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So, as most college kids know, you have to be well-rounded when you graduate so companies will even look at you. You “have” to be president of fifteen organizations, participate in intramurals, and be a greek.

That sucks. Frickin sucks.

I can’t spend a minute picking my nose, much less have a dozen organizations under my belt.

This doesn’t include the rule of thumb colleges throw out about spending at least two hours studying for every one hour in class. That’s 36 hours studying, on top of my 12 hours at ECOS and 12+ hours at the residence hall desk. 7-8 hours of sleep every night.

That’s 124 hours a week with my 18 hours included.

There’s only 168 hours in a week.

That’s 44 hours during Monday through Sunday I have free to eat, shower, watch a movie, walk to class, call my mom, etc.

An organization takes at least an hour a week for meetings. An hour for emails everyday. An hour for planning, idea-making, and marketing. Another hour for finding a dress to wear to the big event or picking up the balloons. Not to mention all the time texting on your phone during/between classes so you and your team members are on the same page. Don't even mention technical glitches or miscommunications - that's three hours talking about it right there.

So where oh where will I get the hours I’d need to be president of every organization ever so I can eventually get a job?

Yeah, not looking good unless I rent the TARDIS.

Sure, 44 hours looks like a lot: that’s almost a weekend! But spread out over a week, it’s only just enough that I have time to watch an episode of Kitchen Nightmares and text my mom.

However, since I don’t spend two hours for every hour I’m in class studying, I can find meaningful ways to enrich myself without the need to join every organization ever.

I’m in one organization now. One. This means I have very little on my resume. 

But it doesn’t bother me.

How come?

Because I’m a member of St. Jude Up Til Dawn. My one organization helps thousands of kids every year and never sends a bill to the families. I’m not knocking other organizations, but UTD is pretty damn sweet. We raise money for cancer research that will help not just the patients at St Jude, but global cancer patients.

So yeah, I’m not knocking organizations, because they’re great tools as long as you’re committed to achieving the goals the team has set. It can be very impressive when you tell recruiters that you raised $45,000 in one semester for St. Jude. Then you can tell them exactly what YOU did to achieve that.

But spreading yourself out with more than five clubs is just crazy. It’s weakening your efforts to the point where all you’ll say to that recruiter was, “Yeah, I had fun in my clubs. Totes great people!” 

You may have done a ton of things for those organizations, but unless they include specific action points you helped with then it ain't nothing. Hear that twang? Nothing. Your organization is a tool for you to network, to increase the likely hood that you will gain a job, to learn valuable skills in communicating during a crises and logistics. If you don't go to every single meeting of your club because you're not devoted to it, it's not helping you, it's not exciting you, then drop it like it's hot. 

Because it ain't doing you a damn bit of good.

So if you’re joining a club for the resume booster, don’t. If you’re not interested in the concept behind it, then it’s not for you. If the thought of spending time with a bunch of other accounting majors makes you queasy, don’t do it. I understand completely.

We have limited hours in the day. Spend your extra ones doing something you enjoy and the results you produce from that will more than make up for having one organization on your resume.

In short, do what you love, not what others do.





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