I have to speak to a group of students this Friday at a "Student Business Conference" at St. Norbert College and will be there on behalf of SIFE (Students in Free Enterprise). More to the point, my "mission" there is to be a SIFE evangelist, but a great goal is to encourage underclassmen to get involved in the collegiate business community to enhance their opportunities when they graduate.

I have my reasons for hiring students right out of school have have "been involved" (students business orgs, community, internship, etc) but am looking for some additional insight, and was wondering if any of you have a moment to consider the following:

1. Do recruiters care if a student has been involved in "constructive organizations" (I.e. math group, programmer's guild, student business network, etc - vs. - a frat/sorority)
- If so, why? What diff does it make? Why should students strive to acquire these experiences.

2. What impact, if any, do positions of school leadership (i.e. president of an aforementioned club) have on one's personal brand coming out of college?

3. Are there any axioms that you have/have seen on the level of involvement that a student has in the aforementioned orgs. and their propensity for success in a career at your organization?

4. I am always asked advice from students that I work with, and I tell them, among other things, to "Do Something Different" - like start a weblog, website, do a personal press release, develop your brand (at least, what brand you have through college) and things of that nature. Do any of these make a difference in how a student/potential candidate comes across to you, or am I full of crap?

Any other thoughts? Please comment. I'd appreciate it!

Dana - in my recruiting and mentoring experience, involvement in the activities you mentioned are all important, however, my advice is that students pick a few and then participate in them as thoroughly as possible. In other words, I value quality of involvement over quantity of affiliations. I advise students to get involved in organizations you are interested in and that can help you develop a professional network, build a portfolio, gain experience, etc. The only way to get value from the organization is to add value to it in some significant way.