<p>SGA is known for acting as the university liaison between the faculty and students. As parents, you all have experience working in “the real world”, and some of you may even work in HR or something. </p>
<p>Do you think being a secretary, treasurer, VP, or President still matters after graduation?
What about a regular club officer (biology club president, book club VP, captain of soccer team, etc.)?</p>
<p>I ask because I’m currently in SGA not because of employment purposes but because I genuinely enjoy it, but if it does help in employment prospects, then that’s always a plus lol.</p>
<p>I absolutely think the experience matters. I don’t know if it gives a leg up in job prospects. The skills you gain are skills that you will use in the “real” world. SGA requires communication skills, negotiation skills and general “people” skills. Often SGA is dealing with different populations whose objectives are different and it is your job as SGA to make everyone happy. I’m sure you can highlight these skills on a resume.</p>
<p>Most adult people think student government is just a resume padder for suckups and those who feel the need to do such things and has no real value.</p>
<p>I think being involved in something OTHER than your coursework in college is a good thing. The OP says he/she is doing this because he enjoys it…that is good enough reason to continue. I don’t think it’s a “resume padder”…I believe it shows that a person is interested in and can balance other responsibilities than hitting the books. It will likely NOT be a deal breaker in terms of job recruitment…but it may be something that teachers the SGA person some good group organization and management skills…that at least he/she can TALK about when interviewed for a job. I don’t see it negatively at all.</p>
<p>I’m at my 3rd university as either a staff member or faculty. Every year, student government execs are placed in great jobs or at solid grad schools. This is not solely due to the experience as they also typically have good GPAs but the experience certainly does not hurt.</p>
<p>I do find that most of the student government execs have long term political aspirations or a strong volunteer ethos. Either way, good training.</p>
<p>My son was an SGA rep his junior year and VP his senior year. I think the valuable take-aways were the communication, organization and public speaking experiences gained. He also was on a first name basis with the VP of the university and other high level faculty and staff through his involvement and was able to snag some pretty good LORs. An additional benefit was the opportunity to travel as a university representative.</p>
<p>I don’t know if those positions are on his resume, but he had a job lined up well before graduation and I think the overall experience contributed to his ability to sell himself. As above…very good training.</p>
<p>I think you would have better response to your thread if you used something other than SGA in the title. I had no clue what you meant. Apparently that’s your college’s acronym for student govt, but it isn’t everybody’s acronym.</p>