5 reasons why one should join student organizations

From early childhood, many of us are encouraged by our family members, peers, and teachers to
participate in indoor and outdoor sports, competitions, clubs, and other types of ECA. So, were
they wrong in encouraging us? Absolutely not! One can never underestimate the immense power
of participating in extracurricular activities.

When you join a university, you may observe that student clubs and forums stand apart from
other ECAs’. You can find student organizations of different varieties all around you. Some of
the popular examples are university major-related clubs, community service organizations,
cultural clubs, different skill-development organizations, national clubs and forums, knowledge-
based organizations, etc. Even if you haven’t been a part of any organization like these in your
school and college life, the university is a great place to start.

The real question is, why should you join them at all? Let us now take a peek at 5 of the most
promising benefits of joining student organizations:

1. Improving hard Skills:

By working in clubs, one can learn and hone their hard skills such as graphic designing, content
writing, video editing, photography, web development, social media management, event
management, etc. Various software-related knowledge such as MS Office and G-suite software
also develop tremendously.

2. Getting the opportunity to add necessary “experience” to your resume:

Regardless of size and industry, most of the job circulars require the applicant to have some prior
experience in the vacant job position or field. So, how will a fresh graduate get a job if he hasn’t
been employed in any company before? Here the work experience in student organizations
comes into action. It gives him an edge over other applicants.

3. Developing various soft skills:

Although hard skills can be learned by doing courses, some soft skills must be learned by being
involved in an organization. Soft Skills such as organizational skills, persuasion skills,
teamwork, communication, leadership, time management, interpersonal skills, etc. can be
developed through being in student organizations.

4. Getting taste of a hands-on workplace environment:

By working in a student organization, one learns adaptability. He learns how to cope in new
situations and with new people. He also learns how an organization works, how to behave there
formally, and how all the departments integrate to get the optimum result. He practically gets the
experience of being in a real workplace. It can relieve him from the burden of ‘first-day’ jitters
when he first joins an office.

5. Engaging in Networking:

The necessity of networking literally cannot be explained in words. Networking can result in
great job opportunities, it can also boost your professional confidence, and raise your profile.
By providing us with dynamic business connections, networking helps to get necessary career
support and advice. Joining student organizations like clubs and forums can enrich one’s
networking capabilities and scope.
And to be honest, it doesn’t hurt to have friends in ‘high places', right?

Many student organizations also provide crash courses to their members, invites to exclusive
events, recommendation letters, certificates, and much more. The experience of being in these
clubs has both good and bad parts, and both are important for a student to grow as a person.

The Takeaway:
A student can achieve invaluable skills and experiences while being in a student organization. He
can improve his hard skills, add job experience to his resume, develop soft skills, get a real-life
work environment, network with great personnel, and much more. To do well in his future
career, one should always grab the opportunity of joining these organizations.

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Written by:
Sifat Tarannum,
Intern,
Content Writing Department,
Youth School for Social Entrepreneurs (YSSE)

Keywords:
Skills | Career | Learning | Networking | Organization | Experience | ECA | Clubs | University |
Job | Opportunity | Student |

Category: Career