What Is Greek Life? How to Tap into It and Boost Your Career!

Last Updated on April 26, 2024 by Ryan

What is Greek life? Drunken parties, frat houses, dangerous hazing activities, sky-high social and body image expectations—the common perception of sorority life is not always a positive one. But if you’re engaged with the Greek life on your campus, you know the full story. Greek organizations offer students a sense of community, leadership opportunities, philanthropic activities, the opportunity to gain new skills, and networking for professional development.

The bottom line is that sorority experiences can be valuable in the professional world. In this article, we will discuss how young women can articulate their sorority experience professionally on their resumes.

The Untapped Professional Value of Sorority Life 

Contrary to popular belief, sororities are not all parties, all the time. Often, leadership roles and skills are developed in sororities as members hold positions within the organization, plan events, and represent their group to the campus and surrounding community.

Leadership positions are typically elected and held for one year. All sororities have a president or CEO, but other roles vary from chapter to chapter. Executive positions may include vice presidents or chiefs of public relations, membership, finance, administration, Panhellenic affairs, and education. There may also be a new member educator and chair of apparel, risk management, sisterhood, standards, social, and philanthropy. Some roles may be termed Treasurer, Historian, or Secretary.

If you’re thinking that these roles mirror political and business positions, you would be correct. For example, a risk management chair in a sorority gains valuable experience that could be used as a director of risk management at a hospital or educational institution. The treasurer or chief of finance might be an accounting major who goes on to head up the finance department of a major corporation. These roles can be listed as experience on your resume, just as any job experience would.

Sorority life also involves community service and philanthropic initiatives. Often, this is in the form of raising money for various charitable groups. For example, Tri Delta has been raising money—more than $93 million—to support St. Jude Children’s Hospital since 1999. Their current goal is to reach $100 million in donations, “a milestone that no other Greek or nonprofit organization has yet achieved,” according to the hospital. This type of activity can translate directly to helping a startup garner funds, grant writing for a research group, or managing the fundraising activities of a not-for-profit.

The social aspects of sororities also give members a head start in professional networking. They learn to mentor and be mentored. Activities bring them into contact with university staff and community members who could prove to be valuable connections in the years to come. Don’t forget to hang on to your network by connecting on LinkedIn and at alumni events.

Additionally, many sorority sisters share a domicile. This close contact fosters interpersonal skills such as communication and conflict resolution. These are high-demand transferable skills at practically every level.

These are the benefits, but how can you communicate them? Next, we will consider how to list a sorority on a resume.

Translating Sorority Experiences into Resume Gold 

Identifying the skills you have developed that can be applied in the workplace is the first step in adding sorority experience to your resume. These are typically soft skills or personality traits that can be useful in practically every professional setting. Above, we’ve discussed soft skills such as leadership, teamwork, communication, planning, organization, and conflict resolution.

You may also acquire technical or hard skills—using certain computer applications or skills related to your charitable work.

You may list these transferable skills in your resume’s Skills or Core Competencies section, but there is more you can do. For example, how should you articulate your leadership and teamwork experience? It goes beyond simply listing “sorority member” on your resume. List your experience with bulleted descriptions as you would any other work experience. Consider a few examples:

• “Planned and executed a 5K race event for 250+ participants that raised over $4,000 for St. Jude Children’s Hospital.”
• “Utilized Quickbooks and Microsoft Excel to keep accurate books during my term as chapter treasurer, which reduced the error rate from 8% to >1%.”

What else might you include? Project management ability is a sought-after skill, and sorority event planning can often demonstrate such ability. When discussing events, include specific, quantifiable details, such as the time frame for planning, the amount under budget, charitable funds raised, or the number of participants.

If you have work experience as well, you may choose to list both your jobs and your sorority experience under the heading “Experience” rather than creating two separate resume sections. This helps elevate your collegiate experience to that gained during a “real” job. Another option is creating a Volunteerism section and listing your sorority experience there. 

Next, let’s consider how such experiences translate to the workplace.

Case Studies: What Is Greek Life Like in the Professional World?

After graduation—or even before—one of your primary goals will be finding work. We’ve discussed how to leverage your sorority experience; would you like to meet others who have actually done it?

In 2016, The Atlantic reported on “the CEOs of Sorority Row.” One of these was Devon Naftzger, former CEO of the Kappa Alpha Theta chapter at Princeton. On her resume, the title of CEO demonstrated leadership skills, good communication, and the ability to juggle multiple responsibilities. She soon found a desirable position as an investment banking analyst.

Another example is Carolyn Saund, who was an officer in the Alpha Omicron Pi chapter at Tufts University. She graduated in 2015 and landed a job as a software developer for a tech startup.

Granted, there can be challenges to this approach. Panhellenic involvement creates an instant connection to fellow Greek members, but nonmembers might be skeptical or influenced by negative stereotypes. Some sexism exists, as fraternity members are often able to proclaim their allegiances on t-shirts, coffee mugs, and office decor without receiving a negative reaction, while some sorority members feel that doing so would brand them with a “party girl” or “arts and crafts girl” reputation.

Relatively recent adjustments are helping the sorority experience to be taken more seriously in the workplace. Nominal changes to terms like “CEO” and “chief officer”—formerly “president,” “vice president,” and “chair”—have helped. Since this nomenclature is already used in the professional world, extensive descriptions of responsibilities are no longer required. Colleagues can more easily see the direct translation of one position to the other.

Conclusion 

What is Greek life and its relationship to your career? Young women can learn much about leading, working with, and interacting with large and diverse groups through their sorority experience. Often, the positions they hold in their sororities and the duties associated with them have direct parallels in the business world.

Now that you know what is Greek Life, the important thing is communicating these experiences well, especially on your resume. Think about how your skills and experiences could translate to success at the specific job you are applying for. Treat your sorority experience as you would work experience on your resume, describing your achievements and quantifying the results.

There are challenges that come with proclaiming your sorority background in the workplace. But don’t let doubts hold you back from incorporating your sorority experience into your resume. It is a valuable experience, and honest employers will be able to see that. Wear your letters proudly and articulate the real-world skills you’ve obtained.