Hypothetical question: Imagine you are a employer and you receive resumes from two potential candidates.
Candidate A was a well-rounded student who received A's and B's in school. She was active in many extracurricular activities, including school-sponsored sports and clubs, as well as church and civic groups. At several points during her high school career, she traveled to national conferences and participated in several unique leadership opportunities, which required her to be absent from school.
Candidate B also received A's and B's, but the resume is a little thinner, because he did not participate in outside activities, as these would require him to miss school. He attended school events, but did not go to anything outside the confines of school. He received the perfect attendance award multiple times during his high school career.
Which candidate are you more likely to hire?
I missed classes during my high school years as the editor of my high school yearbook two years in a row, I often missed other classes to do interviews and tend to the demands of editing and publishing a book. I kept up on my grades despite the many times I was not in class at my desk for the lessons. I was a hard working ambitious student who was busy at school, worked a job, was highly involved in church activities and would often travel with my family.
ReplyDeleteI was Candidate A. I was a very active student who got good grades (I had a 3.6 GPA when I graduated from high school). I was involved in school activities and a lot of community groups. My senior year of high school, I attended 4-H Congress where I was a finalist for the Presidential Award (as in, awarded by the President of the U.S.A.) I was also selected as a state leader for Job's Daughters, went to Odyssey of the Mind world finals, state speech, etc. All of these things required me to miss school. Throughout these experience, I learned how to manage my time, how to prioritize and much, much more. I also earned a number of top scholarships, including the Walter Scott Leadership Scholarship to Hastings College (the top award given at that school). Oh, and I also earned a nice letter from the high school saying that I'd missed a lot of days. Thankfully, there wasn't a law to prosecute me during that time. Today, I would find myself in juvenile court. Where is the common sense in this law????
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