Five ways to improve your resume without leaving the university building

What's more important than a good resume?

More and more people are getting a college degree, and the prestige of that is sadly diminishing. In a society where almost everybody has a college degree, you need to stand out from the crowd to give yourself an edge in the job market.

If you're worried that your resume isn't very impressive, here are five tips to improve it without leaving your alma mater.

1. Volunteer

Every university regularly hosts events that you can help organize. Your experience and your initiative will make you seem more attractive to employers. If your university has many foreign exchange students, consider participating in a mentoring program or, if you haven't already, set one up. Not only can you develop your language skills, but you'll also get great recommendations from university administrators.

2. Become the head of the student body

For jobs that require good leadership skills, you will have to demonstrate your experience in leadership. And student organizations can help you with that. Not every school has one, but the administration will be glad to support you if you decide to start one. Even if you run a "Angry Birds" community, the work of running events, assigning tasks and recruiting new members is a validation of your leadership skills. Becoming the head of a student society with hundreds or even thousands of members is extremely prestigious, and if you want to take on that responsibility, start working toward it as soon as possible.

3. Write for the student newspaper

This will help you not not only formalize your thoughts better on writing (and, therefore, write better exams, and, in theory, get higher grades), but also give you the opportunity to "get your name known" and meet the right people. No matter what field you're looking for a job in, good speech will always be an advantage, and your work will be a good example of what you can do. If you write about what's interesting, you'll keep up-to-date, and if your writing is accurate and literate you'll make some useful contacts.

4. Work directly at the university

Organizing a university requires a huge amount of work, which means it requires a huge amount of staff, and you can be one of them. You can find a job in service faculty, do work in a department or in one of administrative departments - either way, you will get enough experience to grace your resume. You'll also make money and you can go on vacation in the summer or even during the semester.

5. Start your own business

Where else can you find as many people with similar interests and lots of free time as at university? There are so many examples of successful businesses whose organizers got to know each other at university and started to realize their innovative ideas, often aimed at students (the market of services for students is growing as more and more people apply to university). Your educational institution might have support mechanisms for start-ups - in case you should not miss this opportunity. Even if it doesn't work out the way you planned, you'll make new friends and prove to everyone that you're full of energy and ideas.

Translate by: Natalia Sklyomina.