Employment Guide: Leadership roles boost students’ career possibilities

While Christopher Johnson ran for president of the Kappa Sigma fraternity in hopes of serving his organization, he also knew the title could attract an eye to his resumé. 

“I’m only a sophomore,” Johnson said, “but I’m beginning to look at internships.”

Johnson, a finance major, has an appointment at the department of student employment today. He is one of a number of student leaders whose current position will make them attractive to job applicants in an increasingly competitive job market.

Because of the increased competition, the pressure to hand employers a robust resumé, full of extracurricular activities, sports and other endeavours is growing, too. But according to a number of professionals, either whittling down or expanding interests outside the classroom can be a critical advantage in the job market. 

According to the National Center for Education and Statistics, graduation rates are increasing across racial and gender-based lines. 

“I’ve found that the competition out there is tough,” John Bobola, vice president of Pittsburgh recruiting firm W.T. Glover and Associates, said. “You have to do whatever you can to separate yourself from the herd.” 

Bobola is quick to mention that leadership titles alone aren’t enough to impress potential employers.

“Just because you’re in that role doesn’t mean you’ll be handed anything,” he said. “There are no guarantees out there.”

What employers are after in graduates with a history of leadership are the skills they develop in those positions.

Shelley Millen, president of GMW Group Inc., a hiring, consulting and recruiting organization, often works on behalf of companies looking for younger workers to grow into those companies’ open positions. Her job involves identifying skills in potential new hires early.

“When I’m looking for people for those positions, I absolutely look for those leadership experiences,” she said. “Leadership experience in school shows a lot about a person. Past, ‘Will they be a manager?’ or, ‘Will they be in sales?’ those experiences build confidence, discipline and good multi-taskers.”

By multitasking skills, Millen does not mean watching television, scrolling through Facebook and doing homework assignments at the same time. Efficient multi-taskers, she said, can work on several projects at once without losing focus.

“My problem with a lot of young people is that they get distracted easily,” Millen said. “It’s not that they’re lazy — my generation had lazy people in it — but that old-fashioned work ethic is more important than ever.”

According to Millen, college graduates who held leadership roles early in their academic careers tend to develop a strong work ethic, which makes them worthy competitors in the job market.

Molly Stieber was the president of Pitt’s Student Government Board from January 2011 to January 2012. After college, she interned in the White House and worked on the advance team of President Barack Obama’s re-election campaign. Stieber currently works as a client staff assistant for the public affairs and crisis practice at Burson-Marsteller, a public relations and communications firm, in Washington, D.C.

Stieber traced a pretty intuitive path to politics and public relations through her early years at Pitt. However, she wasn’t thinking in terms of a career at the time.

“That is tacitly one of my regrets,” she said. “I get too invested in something. I should have been thinking ahead.” 

As SGB president, Stieber said she met a lot of people to whom she could have reached out for career help, adding that networking opportunities are an important perk of student leadership positions. While students often regard “networking” as a dirty word, she said it’s important for a healthy career. 

“Once I graduated, I could have had contacts,” Stieber said. “When I was at Pitt Day in Harrisburg, I was all business. There’s nothing wrong with networking.”

Stieber said her experience on SGB was valuable because she developed skills in communication, interviewing and interacting with other people, especially with superiors in the office. 

According to Stieber, such interpersonal skills translated into success in competitive positions.

“Everyone at the White House internship was president of this, that or the other thing,” Stieber said.

Eric Gaber, president of E&C services Inc., a recruiting company based in Allegheny County, said a correlation between such skills and professional development isn’t uncommon.

“It’s a chicken and an egg,” Gaber said. “Is it that someone who gravitates to those kinds of roles in school is the same kind of person to achieve leadership in their career? Or do those early roles train them for success later on?”

Gaber said he believes it’s a combination of the two, and pointed to Greek Life as an example of an activity in which undergraduates can build important professional skills.

“Greek Life helps team collaboration skill and team leadership skills, [and] both are important,” he said.

Susan Dietrich, Principal of Sterling Office Professionals, a recruiting firm based in Pittsburgh, agrees. According to Dietrich, graduating students with campus leadership credentials are a cut above the curve in the job market.

“In my experience, the ones with leadership experience interact better and communicate better,” she said. “Employers will gravitate towards that.”

Sterling Office Professionals recruits for positions in human resources, marketing and customer service, among others. In those fields, Dietrich said, communication is key.

“Everyone thinks they can communicate well, but very few people actually can,” Dietrich said. “If they haven’t spoken in public or communicated with a group, they’re not going to be a good fit.”

As a recruiter, Dietrich also finds involvement in school sports can mark attractive candidates.

“I want someone who is a competitor, who’s aggressive,” she said. “I want a winner.”  

She added that the competitive nature and priorities of former college athletes gives them an edge in the job search. 

“When they graduate and they’ve done a lot in college — and I mean besides get good grades and drink beer — they’ll be a competitor.”

Leadership is a time investment. Millen warned undergraduates not to get too invested in a narrow discipline, because students also need to strike a balance between exploring different fields and staying career-focused. 

“If you are studying to be a technical engineer and you get out of school and realize you want to be a sales engineer, you need to have those skills. Writing and communicating are so important,” she said. 

While Millen graduated from college planning to work as a teacher, the aspiration turned out not to be in the cards. Additionally, she credits a well-rounded education for giving her a better idea of her own interests.

“If you’ve had those experiences, companies will like you and you will know what you want to do,” she said. 

Millen advised students to be cautious when applying to jobs. 

She said employers know a padded resumé when they see one, and interviewing techniques are getting more sophisticated. Employers expect interviewees to be capable of backing up everything they put on their resumé, she said.

As for Johnson, he’s hoping his experience as president of his fraternity will work for him as he looks for opportunities to break into the field of finance. 

“It’s taught me to manage stress and responsibility,” he said.