Should you include activities on your resume?
With the ever-growing competition in the job market, it is imperative to have a standout resume that can help you showcase yourself as the ideal candidate.
One way to ensure that your resume meets its purpose is by including resume activities, especially if you are a fresher or a recent graduate with no professional experience.
Resume activities refer to extracurricular activities or volunteer work that you were a part of, either during or outside your academic career.
Given that 60% of employers look for problem-solving and teamwork skills in resumes, including resume activities, which can help you pose as a well-rounded candidate and also help you showcase your transferable skills, which can be crucial for any job profile.
Plus, 41% of hiring managers consider volunteer work as valuable as paid work experience when evaluating candidates. So why not leverage them by including resume activities?
Continue reading to learn more about resume activity and get clarity on related questions like the following:
- What do activities mean on a resume?
- Can you list professional associations as resume activities?
- How to showcase extracurricular activities on your resume?
- What are some resume activities examples?
What are the Different Types of Resume Activities?
Apart from highlighting professional experience and educational qualifications in your resume, including different types of resume activities can help your resume stand out from other applicants.
Depending on your level of experience, you can include various types of resume activities. For instance, if you are a fresher, you can highlight resume activities like extracurricular activities and volunteer work.
Meanwhile, if you are a seasoned professional, highlighting resume activities like professional associations, conferences, and workshops makes more sense than extracurricular activities.
Extracurricular Activities
Extracurricular activities refer to the activities that students take part in outside of their academic work. Some of the common examples of extracurricular activities include:
- Sports
- Clubs & organizations
- Hobbies & interests
- Sorority/Fraternity
- Debate teams
Including details about such extracurricular activities on your resume can help demonstrate your interests, transferable skills, leadership abilities, and people skills.
For instance, if you were part of the debate team, it highlights your problem-solving, critical thinking, and communication skills.
Volunteer Work
Volunteer work involves offering unpaid services to communities or organizations that stand for a positive cause. Including volunteer work on your resume showcases your commitment to giving back to the community and the ability to take on projects independently.
Volunteer work can include anything from working at old age homes or hospitals to organizing charity events and tutoring underprivileged students.
Professional Associations
Professional associations are groups and organizations formed by seasoned professionals who belong to the same industry or niche. These associations share valuable insights, learnings, news, and networking opportunities for their members.
Being a part of such organizations shows your dedication, interest, expertise, and desire to stay abreast with the latest industry trends and best practices.
Conferences and Workshops
Conferences and workshops are events that allow professionals to learn new skills, update themselves with the latest industry trends and findings, and grow their professional network.
By including details about attending such events, you can showcase your dedication to growing your industry knowledge and polish or acquire new skills that are in demand.
How to Showcase Resume Activities the Right Way?
When it comes to showcasing resume activities the right way, it is important to keep the relevance of these activities in mind.
Meaning, when you are deciding on which resume activities you must include in your resume, you should ask yourself, “how relevant is this activity to the role you’re applying for?”
For instance, if you are applying for a leadership position, you can include extracurricular activities like leading a sports or debate team.
Similarly, if you are applying to a nonprofit organization, including volunteer experience can help showcase your commitment to community service and social work.
Given below are some additional tips you can follow to showcase resume activities effectively:
Create Separate Sections
To give your resume a clean format and make it easy for recruiters to scan through details of the activities, you must create separate sections for different resume activities.
Keep it Concise
When listing any type of resume activities, you must ensure to use bullet points to explain your role and responsibilities.
This way you can keep the sections concise and crisp by avoiding unnecessary details or lengthy paragraphs.
Use Action Verbs & Numbers
While describing your extracurricular activities, volunteer experiences, or professional associations, it’s important to use action verbs like participated, led, organized, executed, etc., for making it more engaging and impactful.
Additionally, using exact numbers to describe your achievements or duties will help make more impact on the recruiters with your resume activities.
For instance, if you organized a fundraiser, you can mention how much money you raised and the number of people who attended the event.
Also Read: How to showcase extracurricular activities on a resume?
Activity Resume Examples
Given below are some resume activities examples (extracurricular activities) that you can refer to:
| Student Council | Book Clubs |
| Multicultural Organizations | Foreign Languages |
| Study Abroad Experience | Sports Teams |
| Tutoring | Volunteer Activities/Organizations |
| (Non-)Academic Competitions | Debate Team |
| Dean’s List | Fundraising |
Key Points
- Resume activities refer to extracurricular activities or volunteer work that you were a part of either during or outside of your academic career.
- If you are a seasoned professional, highlighting resume activities like professional associations and conferences & workshops makes more sense than extracurricular activities.
- Extracurricular activities refer to the activities that students take part in outside of their academic work. Some of the common examples of extracurricular activities include sports teams, clubs & organizations, hobbies & interests, etc.
- Volunteer work involves offering unpaid services to communities or organizations that stand for a positive cause. Including volunteer work on your resume showcases your commitment to giving back to the community and the ability to take on projects independently.
- Professional associations are groups and organizations that are formed by seasoned professionals who belong to the same industry or niche. These associations share valuable insights, learnings, news, and networking opportunities for their members.
- Conferences and workshops are events that allow professionals to learn new skills, update themselves with the latest industry trends and findings, and grow their professional network.
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