Best Extracurricular Activities to List on a Resume Examples

Best Extracurricular Activities to List on a Resume Examples Extracurricular activities. Youve got a pocketful of those.Work experience? Yeah, theres a hole in that pocket.How are you going to make it out in the job market when everyone wants skills and experience and all you have is activities.Activities doesnt even sound legit.But they are.Extracurricular activities are actually tangible proof of job-related skills and maturity and they can be a huge help when youre lacking job experience.Include these activities in your resume correctly and watch them give you a fighting chance even against more experienced candidates!Well show you the extracurricular activities that you probably already have and that employers are going to love.Want to save time and have your resume ready in 5 minutes? Try our resume builder. Its fast and easy to use. Plus, youll get ready-made content to add with one click. See 20+ resume templates and create your resume here.Sample resume made with our builderSee more templates and create your resume here.One of our user s, Nikos, had this to say:[I used] a nice template I found on Zety. My resume is now one page long, not three. With the same stuff.Create your resume nowCheck out these useful articles for students:Student Resume ExampleCollege Freshman Resume ExampleCollege Student Resume ExampleRecent College Graduate Resume ExampleFirst Resume With No ExperienceResume for InternshipHow to Add Relevant Coursework to Your ResumeShould I Put My GPA on My ResumeHow to List a Degree on a ResumeThe Best Extracurricular Activities For a ResumeExtracurricular activities can prove that you have the skills and abilities that hiring managers are looking for. In that sense, theyre very similar to work experience, only gained in a different setting.Lets look at the top 9 activities for a resume:1. Foreign LanguagesKnowledge of a foreign language can sometimes be the single thing that sets you apart from other candidates. If, for example, Spanish is an absolute requirement for a given job, you can bet your som brero that recruiters will check your resume language skills.Also, jobs that require such a hard skill as foreign language knowledge are constantly on the rise and usually pay better!Foreign language knowledge demonstrates:Communication skillsHard workCultural awarenessInterest in self developmentRead more: Language Skills on a Resume: How to Show Your Proficiency2. Student CouncilIt takes time, effort, and aspiration to be part of the student body in high school or college.The wide variety of responsibilities that student body members have is an invaluable resource of experience that can be added to your resume to show that you have the skills for the job.Involvement in the Student Council can prove:Leadership skillsTeamworkOrganizational skillsProblem solvingEvent planningFundraising experienceCritical thinking skillsDecision makingTime managementCreative thinking skillsHard workBusiness skillsActive listening skillsTold you it was a rich resource!3. SportsThis isnt just boasting about being the quarterback on the school football team or how many slam dunks you made last season.Most sports rely heavily on teamwork and constantly improving yourself as well as a lot of dedication. Most employers would love to see that same dedication applied at work.Doing sports can demonstrate:Teamwork skillsDedicationTime managementWork ethicSelf improvementCommunicationLeadership skills (if you were team captain, for example)4. Clubs/ Organizations/ SocietiesThis could be nearly anything ranging from your school debate team or drama club to being an admin on a virtual community forum. Sororities and fraternities also count.Being a part of a bigger community not only lets you share your expertise and skills, but is also a great opportunity to learn from others and widen your knowledge.Being a part of a club, organization, society may show:TeamworkTime management skillsCommunication skillsSpecific hard or soft skills5. VolunteeringMany people think volunteering isnt like a jo b because you dont get paid.Actually, its almost exactly like a job (except you dont get paid).Not only do you show enough passion for a cause to devote your free time to it, you have specific responsibilities and deadlines to meet otherwise things go downhill for a lot of people. It also contributes to your personal development.Recruiters will be very interested to know you drove things forward in the Salvation Army or Habitats for Humanity, for example.Volunteering demonstrates:MotivationSelf-starter attitudeTeamworkOrganizational skillsWork ethicRead more: How to Add Volunteering to a Resume?6. Peer TutoringThis is a specific way of giving your time to others.Whether part of a formal school tutoring program or not, peer tutoring shows recruiters not only that you are knowledgeable in a given area, but are willing and able to share that knowledge and help others grow.This can be a relatively hard trait to find in the workplace and hiring managers will value it a lot!Peer tutoring can show:CommunicationSpecific expertiseTeamworkCreative thinking skillsFlexibility7. Studying AbroadStudying abroad is a great high school or college experience and more so if its part of a work-study program.Meeting new people and cultures as well as trying to find your way around a new, foreign, and slightly scary situation can show hiring managers that you can adapt quickly to come out a winner.Studying abroad can prove:Cultural awarenessForeign language knowledgeAdaptabilitySoft skillsIndependenceStress resistanceInterpersonal skillsRead more: How to Put Study Abroad on a Resume Wow Employers8. FundraisingThis could be your sole responsibility in an organization or one of many other duties. It could have also been part of a project or something you did just to help out a friend.Fundraising isnt as easy as it sounds and to be successful you need a host of different skills that recruiters will definitely be interested in and that you should include on your resume.Experience in f undraising can demonstrate:Business savvyMarketing skillsTeamworkCommunicationProject management skillsWriting skillsAnalytical thinking skills9. Relevant HobbiesTheyre just hobbies, arent they?Dont be so quick to judge.Your passion for drawing fantasy maps can help you land that job as a creative writer since drawing maps requires good world building knowledge.Your time spent tending your garden can prove you have a real interest in landscaping design.Depending on the hobby, they can prove a whole host of things such as the transferable abilities listed above or something new!Remember, though:dont include every activity youve ever heard ofit doesnt make you more impressive, it just makes more of a mess on your resume. If you werent active in it, leave it out.Looking for some more insight into hobbies and interests in a resume? Check out this nifty guide: Hobbies and Interests in a ResumeWhen making a resume in our builder, drag drop bullet points, skills, and auto-fill the boring stuff. Spell check? Check. Start building your resume here.Create my resume nowWhen youre done, Zetys resume builder will score your resume and tell you exactly how to make it better.How to List Extracurricular Activities on a ResumeThere are a couple of different ways to list extracurricular activities on a resume, depending on the nature of the activity.1. Activities in Your Resume Education SectionThis would be the best place for activities in high school, college, or university. List it just before what you would normally put in your education section (college or university degree, diploma).Extracurricular on a Resume SamplesEducation SectionRightEducationArizona State UniversityMaster of Science in Psychology2019Mentor in Psychology Mentor ProgramPsi Chi, ASU2019Read more: Education Section on a Resume2. Activities in Your Additional Resume SectionFor those activities that dont relate much to your education, you can create a separate resume section for them all together. Depend ing on the nature and amount of these activities, you give your section header a name that makes sense, e.g. achievements, volunteering.If youre interested in IT or a similar industry, consider merging your extracurricular activities with projects you may have done and label it Projects.After all that, lets see examples of what extracurricular activities in a resume look like:Extracurriculars on a Resume SamplesAchievements SectionrightAchievementsHeld 100+ tutoring sessions in algebra and trigonometry as a member of the AMS Student Chapter.Helped organize 5+ university fundraisers for local charities, exceeding expected donation amounts by 15% through the use of diverse marketing channels and gathering options.Read more: How to Show Achievements and Awards on a ResumeKey TakeawayWhether its tutoring your peers at your university, learning a new language, or helping organize an event, your extracurricular activities do matter on your resume.When thinking about how to list activities on your resume, remember this advice:Make sure the extracurricular activity is relevant to the role youre applying for.Dont only mention the title you held or club you belonged to and stick to your responsibilities and key achievements.List your extracurricular activities in the appropriate section of your resume.Thats it! Easy as 1-2-3!Have any questions about how to list your extracurricular activities in your resume? Drop a comment down below!