Extracurricular experience
Dear Sam: My son has been looking for a job for three months and has only had one interview. During the interview, the hiring manager asked him, “Why didn’t you do an internship?” My son replied, “I was in the marching band, which took up a lot of my time.”
The band did truly take a lot of his time. Monday through Friday, he would spend three to five hours in practice and all day on Saturday game days.
The interviewer responded, “That really hurt you.” What can he do?
— Concerned Dad
Dear Concerned Dad: How unfortunate the interviewer did not see the value in being in the marching band; perhaps your son did not take the time to explain the type of time commitment that involved. If asked that question again, I would suggest he respond like this: “I would have loved to have engaged in an internship; however, as you can see, I was a four-year member of the marching band. When you make that commitment, you essentially commit three to five hours to practice each weekday, in addition to all day Saturdays during games and often the entire weekend if the team is traveling. While I know an internship would have been valuable, I learned so much from spending four years as part of an incredibly talented, committed and passionate team. I learned a lot about transportation and logistics. As you can imagine, the logistics involved in getting 200 students from point A to point B, with uniforms and equipment, was no small feat. From observing the band director to assisting wherever I could to smooth logistical processes, I really do feel as though I gained great insight into the transportation and logistics process. In addition, as a four-year member of a team, I learned the invaluable lesson of long-term engagement with a large group of highly diverse individuals, something I am certain a brief internship would not have afforded.”
— Samantha Nolan is an advanced personal-branding strategist and career expert, and is the founder and CEO of Nolan Branding. Do you have a resume, career, or job-search question for Dear Sam? Reach Samantha at dearsam@nolanbranding.com. For more information about Nolan Branding’s services, visit www.nolanbranding.com, or call 888-9-MY-BRAND or 614-570-3442.