Effective extra curricular activities for improving your career

In today’s world a mere professional without any extra curricular activities is treated as a country man. There should be some activity apart from the curricular one. The extra curricular activity brings you some creativity and communication skills, which are essentially needed. Extra curricular activities can also help debunk stereotypes by making senior management and potential employers aware of hidden facets of your competencies.

Extracurricular activities can broaden your image by providing an indicator of aptitudes and skills that aren't readily discernable from your professional experience. For example, coaching a sports team shows leadership and organizational skills; artistic pursuits suggest creativity; acting indicates traits such as poise and confidence, as well as public speaking skills; chairing an industry trade group evidences management and communication skills; and awards or competitions won generally suggest an appreciation for nuance, not to mention a desire to excel.

Also we have to develop knowledge of functional areas beyond the technical arena. For instance, serving as treasurer for a volunteer organization evidences knowledge of finance and accounting; positions as public relations chair or membership chair show experience in marketing; and general leadership positions such as president or vice president indicate managerial know-how.
These roles allow us to experiment and experience new types of responsibilities and thereby acquire knowledge outside of our 9-to-5 domain. They are also indicators of the broadly defined "people skills" that are key to success in everything from marketing, to strategy, to general management.
At last in my view effective extra curricular activities are the one which make you different from your peers.