Exaggerating club activities

I see many resumes of high school students. The best ones use plain English to describe specific actions and contributions and avoid “business-speak” like “created a collaborative environment.” I would be more impressed with a resume that said “organized club meetings and led discussions.”

Also remember that what you do is more important than your title or the name of your club. For example, many students tutor other students, and I think that’s wonderful. I recently saw a resume where a student described himself as “Founder and Chief Executive Officer” of an organization with a made-up name (imagine something like “EduCo”). When I asked him what that meant, he told me that he tutors two younger students in his neighborhood. In my view, he should have simply described himself as a tutor.

11 Likes