Easy Way to add Fraternity or Sorority to Resume

Creating a marketable resume is nothing short of an art form. People often ask whether they should mention their membership in fraternities or sororities on their resume.

You’d be surprised to see the high amount of people who ask this question. The first thing that comes to most people’s mind when mentioning a sorority or fraternity is the imagery of pranking, drinking, or partying.

However, being a member of a fraternity does not count as an automatic disqualification from professional opportunities.

Contrary to popular belief, not every fraternity group is overly social. Thousands of fraternities offer a lot more than social activities.

Many of them allow members to participate in seminars, networking opportunities, workshops, and tons of other activities, helping them get their careers on track.

Therefore, mentioning your time as a sorority or fraternity member in your CV is acceptable. However, you shouldn’t merely mention it as an afterthought.

Are you planning to add your fraternity or sorority in your resume? If the answer is yes, here are some tried and tested tips you should follow to make it stand out.

Adding a Sorority or Fraternity to Your Resume

As mentioned earlier, most people think of hazing and wild partying when discussing fraternities. However, it doesn’t represent the entire experience.

Being part of such groups involves philanthropy, leadership, and other critical resume building qualities sought out by hiring managers.

One of the most critical parts of mentioning Greek Life on your CV is how and where you display it.

Depending on the amount of information you want to disclose about your sorority or frat experience, there are two excellent options to make it a part of your resume.

Related Read: Resume Objective Examples

Add Fraternity to Your Professional Experience

There are two instances where adding your experience in fraternities to your professional experience could help your resume stand out.

1. You lack actual pro experiences to fill up your resume.
2. You had numerous experiences during your time to justify 4 to 5 bullet points, especially those that demonstrate noteworthy achievements.

Because this option helps you go into detail about your time during Greek Life, it is one of the best ways to tell how your experience helped you become a formidable candidate.

Incorporate Fraternity Into Your Volunteering or Activities Section

If you want to show your affiliation without dedicating excessive space about your Greek Life experience, adding an entry to your volunteering or activities section would be a decent idea.

However, it would be best if you only utilized this option under the following conditions:

1. You did not have notable positions in your sorority or fraternity.
2. You don’t want hiring managers to pay too much attention to your fraternity or sorority life.

You should consider adding your sorority experience into your resume, even if you don’t plan to devote an entire section to it. However, ensure that everything you mention is pertinent to the job you are applying for and that it adds value to your overall resume.

How to Make the Most of Your Fraternity and Sorority Mentions in Your Resume

Mentions of your sorority or fraternity in your CV could open a doorway to several opportunities. A large number of people get their jobs through their connections within their organizations.

However, many feel restricted by the stigma of adding the term “sorority” or “fraternity” on their resumes.

Besides the tips mentioned earlier, here are some excellent pointers that could transform your membership into an excellent talking point rather than a potential liability.

Begin with the Job

When mentioning work positions or leaderships, consider organizing your information by beginning with the title, followed by the time period, and then the organization.

Highlight What You Want to Showcase

Making your position pop is not as difficult as it may seem. Consider keeping your resume short and concise as most hiring managers skim your CV within 5 to 10 seconds.

It would be best to draw their attention by highlighting critical points to ensure they pay attention to your resume.

No, adding fancy words will not do the trick. Instead, consider underlining, bolding, or other fonts to make particular areas stand out.

Pandering rarely works and often takes you out of contention. Therefore, steer clear from using gimmicks and use simple yet straightforward tools to stand out.

List Your Accomplishments

In an ideal scenario, you make massive contributions to your organization. Mentioning three or four bullet points below each job title or leadership position would be a great idea.

Make the most of this space, ensuring you catch the resume reader’s attention with noteworthy achievements.

Instead of listing tons of meaningless activities, you did during your Greek Life, consider adding the unique experiences and skills you gains that make you a worthy asset for your potential job.

Using numbers, percentages, and other stats is an excellent way to grab people’s attention as it helps them determine how you would benefit their organization.

Related Read: How To Find And Keep A Remote Job: A Complete Guide

Be Relatable

The last thing you want to do is add terms like “Sergeant in Arms” in your resume. Sure, it sounds cool, but it is an insider term that only sorority and fraternity members understand.

Consider replacing terms like these with easy to comprehend words, preferably those in everyone’s vocabulary.

Using relatable terms will significantly increase your chances of getting hired as hiring managers will take your resume seriously.

Benefits of Putting a Fraternity or Sorority on Your Resume

Now that you know how to mention sorority or fraternity experiences in your resume, you may be thinking whether going through the trouble would be worth it.

Let us discuss some compelling reasons for mentioning your Greek Life experiences in your resume, ensuring you get hired by your preferred organization.

It Demonstrates Transferable Skills

Similar to extracurricular activities, Greek clubs have numerous leadership positions like recruitment chair or president.

These positions come with hefty responsibilities, and carrying them out helps people gain considerable soft skills that could come in handy in various jobs. Listing them in your resume as accomplishments could work wonders for you.

Here is a list of some transferable skills people gain in fraternities and sororities:

• Attention to detail
• Interpersonal skills
• Creativity
• Problem-solving
• Teamwork
• Communication skills

These skills are vital for many jobs. The experience you gained from organizing Greek events could convince hiring managers that you are a worthy candidate.

It Showcases Civic Engagement

Philanthropy is a critical component of the sorority experience. Many well-organized Greek organizations give back to the community by conducting charity events.

The members have to actively participate in such events to ensure their groups raise a decent amount of money for the needy.

Mentioning your role in charity events with bullet points is an excellent way to show your civic engagement and shows your commitment towards your sorority or fraternity.

It Highlights Your Ability to Manage Time

Being a sorority or fraternity member requires excellent time management skills. Between volunteering, philanthropy, social event, and tons of other activities, paying attention to Greek life can be quite difficult.

By mentioning your fraternity participation and academic achievements, you will be highlighting your time management skills for hiring managers, showing that you are more than capable of working at their organization.

Companies with fast-paced environments, in particular, will see you as a desirable candidate as they need people who can handle multiple tasks with excellent efficiency.

Greek Life Has Several Networking Advantages

You’d be surprised to see how the networking benefits you get by living the Greek Life. It is a significant reason you should always mention it in your resume, as the person reading it could have been a part of your group.

Connections like these could land you tons of job interviews and improve your chances of getting hired.

Related Read: Easiest Way To Answer “What Are You Passionate About?”

Greek Affiliations Will Not Hurt Your Resume

In many cases, joining a sorority or fraternity can be excellent for your long-term goals. More than 60 percent of individuals with Greek affiliations end up as highly successful entrepreneurs, corporate leaders, politicians, attorneys, and other renowned industry leaders.

What’s more, numerous Greek organizations have alumni chapters allowing members to get in touch with older sorority and frat members. These opportunities can help you land an excellent, high-paying job.

Adding Greek affiliations on your resume will benefit you if you do it correctly. Shying away from it could make you miss out on several opportunities, which is the last thing any job applicant wants.

Final Thoughts

Employers and hiring managers prefer applicants to have active roles in co-curricular activities, especially those that provide them with soft skills.

It proves that they are well-rounded individuals and will have very little trouble adjusting to new working environments.

Sorority and fraternity experiences also demonstrate time management and leadership skills, two critical elements hiring managers look for in applicants.

Therefore, adding your Greek experience to your resume will help you instead of discounting you from job opportunities.

Consider following the tips mentioned in this piece, and your resume will highlight your skills, experience, and accomplishments the right way, ensuring managers see you as a top candidate.