Extracurriculars give students edge in job interviews
Now there is a new way for students to show off the things they learn outside the classroom. Newly revamped co-curricular transcripts give students the opportunity to display extracurricular experience while searching for employment.
“Co-curricular transcripts provide students with an opportunity to record the skills that they received by being involved,” said Tiffany Evans, director of the Student Involvement and Leadership Office at Utah State University.
She said the co-curricular transcripts function much like academic transcripts, except instead of grades they document students’ extracurricular activities and any other types of learning or experience they receive outside of the classroom.
“Upon graduation, when seeking employment, [students] can bring these things into their job interview process,” Evans said.
She also said that co-curricular transcripts give students the chance to show the connection between what they learned in class and how they can apply that in specific, real-life situations.
Students who are involved in activities and organizations on campus inevitably end up learning things such as communication and interpersonal skills, as well as the principle of delegation, said Evans.
“Whether you’re a student body officer or a president of a fraternity or sorority, there are definitely skills that a student gains,” she said, noting that such leaders function in much the same way that a CEO of a corporation does, managing budgets and facilities.
Besides being valuable in job interviews, Evans also said these transcripts are important because they help students realize the value of being involved in organizations and activities during their college career.
“I think it is beneficial for students to think about their involvement and the skills they are getting,” she said.
According to the Associated Students of USU Web site (a-station.usu.edu), co-curricular transcripts may include information from the following categories: leadership/organizational activities, performances/presentations, athletic/fitness/recreation, career development/community services and honors/awards/travel. Relevant employment experience may also be put on the transcripts.
“If you do a presentation on the research you have been doing through your job then you very well could include that on your co-curricular transcript,” said Kristen Marshall, a receptionist at the Student Involvement and Leadership Office who was also involved in the development and implementation of the co-curricular transcripts.
On the same ASUSU Web page, students may also register to begin compiling a co-curricular transcript from their own computer.
“We’ve revised the program recently and it finally became available to students at the end of last semester,” Marshall said.
Evans said that during the past five years colleges have been looking at improving the way co-curricular transcripts are done.
“What we have found across the country is that the paper-pencil method of doing these co-curricular transcripts is not effective,” Evans said.
As a result, the Student Involvement and Leadership Office has made these available via the Internet. The office is also always trying to improve the way in which the transcripts are done, in an effort to better serve the students, Evans said.
“We have tried to implement the best practices. It really is a work in progress,” she said. “We still have a ways to go.”
Evans said she hopes that as the university’s computer system improves with the implementation of the Banner program, the process of recording co-curricular transcripts will improve as well.
Marshall said students who wish to start a co-curricular transcript can go to the ASUSU Web page and click on the “resources” link. There they can register for an account and begin to compile their transcript adding the information themselves as they know it, with the ability to edit it at any time.
“It is a self report, but we try to verify and make sure the information is valid,” Evans said.
Students may request a copy of this co-curricular transcript upon graduation. The Student Involvement and Leadership Office will then verify the information by calling organization advisers, etc. before issuing the transcript.
Evans said she hopes that the self report method will help students think more about the importance of their extracurricular activities and how they tie in with the rest of their schooling.
“We focus on the holistic student and this is just one part of that,” Evans said. “Our students do amazing things. I would encourage them to take advantage of this process.”
The newly revamped system of co-curricular transcripts is part of an ongoing effort to improve the Student Involvement and Leadership Office, formerly known as Student Activities.
Ashley Stolworthy, ASUSU public relations vice president, said the name was changed in October to better describe the services offered through the office.
Students with questions about co-curricular transcripts or the Student Involvement and Leadership Office should check the A-Station Web site or visit the office in the Taggart Student Center, Room 326.
-sjeppesen@cc.usu.edu