You know who they are.
Those seemingly average students toiling in their offices, meeting with influential faculty behind closed doors. Creating company constitutions. Saving capital.
They’re the executive directors, the presidents and the general managers on campus. They’re planning your schedule, setting your budget and evaluating your program. They can get you swipe card access and elect you to the board.
And they’re beating you in the job search.
At a school full of “the best and the brightest,” some hard-working Harvardians recognize that competition in the inevitable job search will be fierce. These students hold high-ranking extracurricular positions that sizzle with the promise of money, renown and status.
Ryan M. Geraghty ’05, the president of Harvard Student Agencies, is the top student figure in a million-dollar campus-wide business. Earlier this fall, during the flurry of interviewing and recruiting for careers in consulting and certain financial services, Geraghty found that his leadership position was a useful tool.
“In interviews, the questions they ask are almost always applicable to an HSA experience,” Geraghty says. “You know, a leadership position, a challenge you’ve overcome. It provides ammunition for interviews, and great stories that are easily notable and impressive.”
Having the experience of running a business in college is valuable for potential employees. Especially in competitive areas like consulting, this can be the difference that gets you in the door.
“Most of [the HSA presidents] go through recruiting and into business positions,” says Geraghty. He ticks off the names of recent alums and their jobs—Abhishek Gupta ’04 works with The Blackstone Group in their Mergers and Acquisition position; Brad Olson ’03 is with Bain Chicago. The list of prominent businesses unfurls like a red carpet, inviting and plush.
In addition, heading up a prominent campus group automatically gives students access to professional networking opportunities.
“It’s fantastic to get to work with the professionals at the American Repertory Theater,” says Harvard-Radcliffe Dramatic Club (HRDC) president Bobby A. Hodgson ’05. “I wouldn’t claim to any specific understood benefits,” he qualifies, “but there are some great people in the theater world that as president I get to come in contact with.”
Former HRDC presidents have used these resources and are now getting their masters at several “highly respected directing programs” and successfully testing the water as actors, while being able to impress interviewers with their former position of responsibility and respect.
What really gets these students noticed isn’t just the titles on their resumes, though. What employers find most desirable in them is the marketing and public relations skills they learn from their campus positions.
“You’re serving in a different capacity,” says Mahmoud A. Youssef ’05, the Vice President of the Crimson Key Society, Co-chair of Cabot House Committee and Senior Class Marshall, says of being a leader.
“When you’re a leader, your role is to stand out from the group. There are many people in different groups who just give tours, but as a leader for a group, you can market yourself more effectively. You can say, ‘This is what I’ve done,’” he says.
This ability to market oneself is essential to securing a coveted job offer, and Youssef has done it well: next year he’ll begin working at Goldman Sachs Company in New York City in the investment banking division.
Aside from the fact that student leaders learn marketable skills in their positions, the time and energy it takes to rise to the top of any extracurricular indicates a high level of dedication to companies, graduate schools and organizations.
“I think the biggest thing employers will notice will be that I’ve exhibited such a long-term commitment to what I’m doing,” says Kristin M. Garcia ’05, president of the Phillip Brooks House Association (PBHA). “I think that speaks to my passion for doing community-based social justice work, for working with children and families on the local level.”
Changing the world is no easy task, but getting a good position at a respected non-profit can make it significantly more plausible. Former presidents of PBHA have taken flight to Yale and Harvard Medical Schools, traveled to Uganda on the Rockefeller Memorial Scholarship, and become the Director of Development for Big Brothers, Big Sisters Philadelphia.
One PBHA president, John B. King ’96, garnered much praise by founding and sustaining Roxbury Prep, a charter school in the Mission Hill area.
“A lot of times people go to nonprofit work to hone their interests,” explains Garcia. “Then they go back to grad school or law school to try to change the system on that level.”
Ilan T. Graff ’05, President of the Student Advisory Committee at the Institute of Politics (IOP), knows this course for social progress well. He plans to work with Teach For America after graduating, before going to law school and hopefully working for the Attorney General some day.
“At the IOP, you have people telling you day after day, ‘You can change the world through politics,’” he says.
Even in the political arena, where good internships and contacts can secure a job, college extracurriculars count for a lot. At the IOP, Graff explains, there’s an “endless parade of political practitioners, journalists, and leading public figures” that come through to share their experiences and advice. This, according to Graff, can be just as helpful as networking. Recent past presidents and vice presidents of the IOP Student Advisory Committee have gone on to be Secretaries of State and hold high positions in the Kerry campaign in key swing states.
With all this possibility and promise ahead, aren’t these leaders’ classmates exploding with jealousy over their friends’ easy one-upmanship?
“I think they recognize that I’m very fortunate and very lucky,” replies Graff, exhibiting his learned and practiced political skills.
Fine, but we’re still jealous.
