How to List Fraternity or Sorority Experience on Your Resume

Why include sorority experience on your resume?

Does Phi Theta Kappa look good on a resume? Of course – you learn a lot in Greek organizations, and that hard work communicates a lot to potential employers.

Listing your sorority or fraternity on resumes displays many vital workplace qualities, including collaboration, event planning, organization, and time management. It also shows a dedication to continuous learning and extra activities outside your regular education.

Discussing your Greek Life also helps you stand out from the crowd and may catch the hiring manager’s eye – especially if they were in a sorority or fraternity during their college days.

This strategy is especially important for recent graduates who have little to no work experience. Recruiters seek a related work history more than any other qualification, and if you’re straight out of school, it’s likely you’ve never worked or only have a few internships under your belt. Providing your sorority or fraternity gives you more ways to describe your qualifications and back up your skills without the need for work experience.

How to put Greek Life on resumes: 4 steps

Let’s take a look at how to put a sorority on a resume (or a fraternity!). Follow our four steps, but remember to flex them to your situation and needs.

Create a list of achievements

Start by building a list of the most important things you did at your sorority or fraternity. Many organizations have a strict list of requirements, so this is a good place to start. Did you have to maintain a high GPA, attend mandatory meetings, or commit a certain amount of your week to community service? These are excellent experiences to jot down.

Identify skills and competencies

Create a list of any and all skills you honed during Greek Life. Review your achievements to discover specific competencies each one requires. For example, weekly meetings use public speaking, collaboration, teamwork, and critical thinking.

Decide where to list your experience

Determine your placement. Typically, sororities and fraternities go in the Education section, but they fit equally well in Volunteer Work or Projects. These sections are optional and won’t be on every application, but you can include them easily if you use the right resume template.

Write out relevant examples

Now, list out your experience in a tidy bullet list, using action verbs and quantifiable achievements to make them more impactful. This is a great way to show the hiring manager your relevance to the role – using metrics and action verbs draws a direct correlation to work experience.

“Listing your sorority or fraternity on resumes displays many vital workplace qualities, including collaboration, event planning, organization, and time management.”

Examples of listing sorority experience

Now let’s take a look at some realistic examples for including fraternity and sorority experience on a resume. These entries are not only excellent inspiration, but they also serve as a quick template – just copy and paste these into a resume maker and change the details to suit your history.

Our first example is how to put Phi Theta Kappa on resumes:

And here’s a sample of how to put Phi Beta Kappa on resumes:

There are a variety of ways, so pick what suits you best. Just ensure it’s professional, tidy, and conveys your experience in a clear way, so try to avoid technical jargon.

Key skills to highlight from sorority experience

Need some inspiration on the specific skills you earned during Greek Life? No worries, we have you covered. 

Here are the top competencies you build in sororities and fraternities:

• Leadership: Many professionals earn leadership skills from directing committees and organizing events. Greek leaders may even help recruit new members and welcome them to the group, which looks great on HR resumes.
• Teamwork: Sororities and fraternities center on collaboration and group projects. Many members also learn conflict resolution and openness to other perspectives.
• Communication: Public speaking and fundraising are common during these experiences and give you strong communication skills. Speeches also often involve personal stories and anecdotes, building up your charisma.
• Time Management: Fraternity and sorority life is hectic, and balancing your Greek duties with academic responsibilities requires keen time management and organization.
• Event Planning: Organizing and scheduling charitable events closely mimics professional project management, requiring you to maintain budgets, manage attendees, and keep track of a complex calendar.
• Relationship management: The relationships you build and maintain within your Greek organization gave you excellent interpersonal skills, including empathy, patience, and rapport-building.
• Mentorship: Did you help initiate new members? Coaching is an essential skill that helps you discover people’s strengths and weaknesses and provide expert guidance.

Best practices and mistakes to avoid

Let’s check out the top do’s and don’ts so you can list your sorority like a pro. Keep these tips in your back pocket and build a powerful, standout resume:

• Don’t be vague: Listing your sorority responsibilities like a to-do list won’t give the recruiter enough information. Be specific and ensure you tie your experience to the open role.
• Quantify achievements: Measurable metrics and statistics give the hiring manager tangible numbers to work with. Don’t just say you raised money for a children’s hospital; say you raised $10,000 to show your impact.
• Don’t add unnecessary details: Only mention what’s strictly essential. Adding irrelevant details will distract the recruiter, and they might pass over important information.
• Don’t sell yourself short: You accomplished great things during Greek Life, practicing leadership, teamwork, and philanthropy. Don’t be shy and proudly discuss your achievements.

Check out our realistic resume examples to see these best practices in action so you can put them to use.

Debunking misconceptions

Have you heard that sororities and fraternities don’t belong on resumes? It simply isn’t true.

Greek organizations provide people with vital professional skills like any other project or activity, such as internships and personal projects. Working with teams, planning events, and raising money for charity gives you vital skills and competencies.

We encourage you to add these activities to your resume alongside any other life accomplishment or honor. These experiences made you who you are today and gave you amazing, valuable skills.

Showcase your sorority or fraternity with pride

Showing your public speaking, planning, and conflict resolution is an excellent way to make your resume stand out to employers. Display your Greek organization on job applications using our tips:

• Use quantified achievements to show the impact of your work
• Don’t sell yourself short, and be proud of your skills
• Dig into your experience and discover all the competencies you learned
• Read the job description to ensure you make your achievements as relevant as possible

Put these tips to use today with CVwizard’s resume maker. Our flexible, drag-and-drop interface makes it easy to create a custom resume that’s uniquely yours.