Student Leader Professional Branding

With more than 70 clubs and organizations on campus, campus involvement is an integral part of your Roger Williams experience. Student Leaders bring valuable leadership capabilities, experiences, and professionalism that are worthy of being highlighted on resumes and cover letters. Professionalism, time-management skills, collaboration, and communication skills are essential to present on your professional materials and will prepare you to succeed in a professional environment.

What qualifies as a campus involvement role?
Consistent participation in a university organization, club, community initiative, sports team, musical group, or professional society can be listed on a resume as a campus involvement role.

Why do employers want to hire student leaders?
Employers strongly value the experience-taught soft skill that student leaders on campus possess, such as communication, problem-solving, collaboration and leadership capabilities. Employers seek students who perform well academically but are also involved in extracurriculars and leadership roles on campus. Being a part of a club or organization provides you with opportunities to develop not only professional soft skills but a chance to explore your passions outside of the classroom.

As a student leader, you possess essential interpersonal communication skills and professionalism when collaborating with faculty, staff, and vendors, all of which is appealing to employers. Employers look for candidates who are goal-oriented, and student leaders have driven individuals who strive to enhance the campus experience through their organizations’ programming, events or meetings.

In order to be successful, Student leaders need to have the ability to work within a team-oriented environment or to collaborate with others to achieve a common goal. To be a part of a group or organization on campus, how you successfully communicate with members, faculty advisors, and staff members is an invaluable skill to employers.

For additional assistance and resources visit our resume guide or cover letter guide.

  • How Can I Market the Campus Involvement Experience in my Resume & Cover Letter?

    The student leader provides you with essential interpersonal skills to succeed in a professional environment. Listed below are key characteristics of a student leader on campus and how to articulate your experience on your professional documents.

    Adaptability For student leaders, adaptability is about having ready access to different ways of thinking, and successfully shifting and experimenting as things change. As student leaders, you have to be ready to act in a minutes’ notice if an event, meeting, or panel does not follow the schedule. The ability to act in a solution-oriented, calm manner and approach difficult situations with a level-headed mind is a skill that is valuable to employers.
    Collaboration To succeed as a student leader, one must establish a positive relationship with campus students, faculty and staff through collaborative practices of meetings, campus event planning, and additional organizational events. Student Leaders collaborate with a diverse background of staff, students, and faculty all in fulfilling the same goal; to enhance student life through events, theme weeks, forums, and panels!
    b. e.g. ‘Collaborated with 13 board members to create campus events for the year’
    Communication Communication is an essential interpersonal skill that is often overlooked and as an athlete, the way you communicate effectively with your teammates, coaches, and officials is proof for any employer that you can communicate successfully within a team.
    e.g. “Demonstrated effective communication skills to assist in mediating team conflict”
    Time Management Coordinating class schedules, club/organization weekly meetings, board meetings, event planning, and many more commitments that come along with a student leadership title, It is important to communicate the steps you take to stay organized, excel in academics, but also stay committed to your club or organization.
    e.g. “Managed a full-time student course load with an average of 10+ hours per week of club meetings and attending events
    Solution-Oriented The ability to recognize when to change your gameplan, or to change strategy and the flexibility, adaptation, and discipline to execute said plans, is highly marketable for employers.
    e.g. “Completed full execution and planning of Campus Entertainment Network’s Fall 2022 Spirit Week events; including vendors, social media, and merchandise in collaboration with co-chairs and faculty advisors”
    Strategic & Analytical As a student leader, you utilize strategic and analytical skillsets to problem-solve and make decisions in a fast-paced environment. skills.
    e.g. “Collaborated with Student Senate to analyze Inter Class Council budget through event budgets, spending reports, and data analysis”
    Work Ethic Between academics and student leadership roles, Student Leaders know how to time-manage effectively, utilize schedules, and remain motivated and committed to each of their roles on campus. Employers look for students who are involved outside of their classroom and possess strong work ethics and dedication to each of their activities.
    e.g. “Managed time effectively between weekly board meetings, event planning sessions, committee meetings, and organization-wide meetings.”
    Passion Student Leaders show an extremely strong commitment to their roles, as they are typically unpaid and volunteer positions. A student leader exhibits empathy and passion towards others and recognizes that their energy can have a positive impact on the entire organization’s performance. Additionally, Roger Williams provides opportunities for students follow their passions outside of the classroom, in which students electively choose to explore passions through clubs and organizations.
    Accountability Student Leaders learn to be accountable through their actions and serve as an overall representation of Roger Williams University at organizational functions, school events and on campus.
  • Marketing Your Student Leadership Skills on Professional Documents Utilizing Action Verbs

    Student leaderships develop a variety of soft skills that are easily transferrable to a professional environment. Here is a list below of transferrable skills and traits to include on your professional documents that highlight your skills and accomplishments.

    • Ability to Multitask
    • Assertive
    • Competitive
    • Communication
    • Challenge-seeker
    • Discipline
    • Decision-maker
    • Energy
    • Focused
    • Growth-Oriented
    • Leadership Skills
    • Overcoming Adversity
    • Preparation
    • Solution-Oriented
    • Team-Oriented
    • Time-Management
  • Where do I put these skills on my Resume?

    Creating an experience under ‘Collegiate Involvement,’ ‘Leadership experience’ or ‘Organizational Involvement.’ This section can be listed anywhere, we recommend that it be placed under the Work Experience category. It is important to include the Name of the Organization or Club, the Leadership Role, and the time held in the leadership role or club overall.

    Accomplishments or Awards

     

    		 Student Leaders on campus are recognized through inter-organization awards, collegiate awards, nominations, scholarships or received honorable mentions and awards that should be highlighted on their resume. When a student is nominated or awarded, it proves that advisors and peers recognize their level of dedication to their organization.
    Leadership Roles & Opportunities Student Leaders hold leadership positions such as President, Vice President, Chair, Co-Chair, Treasurer, Secretary, etc; which shows employers that you are capable of taking initiative and can motivate or lead a club or organization to success.
  • Sample Action Verbs for Bullet Descriptions:

    When crafting your resume, it is of utmost importance to articulate your responsibilities, accomplishments, and awards when crafting action statements on your resume. Below are examples of verbs for your action statements for your reference.

    • Achieved
    • Accomplished
    • Administered
    • Collaborated
    • Coordinated
    • Created
    • Completed
    • Demonstrated
    • Developed
    • Directed
    • Established
    • Exceeded
    • Facilitated
    • Influenced
    • Initiated
    • Instructed
    • Led
    • Mentored
    • Motivated
    • Oversaw
    • Reinforced
    • Replaced
    • Revamped
    • Reviewed
    • Served
    • Strengthened
    • Supported
    • Presented
  • Sample Student Leader Positions and Descriptions:
    Department of Residence Life and Housing, Roger Williams University, Bristol RI
    Resident Assistant
    • Supervises operations of campus residence hall and creates intentional educational programming and bulletin boards to educate first-year college residents on special topics
    • Develops and maintain relationships with 15-30 residents and facilitates 1:1 meetings with each student to foster intentional conversations
    • Conducts health and safety checks of the building and bedroom twice a semester
    Campus Entertainment Network, Bristol RI
    Public Relations Chair
    • Develops social media plan for Campus Entertainment Network events on Instagram, HawkLink, and Handshake
    • Collaborates with Design Chair to produce event-specific media for social platforms and campus bulletin boards
    • Attended the 2020 National Association for Campus Activities in Denver, Colorado
    Student Programs Orientation and Leadership, Roger Williams University, Bristol, RI
    Orientation Advisor
    • Served as an overall resource to first-year students as they transition to campus life
    • Managed small groups of 8-10 incoming first-year students through tours, presentations, and activities in preparation for the transition to college life
    • Assisted transfer students how to register for classes, answer campus-related questions and provide a comprehensive tour of campus
    Multicultural Student Union, Bristol, RI
    Treasurer
    • Recorded of minutes for both general and e-board meetings
    • Organized and ran student lead activities, festivals, and events for campus-wide enjoyment
    • Lead discussions on topics in relation to diversity, equity, and inclusion and how it relates to the Roger Williams campus and community
  • LinkedIn Checklist:
    Utilizing LinkedIn to broadcast and post your accomplishments as a student-leader creates visibility to employers and distinguishes you as an accomplished and involved leader on campus.
    • Create an Experience in your ‘About’ section to highlight your experience as a student leader with your curated action statements from your Resume
    • Create an Awards & Recognition to include campus recognition or organization-specific awards
    • Keep your LinkedIn network up to date on your accomplishments by posting to your network when you have received accreditation, organizational-specific awards or scholarships received on behalf on your involvement.