Resume PSA - all FRC students should read

[Ian Curtis]

Originally Posted by JYang

If you are graduated from college, should that still be listed on a resume? One of my classes that had resume building as a few lessons said that once you have hit junior year of college, nothing with regards to high school should be listed anymore.

I would at the very least give FIRST Robotics a single line so someone glancing at your resume can ask you about it, especially if you were very involved in it (I would equate it to how it is beneficial for Eagle Scouts to list that award on their resumes, even though that happened in high school).

The only things I had from high school on my college resume were my Eagle Scout rank and FIRST experience, and I talked quite a bit about both of them during subsequent interviews. One of the managers I interviewed with did FIRST back in '94! There are very few things from HS that matter in college, but FIRST and Eagle/Gold are definitely in that small club.

[bduddy]

If you want an excuse to put FRC on your resume after graduating, then volunteer! It can lead to very nice conversations during interviews...

[JYang]

Originally Posted by bduddy

If you want an excuse to put FRC on your resume after graduating, then volunteer! It can lead to very nice conversations during interviews...

Haha that is my only mention of FIRST on my resume

[EricH]

I have a couple of mentions of FIRST on my resume.

One is as an engineering project, alongside SAE Aero Design and my senior design project. Each has a short paragraph of the competition objective and what I did/learned on the team.

The other is with honors/awards, alongside Eagle Scout. I kept that one to the major awards, including World Champion (2005) and a safety award that was for me instead of the team as a whole.

[stjonl]

I can also verify that putting your FIRST experience on your resume is very helpful. Several years ago after losing an engineering position from lack of work at my company then, I was contacted on a Monday afternoon by a placement service for an open position they were trying to fill. The office manager had also worked as a substitute teacher and had a daughter that had been on an FRC team. She made two reference phone calls on Tuesday, one to the public school that had hired me to be an FLL coach, and one to FIRST HQ to confirm that I was an FRC volunteer. In Michigan, there are state laws that public schools have to follow to hire anybody, and the quick take on that is the local police do all the criminal background checks, and collect your fingerprints. I interviewed on Wednesday, hire on Thursday and back to work the following Monday.
For current FIRST high school students, not putting your FIRST experience on a college application is one of the biggest mistakes you can make! Colleges that know what FIRST is about are looking for FIRST alumni students, and will make being accepted nearly automatic.

[kiettyyyy]

A good amount of resumes with a keyword of FIRST in the document has been forwarded onto me at the company I work at. We consider both students and mentors that have had heavy FIRST experience rockstars.

Just as the OP mentioned, it's totally in your favor to list what you did on the team and keep it there no matter how long ago it was. It really does help you stand out in the crowd.