The problem is that people who become Eagle Scouts tend to be successful enough individuals that the jobs they apply to don't understand why they would put such a low-grade achievement on their resume (compared to the other higher achievements they most likely have).
It's like putting that you won an Olympic Gold in gymnastics when applying to be CEO of a Fortune 500 company. Yes, it's impressive to everyone, but at some point it's not necessary.
I'd say the same applies to high school Honor Societies. If you're a member of one, chances are that it's never going to professionally benefit you.
I understand what you mean, but I think you chose a terrible example. I will never be in the Olympics, but if I was I would definitely have that on my resume.
Hell yes. If I were on the search committee, an olympic gold medal would make the candidate very interesting. It tells you you’re probably dealing with an extraordinary individual.
When you look at the direct benefit over the course of your lifetime I agree the benefit of things like Eagle Scout of Honor Society are minimal, but I think that's missing the indirect benefits.
Speaking personally, I firmly believe that being an Eagle Scout and HS Honor Society student helped me get into a good college.
I frequently discussed being an Eagle Scout (and scouting in general, which I was deeply involved) during engineering internship interviews and the interview for my first job out of college. I do believe this contributed to starting off my career strongly.
Now about a decade removed from college I don't bring these topics up, but I do still feel the positive contributions they had on my trajectory. Not even to mention the benefits they had on my soft skills.
I'm an Eagle Scout (note the use of present tense) and I've had that on all of my resumes my entire adult life. When I got my Eagle, an uncle who was a senior executive at a Very Large Bank said that he would always give an Eagle Scout at least an interview.
Not going to lie. If you submitted a resume for a job I was hiring for and you
1. Pass the HR check
2. Had some of what I was looking in skills
3. Had Eagle Scout on your resume
You are going to get an interview. Might not get the job but I would give you a chance.
Just like anything in life the Eagle Scout Rank is not the same to everyone. Not everyone put in the same amount of effort. They all should have met the same requirements but in the end what did you personally learn? Some scouts learn and grow in leadership others it was just a thing they did.
As an 11 year old scout I was almost immediately introduced to conflict resolution, setting and achieving goals, leading groups in small tasks. Looking back most of the lessons didn't really take root until years later when I got a real job. Then I had a group of concepts that some of my peers did not and I was able to take the early lessons and build on them more quickly.
It's like putting that you won an Olympic Gold in gymnastics when applying to be CEO of a Fortune 500 company. Yes, it's impressive to everyone, but at some point it's not necessary.
I'd say the same applies to high school Honor Societies. If you're a member of one, chances are that it's never going to professionally benefit you.