<p>After a visit to the university career office, D has gotten the idea that her resume lacks in the leadership category. For example, the advisor elevated a really minor high school office D had held to a prominent spot on her resume--presumably to combat this deficit. </p>
<p>As background, D is a Div. 1 athlete, but unlikely to become a team captain at college (though she was in high school). Besides, that would be a position she wouldn't earn until she's a senior anyway, so not a factor for getting jobs or summer internships now. She is looking to work in the fields of finance, banking, or public policy. So between training and studies, D really only has had time for casual membership in one or two campus organizations besides the xc and track teams. One is a political group, which the career advisor discouraged including on the resume since it was only membership and could be a liability. Makes sense. </p>
<p>Since her GPA is OK, but not great, my opinion is that the emphasis needs to be on bringing her grades up more than on looking for a way to be a leader. She hears me, but I think is also not wanting to discount the advice of a professional who might know more than mom.</p>
<p>In some fields, leadership matters. In others, probably not.</p>
<p>My daughter was a college senior applying for jobs last year. Her academic record was extremely good, and she had had three interesting and valuable internships, but she didn’t have much in the way of leadership. </p>
<p>When she applied for jobs through on-campus recruiting, there was a definite pattern in whether or not she was invited to interview. For certain industries and types of jobs, she almost always got an invitation. For others, almost never. It got to the point where she could predict in advance whether she would get an interview. She and I both suspect that her weakness in the leadership department played a role in the decisions. </p>
<p>This is not to say that lack of leadership is a disaster, though. She did get a job in an industry that she likes, and it’s quite a good one.</p>
<p>I think being a D1 athlete can overcome a leadership deficiency. Jobs and internships seem to matter more than leadership, but D1 sports takes away some of the opportunity for jobs, too.
Agree with Marian that it is going to vary by type of job, industry and the actual person reviewing the resume. Some of this could be addressed in a reference letter.</p>
<p>Many D1 athletic departments have their own staff that help with athlete placement especially for summer jobs and internships. They often have direct contacts with key department donors. Has she also talked with them? She could at least go on some informational interviews and see what these employers think.</p>
<p>Agree that being a D1 athlete should overcome leadership position in what could be trivial club or professional fraternity. She should ask her coach for connections to former teammates that are now with firms she would like to intern with.</p>
<p>Thanks for the replies. Athletes do have special advisors at her school, but they are more for NCAA compliance purposes, ie. ensuring that the athletes are making progress toward graduation each semester. The school seems to offer opportunities for networking through athletics, however, since D recently attended an event with a major financial company that was geared to athletes. I don’t know yet if that sort of event will be a regular occurrence or not.</p>
<p>I agree with Marian … some fields are hiring leadership, others aren’t.</p>
<p>What makes this issue difficult is that ‘leadership’ can mean different things. Being willing to point out problems and assist others qualifies in a teamwork environment, but probably not when running a company. And sometimes the enterprise needs to define what it means … within a group of commission salespersons for instance.</p>
<p>This is what I was wondering about. Does leadership mean being on a panel or board that makes some decisions? Is it being the photographer of the fencing club? Does doing an individual project to raise funds for Red Cross count? Does writing an online college blog count, or does one need the title of president of a club for the work to fall under the title of leadership?</p>
<p>^ Not sure. The leadership-themed threads on CC frequently suggest alternative ways that students can demonstrate this quality for college applications outside of the limited realm of founding an organization or holding office in one. After all, in high school, “leadership” may mean popularity and strong social skills more so than other leadership traits like taking initiative, inspiring others, finding creative solutions, etc. However, there are no application essays for jobs–just the cover letter and perhaps a recommendation letter later, neither of which will get looked at if the resume does not impress. </p>
<p>Somehow, though, I get the sense that businesses are going by a more rigid definition of leadership, eg. being the head of something. After all, they presumably want their employees on boards of charitable institutions, or organizing events which expand corporate good will in the community. Behind the scenes quasi-leadership might not cut it.</p>
<p>For an internship or a first job you will most likely not be put into any kind of leadership position. So, your GPA and any experience in the field will be more important. After you have been on the job for a while, and have had some opportunitites to show your leadership skills, will you be considered for leadership positions.</p>
<p>All very true, but in instances where companies are hiring employees with the intent of starting them on a long-term career track that will eventually involve leadership (as is often the case for companies that hire a “class” of entry-level professional employees from campuses each year), the presence or absence of leadership experiences may determine whether or not the candidate even gets to the first-round-interview stage of the hiring process.</p>
<p>Wall Street is full of ex-D1 jocks. I’ve met too many guys that I’m told after the meeting that he started football or basketball for XYZ College (& these are not Ivys). I’m not impressed some one thought they could impress clients with these guys, who are often not the sharpest knives in the drawer. So much for the need for leadership to get a Wall Street job! (maybe they are the 1% people are talking about!)</p>
<p>^^ Don’t be too sure- and sometimes you need to look beyond Wall Street. I worked for a Fortune 100 company in Texas that valued running tremendously and it helped you a lot to be armed with your times in the interview! The company team competed and won corporate nationals many years in a row.</p>
<p>I can weigh in here as an employer. I have 15 years of experience in hiring recent college grads to a management trainee program. We recruit at the top liberal arts schools. I take 1 to 2 new trainees a year. Typically my company hires about 50. </p>
<p>We look for strong communication skills and leadership potential. </p>
<p>“Lleadership” positions on campus are not that great unless they are REALLY significant. Example- organizing and chairing a fashion show that earns X for your charity. VP of an investment club…snooze…no thanks. </p>
<p>I love real work-experience. Did you actually earn a paycheck during your 4 years of school. You would be surprised at the number of students that have never worked at all, never earned a paycheck. I am not interested in being the first adult to explain how they have to come to work on time, bring your pen and paper to a meeting, showing up is not enough. If a student hasnt earned a paycheck, I will pass on him/her no matter how high their grades were. Worked pt and attend school- love it! Time managment skills. </p>
<p>I like internships if the student can talk intelligently about what their responsibililties and accomplishment were. I do find so many internships are BS. Sometimes they can be impressive, but many people do not have time to really guide interns (I see this so much at work) that they are often idle. </p>
<p>A student athlete shows me someone who has managed their time between athletics and academics. However, be sure there is something else there besides sports and school.</p>
<p>D1’s leadership experience - various offices she held at her sorority.
Work experience - on campus job as a girl Friday.
Interesting EC - ballet, interviewers liked to ask her about it.
Good talking point - our family travel experience.
What got her the interview - GPA and her major (math)
What got her the offers - they liked having her around, she is very pleasant, and smart sometimes.</p>
<p>Her firm actually do special recruiting for athletes. They sponsor meet and greet at her school for athletes.</p>
<p>I’ve worked for one of the Fortune top 50 companies for 25 years as an IT person. I’ve been involved at various times in all levels of recruiting, e.g. pre-recruiting on campuses, campus interviews, and day visit interviews. The number one thing we look for in all candidates is leadership. In fact, if there’s no sign of leadership, we don’t even invite the candidate for a campus interview.</p>
<p>Now…there are multiple types of leadership, and it isn’t all about holding formal offices. (In fact, holding an office that requires little effort, doesn’t count.) Leadership can be taking initiative to raise money for a charity, organizing students for community service, taking the leadership role in a group project, planning social events for a dorm/organization, military experience, or even significant responsibilities involving younger siblings. (Anybody who has ever tried to babysit younger siblings knows that in most situations, there is no respect for “formal authority”…success is all about using influence skills.) It takes a little more digging to figure out if someone played a leadership role on a sports team…every team has leaders and followers and which role someone plays does not necessarily correspond to athletic skill/talent.</p>
<p>I’d encourage your daughter to think a little further about times she’s assumed a leadership position and be prepared to talk about that even if there’s not an easy way to list that as a line item on her resume. If she truly does not view herself as a leader, I’d suggest two things: (1) encourage her to look for opportunities to participate in leadership conferences or training. Then she could put that on her resume, develop some skills, or perhaps that will prompt her to realize times when she has in fact acted as a leader, and (2) I’d encourage her to think about something she’s passionate about and take a lead in doing something about it so that she does have something she can put on her resume.</p>
<p>Many employers care very little about extra curricular activities. Get an internship (that pays!) and do something productive while working there, just don’t sit there and stuff envelopes.</p>
<p>IMO, daughter has great work experience for someone her age, and has a stellar rec letter from her last boss which especially praises her organizational ability and paints a picture of a mature young lady. But the work she did there, while skilled, didn’t really lend itself to initiative or leadership. This past summer she was a research assistant, but the work sounded like it was pretty tedious statistical data mining and spead sheet organizing for the most part.</p>
<p>As for the team, she does get chosen to host recruits, which not everyone does. Not sure that means anything in this context.</p>
<p>I don’t like to disagree with college career services offices, especially Stanford, but I agree with other posters who say that, for Finance and Banking, being a D1 athlete…even track…will often trump another student with same school/gpa and minor leadership position.</p>
<p>Is it possible career services has a reference from her research job that may state she needs to show more leadership?</p>