How important are extracurricular activities in helping me find a job?

I am a student looking for a job. (Please no spam or links to monster.com)

It seems to me that an extracurricular activity is useful insofar that you actually do something useful. Like, to me, it is not enough to put on your resume that you were “Vice President of XYZ student association”. Rather, it would be much better to put on your resume that you “wrote a letter to Congresswoman X” or that you “managed the club budget.”

Some people say that you should do an activity regardless of whether or not it is useful. I question that as an interviewer might ask, “So what did you do as Vice President of XYZ club?” to which “I did nothing” or the classic “I network” might not be sufficient.

That’s just my take. It is a competitive job environment out there so every little bit counts, I guess. Anyone has any thoughts or comments on this matter?