Tips to Becoming the Best Scholarship Candidate

Scholarship application and books on a table. Photo courtesy of Shutterstock.

Millions of dollars in scholarship money is available to college students every year, and among the thousands of scholarships, you’re sure to find at least a few that are a great fit for you. That’s the good news. The rest of the story is that these scholarships may be hard to track down and the competition can often be quite fierce.

Let’s say you’ve conducted your search and successfully identified several scholarships for which you plan to apply. You are likely one candidate among many, so what can you do to make your application stand out in order to secure those much needed funds for your college education? Consider a handful of practical tips: Continue Reading

Video: When, Why and How to Use Mobile Technology in Your Recruitment Efforts

Below is the first eight minutes, 39 seconds of my presentation on mobile marketing at the 15th Minnesota Recruiters conference. The conference was held on November 8, 2011 at the General Mills world headquarters in suburban Minneapolis, Minnesota. About 230 recruiters, hiring managers, and other human resource professionals attended.

Introducing me was conference organizer Paul DeBettignies. In his “real” job, Paul is a Minnesota I.T. recruiter with HireCast Consulting. Continue Reading

Number of Apply Clicks and Cost Per Click for Job Posting Ads

Photo courtesy of Shutterstock

A commonly used cliche has the buyer of advertising stating that he knows that half of his advertising is working but he just wishes that he knew which half. That cliche pre-dates the Internet as today’s marketers should and sometimes do know which of their ads is working. But even then, how do you define “working?”

One of the interesting developments since CollegeRecruiter.com went live way back in 1996 is the increased attention employers are paying to metrics so they can better understand where their money is being well spent. For 16 years we’ve heard employers say that they use niche job boards such as ours because they care more about quality than quantity yet when it came time to decide whether to renew a job posting package our sales team would invariably hear yes or no based upon how many applications the employer received from our candidates. Those employers were saying they were basing their decisions on quality but actually were basing them on quantity. Continue Reading

4 Tips for Safely Filling Out Job Applications

Did you know filling out an application can be a ticket to identity theft?

ProtectMyID has 4 key tips. When you fill out applications, you’re putting nearly all of your personal  information – full name, Social Security number, address, background – on paper, and often placing it in the hands of a stranger. So, what can you do to protect your identity? Continue Reading

Candidate Experience – The Big Seven Process Expectations, Part 2 of 6

In this second in a series, I will share the job seeker’s top seven expectations of what they want to know about their application, but first, I digress.

Back in the day, before the web, I would hang a sign in the front door of our building – Not taking applications at this time. I did not want to deal with a pile of applications from walk-in candidates that I had no use for at the moment. I did not want to establish expectations that the prospect of a job existed either. Continue Reading

Eight Changes in the Apply Now Element of the Candidate Experience

The Internet has changed the nature of the Apply Now candidate experience. Paste your resume here is a thing of the past for companies leading the wave of change in how candidates get considered for a job. Leading edge companies are creating an interactive online candidate experience. In this new format the candidate can learn more about the company and the job while the company can learn more useful information about the people applying for the job. This article will help you understand how to obtain the most value from the Careers page of companies deploying best practices for online employment applications. Continue Reading

One Big Job Search Mistake That Can Make or Break Your Application!

Jessica Holbrook Hernandez of Great Resumes Fast

It is amazing to me that even within the career industry (people who should KNOW not to do this), I still see this mistake again and again. Recently, an e-mail came across my desk from a colleague who is looking for a resume writer to add to their growing team. It made me think about the myriad of applications I’ve received over the years when I’ve made a similar call. Again and again, the biggest mistake I’ve seen involves job seekers who don’t do their research. Believe it or not, this is CRITICALLY important to your job search, and I’m going to give you a prime example why. Continue Reading

The College Application Essay

I’m looking at the other side of college essays – not the side the admission officers see, but the side the students write, what they write and how they say it. So often we see guidelines on how to write the college essay. Directions like put it in the first person, make it creative, start with a grabber, finish strong, talk about you and do this all in anywhere from 100 to 500 words. Consultants, counselors and English teachers are the ones who read them in their infancy, the rough stage, just when the thoughts are brewing. What I have seen and read is more authentic than the finished version on the applications. For the most part these are 17 year olds who have been taught in school how to write in the 3rd person, about the other thing and rarely about themselves. So, first there is the need to overcome that teenage insecurity, be humble, yet boast, sound confident and do all that in respectable English. I overlook the slang and instant messaging language so prevalent and work with students on extracting what I find so appealing about them. They all have it – that appealing thing. For some it is simply the way their closet looks and for others it is their personal experience of sitting together at a family meal. The good news is that these students are willing to open up with someone like me knowing that I do not evaluate, judge, grade or accept or deny them. It is an honorable and trusted relationship. I suppose what I see is what many admission officers would like to – the rough cut so to speak. Unquestionably, once student essays have been revised, edited and polished several times, they take on a new more formal look. Colleges are attempting to get the right look at students. University of Michigan for example is attempting to have students think “outside the box” by posing ethical dilemma questions like, “Describe a setback or ethical dilemma that you have faced. How did you resolve it? How did the outcome affect you? If something similar happened in the future, how would you react?” Tufts is taking a more scientific approach to student essays and applications by hiring their dean, a psychologist to work on evaluations, “The first question might not sound so different than those on a typical application essay, but this year’s questions will be designed and evaluated based on psychological research. Tufts officials hope to better identify future leaders and predict college grades.” So, even before the final essays get submitted, I am thoroughly impressed by the rough drafts – their subject matter, written quality, determination and yes immaturity of the students writing. I’m grateful I see that first draft. It is authentic, the truth and apparently what the universities want.

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Why Distance Counseling Works

Isn’t it true that when admission officers evaluate student applications they really don’t know the student? Other than the interview that some colleges offer, acceptance decisions are based on a written document, the application. For students to portray themselves in the best light, their GPA’s, test scores, essays and recommendations must paint the best possible picture. In addition to local students, I am currently working with students and families in 16 states and 5 countries internationally. This number is increasing nearly daily. I counsel online, on the phone and via fax. If I can get a clear picture of a student based on all their data without the face to face meetings, then it is likely that admissions officers will also. The fact is that distance counseling is a test for the real thing.
I do see many students face to face when possible and always enjoy knowing them personally. However, the demand for guidance is so widespread that to accommodate more students, distance counseling is necessary. The forerunner, online learning, indicates how fast online education is growing and how successful it is. The Sloan Consortium, a group of colleges pursuing online programs, estimates that 850,000 more students took online courses in the fall of 2005 than the year before, an increase of nearly 40 percent. Students, too, are extremely comfortable with the distance format. Between their personal web pages, text and emails, online communication is a comfort zone .Many young people are more comfortable communicating online.
Many university applications are going paperless within the next few years. Numerous professors post assignments, readings and syllabus online. High schools are using programs where students receive online report cards. Electronic communication is the M generation’s way. Online college applications, passwords, pin numbers, secret questions to login are all very standard. Many face to face counseling meetings are conducted in front of a computer.
It is likely that college applications will become even more unique in the coming years. I easily guide all my distance students to present applications that are unique and perhaps explore creative possibilities in photo uploads, displaying computer graphic skills, musical backgrounds and links to personal pages. All this reveals much about the student.
So many of my high school and transfer students have such busy schedules, that they prefer connecting with me online rather than face to face. Between homework, jobs, athletic activities and other extracurriculars, they like communicating at the end of the day with their questions and input online.
By the time my students submit their applications, I have a strong feeling for who they are having worked with them to extract their strengths. In saying all this and if you have read this far, I have a note for parents. I hear things like, “I want my child to know their counselor”. Of course, there is nothing wrong with that. I urge you to keep in mind, to realize and accept that this is a new high tech generation that is more than comfortable with distance counseling.
Jeannie Borin, M.Ed.
IECA Professional Member
NACAC Professional Member
www.college-connections.com

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