (bottom). If your officer position provides you with content for 2 or more bullets, include it in the middle section. If you don’t have an impact associated with your exec role, include it under the Additional section as a single bullet.
Parting thoughts
Be strategic when you lay out your plans for the year. Identify your strongest skills and plan to leverage those for an impact on your organization. If you recognize gaps in what employers may be seeking that you lack, think about an activity or project that can help you develop and demonstrate that skill. For example, if you want to demonstrate your ability to analyze data, think about how you can leverage your officer position and core responsibilities to create an opportunity (e.g., creating a new recruitment tracking database). Last, proofread. Get someone else to proofread. And just when you thought it was ready to share — read it one last time.
