In previous posts about the importance of a personal brand, we concentrated on how to create a personal brand using web tools such as Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter. Now it’s time to create your own personal brand statement. A brand statement will help your cover letter or resume stand out from thousands of others! In the next several blog postings, I will share information with you taken from leading personal branding expert and career advancement coach, Robert Allen Paul, and his “Company Of One” presentation at Buena Vista University. I would recommend his valuable message to every student. (Part I: Your Brand Part II: Core Competencies Part III: Brand Attributes): Part IV: Brand Identity:
Who Are Your Customers? What Do They Think You Do?
Understanding what you really do and how you do it differently provides you with an advantage when it comes to communicating key benefits to your “customers”. But who are your customers?
Traditionally, a customer –or consumer –is usually defined as anyone who uses or could possibly use your product or service. But in branding, the definition of a consumer also includes all of those who couldn’t or wouldn’t. Because even those consumers who are unlikely to become your customer (or employer) have some influence over those who might. They all participate in creating what marketers refer to as your Brand Identity; which is something different from simple Brand Recognition.
Brand Identity vs. Brand Recognition
What is the difference between Brand Recognition and Brand Identity? Let’s use a party analogy. You go to a party, you see an attractive person, and you walk up to them and introduce yourself with some Brand Advertising: “Hi, I’m (name) and I’m an awesome date.” So they say, “Hmmm. (Name)? I think I’ve heard of you.” That’s Brand Recognition. Now imagine you go to a party, you see an attractive person, you walk up to them and say “Hi, I’m (name).”
Then they say “Oh? You’re (name)? I hear you’re an awesome date.” That’s Brand Identity.
See the difference? Brand Identity isn’t based on what you say about yourself, but on what the consumer is likely to say about you. And, just as with brand positioning, your brand identity isn’t built in the marketplace. It’s built in the mind of the consumer. It consists of more than just the ability to recall your brand name. It consists of the consumer’s 360 degrees experience with your brand –personally and otherwise. In fact, it’s possible to develop a brand identity with all sorts of consumers who’ve never done business with you.
Every year, the Harris organization conducts what they call their Best Brand Survey. It’s a national poll of approximately 3,500 consumers that consists of just one question:
“We would like you to think about brands or names of products and services you know. Considering everything, which three brands do you consider the best?“
Can you guess which brand tops the list? According to American consumers, the best brand in America was Sony. For seven years running. That’s impressive performance by any standard. But what’s even more impressive is that there were years in which the percentage of consumers who named Sony as a best brand was greater than the percentage of consumers who actually own any Sony product.
In other words, you don’t have to have personal experience with a brand to have a definite opinion about that brand.
It can be disturbing to discover that people you don’t know –and who don’t know you –may still have an opinion of you. But that’s the way brand identity works; one impression or observation or interpretation at a time.
If I cut my hair or lose weight. If I’m ten minutes early or two minutes late. The clothes I wear. The car I drive. The way I answer the phone. The way I sign my emails. The way I treat my colleagues or my mother or the students in my class. Every little thing I say or do –or don’t say or don’t do –all make a little deposit in the identity account that exists in the mind of my consumer.
So, to those who might tell you the little things don’t matter, I’d say the little things do matter. More often than not, building positive brand identity is a matter of managing impressions and word-of-mouth.
Next up: Creating Your Brand Statement: Brand Promise
Friday, November 6, 2009
Sunday, November 1, 2009
Creating Your Brand Statement: Brand Attributes
In previous posts about the importance of a personal brand, we concentrated on how to create a personal brand using web tools such as Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter. Now it’s time to create your own personal brand statement. A brand statement will help your cover letter or resume stand out from thousands of others! In the next several blog postings, I will share information with you taken from leading personal branding expert and career advancement coach, Robert Allen Paul, and his “Company Of One” presentation at Buena Vista University. I would recommend his valuable message to every student. (Part I: Your Brand Part II: Core Competencies) Part III: Brand Attributes:
How do you do what you do? Now it’s time to discover your professional personality – or brand attributes. What are your brand attributes? Are you Decisive? Deliberate? Determined? Inventive? Analytical? In other words: How do you do what you do? How you do what you do is how you really set yourself apart.
It’s not always what you say, but how you say it. So it follows that –just as with your core competencies –there are no “bad” attributes. Do people find you impatient? -You’re driven and proactive. Have others accused you of too little tact? -You’re a clear communicator. No matter which adjectives you (or others) might attach to your personality, there’s a positive way of redefining them to communicate your professional approach. And while it’s always easier and more pleasant to lead with the “positives,” you may find that some of those “negatives” are what actually make you successful. And unique!
While you are thinking about how you do what you do, try to think about how you do what you do differently from everyone else who does what you do. Attributes play an important role in making your personal brand unique.
Ask your best friends what three adjectives come to mind when they hear your name – and write down whatever they say. Then use a thesaurus and find a few synonyms that convey those traits in more professional terms. So, once again, just as with your core competency, the most important thing is that you choose attributes that are true. Here are a couple of practical guidelines.
Next up: Creating Your Brand Statement: Brand Identity
How do you do what you do? Now it’s time to discover your professional personality – or brand attributes. What are your brand attributes? Are you Decisive? Deliberate? Determined? Inventive? Analytical? In other words: How do you do what you do? How you do what you do is how you really set yourself apart.
It’s not always what you say, but how you say it. So it follows that –just as with your core competencies –there are no “bad” attributes. Do people find you impatient? -You’re driven and proactive. Have others accused you of too little tact? -You’re a clear communicator. No matter which adjectives you (or others) might attach to your personality, there’s a positive way of redefining them to communicate your professional approach. And while it’s always easier and more pleasant to lead with the “positives,” you may find that some of those “negatives” are what actually make you successful. And unique!
While you are thinking about how you do what you do, try to think about how you do what you do differently from everyone else who does what you do. Attributes play an important role in making your personal brand unique.
Ask your best friends what three adjectives come to mind when they hear your name – and write down whatever they say. Then use a thesaurus and find a few synonyms that convey those traits in more professional terms. So, once again, just as with your core competency, the most important thing is that you choose attributes that are true. Here are a couple of practical guidelines.
- Compatibility Rule: You can’t be tough and gentle. You can’t be spontaneous and strategic. Don’t choose attributes that appear to be in conflict with one another.
- Two-Thirds Rule: When buying a product there are usually three primary factors that drive purchasing decisions; however we seldom get all three, so choose based on benefits of the other two. If you’re a new college grad, the primary factors prospective employers consider when choosing candidates are likely Education, Experience and Compensation (Price). So, if you’ve earned good grades from a good school, but have no relevant experience, then you may have to offer prospective employers the benefit of lower compensation. If you’ve graduated cum laude from an Ivy League school and worked several related internships, then employers probably shouldn’t expect you to come cheap. Whatever the three factors are in your category, you need to choose the two you’re going to focus on and forget about the third.
Next up: Creating Your Brand Statement: Brand Identity
Saturday, October 24, 2009
Creating Your Brand Statement: Core Competencies
In previous posts about the importance of a personal brand, we concentrated on how to create a personal brand using web tools such as Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter. Now it’s time to create your own personal brand statement. A brand statement will help your cover letter or resume stand out from thousands of others! In the next several blog postings, I will share information with you taken from leading personal branding expert and career advancement coach, Robert Allen Paul, and his “Company Of One” presentation at Buena Vista University. I would recommend his valuable message to every student. (Part I: Your Brand.) Part II: Core Competencies:
What do you do? What you do is best explained as a summary of your accomplishments. Just as on a resume, you skip the list of responsibilities and lead with accomplishments instead. If you think you haven’t done much yet, you need to change the way you think about what you’ve done – shift your perspective!
Defining your professional core competencies is all about discovering your personal strengths; you need to look beyond what you’ve done in school. Consider everything you’ve done in the rest of your life – college and childhood - what other people think you do well. Those things form the foundation of your core competencies.
Are you a sympathetic listener? A great planner? Well organized? A master at getting others to do what you want? There are professional applications for all these personal aptitudes. Think of several things you do well. Ask others who know you what they think. What do your friends and family see as your personal strengths? How about your professors, counselors, or advisors? Now just identify the common denominators.
Are you hearing your strengths as “you always get your work in on time, or early” or “you have odd ideas” or possibly “you seem to like to argue”? Whatever the common denominator might be, consider it a core competency. Regardless of what your personal skill turns out to be, you can turn it into a professional talent. And no matter what your talent may be, there are hundreds of employers who would love to put it to work. Change “odd ideas” into “a talent for delivering unexpected results”. If you like a good argument, then say you have a talent for critical thinking. If you usually beat deadlines, then you have a talent for exceeding expectations.
Discovering your core competency not only provides you with some personal direction, but some professional confidence, too. So, start making a list of all your strengths and successes, and then look for the common denominator. Once you’ve done that, there’s only one thing left to do: Pick one. But only one.
Focus. It’s critical that you focus your core competencies on a single business category and then do everything you can think of to own it. No matter how many things you do –or how well you may do them –people are likely to recognize you for only one.
You can’t be all things to all people. And when you try to promote yourself as a jack of all trades, you come off as the king of none. People (including employers and recruiters) have very specific needs; they don’t want generalists, they need specialists. So, if you want them to believe you can actually solve their problem, then you’re going to have to focus on it. The real impact of focusing on one core competency isn’t exclusion; it’s inclusion. Summarizing your key talent helps everyone who can really use it find you and add you to their list of candidates.
Make that list of achievements and accomplishments; of personal strengths and skills and successes. Then make a note of any common denominators that might point to a central theme. Are you an instigator or instructor? A promoter or problem solver? What seems to happen with projects or positions you make your own?
In 20 words or less, write down what you do - I have a talent for (so the next word should be some sort of active verb like “developing,” “helping,” “creating,” “delivering). Write down a number of different summary sentences. Read them aloud and think about what they really say. Whatever you decide will be fine – as long as it is clear and concise and true.
Next up: Creating Your Brand Statement – Brand Attributes
What do you do? What you do is best explained as a summary of your accomplishments. Just as on a resume, you skip the list of responsibilities and lead with accomplishments instead. If you think you haven’t done much yet, you need to change the way you think about what you’ve done – shift your perspective!
Defining your professional core competencies is all about discovering your personal strengths; you need to look beyond what you’ve done in school. Consider everything you’ve done in the rest of your life – college and childhood - what other people think you do well. Those things form the foundation of your core competencies.
Are you a sympathetic listener? A great planner? Well organized? A master at getting others to do what you want? There are professional applications for all these personal aptitudes. Think of several things you do well. Ask others who know you what they think. What do your friends and family see as your personal strengths? How about your professors, counselors, or advisors? Now just identify the common denominators.
Are you hearing your strengths as “you always get your work in on time, or early” or “you have odd ideas” or possibly “you seem to like to argue”? Whatever the common denominator might be, consider it a core competency. Regardless of what your personal skill turns out to be, you can turn it into a professional talent. And no matter what your talent may be, there are hundreds of employers who would love to put it to work. Change “odd ideas” into “a talent for delivering unexpected results”. If you like a good argument, then say you have a talent for critical thinking. If you usually beat deadlines, then you have a talent for exceeding expectations.
Discovering your core competency not only provides you with some personal direction, but some professional confidence, too. So, start making a list of all your strengths and successes, and then look for the common denominator. Once you’ve done that, there’s only one thing left to do: Pick one. But only one.
Focus. It’s critical that you focus your core competencies on a single business category and then do everything you can think of to own it. No matter how many things you do –or how well you may do them –people are likely to recognize you for only one.
You can’t be all things to all people. And when you try to promote yourself as a jack of all trades, you come off as the king of none. People (including employers and recruiters) have very specific needs; they don’t want generalists, they need specialists. So, if you want them to believe you can actually solve their problem, then you’re going to have to focus on it. The real impact of focusing on one core competency isn’t exclusion; it’s inclusion. Summarizing your key talent helps everyone who can really use it find you and add you to their list of candidates.
Make that list of achievements and accomplishments; of personal strengths and skills and successes. Then make a note of any common denominators that might point to a central theme. Are you an instigator or instructor? A promoter or problem solver? What seems to happen with projects or positions you make your own?
In 20 words or less, write down what you do - I have a talent for (so the next word should be some sort of active verb like “developing,” “helping,” “creating,” “delivering). Write down a number of different summary sentences. Read them aloud and think about what they really say. Whatever you decide will be fine – as long as it is clear and concise and true.
Next up: Creating Your Brand Statement – Brand Attributes
Thursday, October 22, 2009
Creating Your Brand Statement: Your Brand
In previous posts about the importance of a personal brand, we concentrated on how to create a personal brand using web tools such as Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter. Now it’s time to create your own personal brand statement. A brand statement will help your cover letter or resume stand out from thousands of others! In the next several blog postings, I will share information with you taken from leading personal branding expert and career advancement coach, Robert Allen Paul, and his “Company Of One” presentation at Buena Vista University. I would recommend his valuable message to every student.
This is what you need to do:
Your Brand
This is what you need to do:
- Concentrate on what makes you unique; focus on “different” so you stand out in the crowd.
- Identify your unique personal strengths and develop a summary that helps others recognize the professional applications and advantages of those strengths – help employers understand why they might want to read your resume.
Your Brand
- The first question posed by the branding process (or any prospective employer) is simply: Who are you? The answer becomes your brand. In simplest terms, a brand is really a name, and that’s where you start – with the name you want on your business correspondence.
- Every name communicates its own unique characteristics – “serious”, “fun”, “friendly”, “reliable” … and so on. [Some international students take on an English name when they study abroad – perhaps because it’s easier for others to remember. Some keep their name, or use a shorter nickname.]
- Just as words have meanings beyond their literal definitions, names are also infused with certain attributes. Whatever name you decide to use, it’s important to choose one that communicates who you really are – or at least who you want to be.
- Your first exercise in building your personal brand is to take a few minutes and choose your personal brand. Write out all the possible names under which you could choose to do business and then go ahead and pick one. Write that name after the words “I Am” –and start thinking about who that person is.
Wednesday, October 14, 2009
Finding Scholarships and Grants
If you are looking for sources to help you finance your education, knowing how and where to search can be crucially important. Many scholarships and grants aren’t well advertised, so it will be up to you to do the work and find the opportunities. If you are already enrolled at a college or university, start with the professional services available, such as financial aid or career services. If you are not yet enrolled, contact college or university admissions offices directly and ask them about the opportunities and support they provide for international students - a number of them offer discounted tuition and scholarships. These opportunities are increasing, as universities see the value of having a diverse population of students.
When searching on your own, there are a number of free scholarship search sites/databases on the Web (also referred to as “multiple-source” sites, some are listed below). Profile-based scholarship searches allow you to register an account, have you fill out a student profile that includes your education history, intended major, group memberships, awards, test scores, and so on. Based on the answers in your profile, the website software will direct you toward scholarships and contests that you’re eligible for. Be sure to fill out the profiles with as much information as possible, for more search matches.
You can also search for scholarships on the Web yourself, using search engines. Knowing the right tips and tricks can help you find more relevant results for your scholarship search. First, don’t limit yourself to using one search engine – try several, including Google, Bing, Cuil, and Yahoo for example; the results and the methods will differ. Next, know how to search. If you want to find scholarships in your chosen field of study – Computer Science for example, typing "Computer Science scholarships" will return a number of relevant results. To see the latest CS scholarships that are being offered (this works only for Google), type in and enter your keywords "CS scholarships". Once you get to the results page, you now paste this string of words: &as_qdr=m at the end of the URL and press enter. Doing this will give you only the web pages on CS scholarships that have been published in the last month. You can also filter results in the last 24 hours (&as_qdr=d), the last week (&as_qdr=w), or the past year (&as_qdr=y1).
To get specific search results using any search engine, you have to add other relevant words to your keywords when you make your query. In scholarship searches, relevant words include "deadline (insert month)", "study in (insert location)", and "for (insert nationality, country of origin)". In our example, specific keywords could be "CS scholarships for Indians deadline December 2009", "CS scholarships for Indians in US" or any combination of keywords and modifiers that would best define your search. The key here is to be specific. Put the keyword/s inside quotation marks ("") only when you want exact search results for that keyword.
Aside from Google and other engines, you can search for scholarships in different platforms like Blog or Blog Networks (using Google Blog Search), Twitter (using search.twitter.com), LinkedIn (joining groups) and even Facebook (search for scholarship groups). Once you find a source that you think is helpful, you can follow many of them on Twitter or RRS feeds to keep up with current information.
Also consider contacting organizations, associations, foundations, or government agencies. For example, contact the local Rotary International Organization to ask about their Ambassadorial Scholarships; or if you are a student member of an organization, ASME, the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (for example), many have scholarship opportunities for international students. P.E.O. International provides a number of scholarships for international women students to study in the US or Canada. Google and Microsoft have tech-related scholarships, with some specifically for women. Ask your professors what professional organizations they belong to, and contact the national headquarters, or look them up on the Web.
Many of the sites listed below also have links to other important and useful information, including blogs, forums, discussion boards, etc. You can follow many of them on Twitter or RRS feeds to keep up with current information.
Scholarships for International Students would greatly appreciate your recommendations of websites with useful information regarding scholarships or internships. SIS would also appreciate guest blog postings from students, or university professionals who would like to share ideas, information, or suggestions! Please feel free to leave comments below.
Sampling of a few Scholarship and Financial Aid Sites:
• International Education Financial Aid: http://www.iefa.org/
• FastWeb: http://www.fastweb.com/
• International Scholarships: http://www.InternationalScholarships.com
• Careers and Colleges http://www.careersandcolleges.com/
• FinAid: http://www.finaid.org/
• UNESCO: http://www.unesco.org
• Scholarship Experts.com: http://www.scholarshipexperts.com/
• Hispanic College Fund: http://www.hispanicfund.org
• CHCI - Developing the next generation of Latino Leaders: http://www.chci.org/
• The Gates Millennium Scholars: http://www.gmsp.org
• ScholarshipsCanada: http://www.scholarshipscanada.com/index.asp
• InternationalStudent.com: http://www.internationalstudent.com/
• eduPass: http://www.edupass.org/
• Scholarship Monkey: http://www.scholarship-monkey.com/
• P.E.O. International: http://www.peointernational.org/about/
• Rotary International and The Rotary Foundation: http://www.rotary.org/programs
• Advance-Africa.com: http://bit.ly/NJNn9
• Google Scholarships: http://tinyurl.com/5ruvgg
• The Foundation Center: http://foundationcenter.org
• Sport-Scholarships.com: http://www.sport-scholarships.com
These are just a sampling of different kinds of sources you can use to find funding – there are so many more! Watch for a tab in the Facebook Page where I will list more sites. Follow me, IntStudentCon, on Twitter for posts on individual scholarships, or join the Facebook Page for postings (click on the icons on this blog site to access both).
Next up: Creating your Brand Statement (A follow up on the “Creating your personal brand” series). How to write cover letters and Resumes that stand out in a sea of competition! Valuable information from leading personal branding expert and career advancement coach, Robert Allen Paul. Don’t miss this series!!
When searching on your own, there are a number of free scholarship search sites/databases on the Web (also referred to as “multiple-source” sites, some are listed below). Profile-based scholarship searches allow you to register an account, have you fill out a student profile that includes your education history, intended major, group memberships, awards, test scores, and so on. Based on the answers in your profile, the website software will direct you toward scholarships and contests that you’re eligible for. Be sure to fill out the profiles with as much information as possible, for more search matches.
You can also search for scholarships on the Web yourself, using search engines. Knowing the right tips and tricks can help you find more relevant results for your scholarship search. First, don’t limit yourself to using one search engine – try several, including Google, Bing, Cuil, and Yahoo for example; the results and the methods will differ. Next, know how to search. If you want to find scholarships in your chosen field of study – Computer Science for example, typing "Computer Science scholarships" will return a number of relevant results. To see the latest CS scholarships that are being offered (this works only for Google), type in and enter your keywords "CS scholarships". Once you get to the results page, you now paste this string of words: &as_qdr=m at the end of the URL and press enter. Doing this will give you only the web pages on CS scholarships that have been published in the last month. You can also filter results in the last 24 hours (&as_qdr=d), the last week (&as_qdr=w), or the past year (&as_qdr=y1).
To get specific search results using any search engine, you have to add other relevant words to your keywords when you make your query. In scholarship searches, relevant words include "deadline (insert month)", "study in (insert location)", and "for (insert nationality, country of origin)". In our example, specific keywords could be "CS scholarships for Indians deadline December 2009", "CS scholarships for Indians in US" or any combination of keywords and modifiers that would best define your search. The key here is to be specific. Put the keyword/s inside quotation marks ("") only when you want exact search results for that keyword.
Aside from Google and other engines, you can search for scholarships in different platforms like Blog or Blog Networks (using Google Blog Search), Twitter (using search.twitter.com), LinkedIn (joining groups) and even Facebook (search for scholarship groups). Once you find a source that you think is helpful, you can follow many of them on Twitter or RRS feeds to keep up with current information.
Also consider contacting organizations, associations, foundations, or government agencies. For example, contact the local Rotary International Organization to ask about their Ambassadorial Scholarships; or if you are a student member of an organization, ASME, the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (for example), many have scholarship opportunities for international students. P.E.O. International provides a number of scholarships for international women students to study in the US or Canada. Google and Microsoft have tech-related scholarships, with some specifically for women. Ask your professors what professional organizations they belong to, and contact the national headquarters, or look them up on the Web.
Many of the sites listed below also have links to other important and useful information, including blogs, forums, discussion boards, etc. You can follow many of them on Twitter or RRS feeds to keep up with current information.
Scholarships for International Students would greatly appreciate your recommendations of websites with useful information regarding scholarships or internships. SIS would also appreciate guest blog postings from students, or university professionals who would like to share ideas, information, or suggestions! Please feel free to leave comments below.
Sampling of a few Scholarship and Financial Aid Sites:
• International Education Financial Aid: http://www.iefa.org/
• FastWeb: http://www.fastweb.com/
• International Scholarships: http://www.InternationalScholarships.com
• Careers and Colleges http://www.careersandcolleges.com/
• FinAid: http://www.finaid.org/
• UNESCO: http://www.unesco.org
• Scholarship Experts.com: http://www.scholarshipexperts.com/
• Hispanic College Fund: http://www.hispanicfund.org
• CHCI - Developing the next generation of Latino Leaders: http://www.chci.org/
• The Gates Millennium Scholars: http://www.gmsp.org
• ScholarshipsCanada: http://www.scholarshipscanada.com/index.asp
• InternationalStudent.com: http://www.internationalstudent.com/
• eduPass: http://www.edupass.org/
• Scholarship Monkey: http://www.scholarship-monkey.com/
• P.E.O. International: http://www.peointernational.org/about/
• Rotary International and The Rotary Foundation: http://www.rotary.org/programs
• Advance-Africa.com: http://bit.ly/NJNn9
• Google Scholarships: http://tinyurl.com/5ruvgg
• The Foundation Center: http://foundationcenter.org
• Sport-Scholarships.com: http://www.sport-scholarships.com
These are just a sampling of different kinds of sources you can use to find funding – there are so many more! Watch for a tab in the Facebook Page where I will list more sites. Follow me, IntStudentCon, on Twitter for posts on individual scholarships, or join the Facebook Page for postings (click on the icons on this blog site to access both).
Next up: Creating your Brand Statement (A follow up on the “Creating your personal brand” series). How to write cover letters and Resumes that stand out in a sea of competition! Valuable information from leading personal branding expert and career advancement coach, Robert Allen Paul. Don’t miss this series!!
Wednesday, September 16, 2009
Getting Ready for Scholarship Season – Avoiding scholarship scams!
How do you know what scholarships are legitimate and what scholarships are scams? If they sound too good to be true, they usually are; learn how to recognize and protect yourself from the most common scams. If a scholarship has an application fee or other required fees, it isn't worth your time and money to apply. Best bet – don’t pay for any scholarship information. Scholarship information is free and available to everyone.
Here’s one really easy way to check the scholarship or grant to see if it is legitimate:
Google it; use a search engine of your choice, and look up the scholarship name or URL, plus the word scam. You might find out it is listed as a scam; or you might get a lot of results and discussion that question whether a scholarship is a scam or not - so it’s probably best to skip over applying for it and move on to the next scholarship opportunity.
Other Tips for Avoiding Scholarship Scams:
Next blog: Finding Scholarships!
Here’s one really easy way to check the scholarship or grant to see if it is legitimate:
Google it; use a search engine of your choice, and look up the scholarship name or URL, plus the word scam. You might find out it is listed as a scam; or you might get a lot of results and discussion that question whether a scholarship is a scam or not - so it’s probably best to skip over applying for it and move on to the next scholarship opportunity.
Other Tips for Avoiding Scholarship Scams:
- Don't believe a promise of guaranteed scholarships. No one can guarantee that you will win a scholarship or grant.
- You shouldn’t pay money to be matched with scholarships that suit you the best. Anyone can find out information about any scholarship by searching the Internet. Don’t pay anyone to do this for you.
- Beware scholarship services that charge fees or claim that you can't get this information anywhere else. There are many free lists of scholarships available. Check with your school, library and trusted online scholarship sites before you decide to pay someone to do the work for you.
- Don't pay an advance fee. Don't pay anyone who claims to be "holding" a scholarship for you or informs you the scholarship will cost some money. Free money shouldn't cost a thing. Disregard any news that you're a finalist in any contest that requires you to pay a fee for further consideration, or taxes on the winning scholarship.
- Don’t pay to have someone apply for scholarships for you. This just does not work. In order to be eligible for scholarships, you have to submit your own applications and write your own essays. You can’t get around this, even by paying money.
- Ignore the myth of unclaimed funds and the companies that advertise huge amounts of unclaimed money.
- Don't be fooled by official-sounding names and logos. Make sure the foundation, organization or program is legitimate. Remember – just Google it!
- If you feel as though the scholarship application and accompanying materials were never proofread, that’s a red flag. Multiple spelling and grammatical errors show a lack of professionalism that is essential to a scholarship foundation’s success.
- If the only address you can find for a scholarship is a P.O. Box address, do not apply! This is definitely a scam as well. Also be wary of residential addresses as the company headquarters. If you can’t find a phone number for the scholarship sponsor, move on to another scholarship opportunity.
- Do not give out your social security number, credit card, bank or checking account numbers to anyone claiming they need it for you to be eligible for access to "exclusive" scholarship information, or to deposit your winnings. Get information in writing first. It may be a set-up for an unauthorized withdrawal.
Next blog: Finding Scholarships!
Friday, August 28, 2009
Getting Ready for Scholarship Season – The all-important essay and possible interview!
Social network profiles. Please know that your social or web profile WILL be investigated as part of the scholarship process; make sure your profile is professional, and a good representation of who you are. Facebook, Twitter, Blog, LinkedIn – all of your personal branding profiles should be updated and appropriate for your current scholarship, internship, or job activities. If you don’t have, or don’t know the specifics of “personal branding”, read the series of posts in the SIS blog listed in the archives on the right, or search for ‘personal branding’. Remember – you can also use the social networks to find scholarships as well!
The personal statement or essay. The application essay can be just as important as your GPA and extracurricular activities in helping you win a scholarship - probably the most important aspect of winning a merit scholarship. This is where your application needs to stand out!
Create an essay outline, and have a ‘basic’ essay written, using all your skills to create a portrait of yourself as a worthy recipient. Then read all information that comes with the scholarship application to determine the criteria for awarding the scholarships; emphasize these points in your essay. Make sure your essay fits the theme, and answers the question concisely. Use very specific examples from your life experience. Be specific, but show passion in your writing! (Word of warning – avoid the sob story; they rarely, if ever, win scholarships. Remember that every applicant has faced difficulties. What's different and individual to you is how you've overcome those obstacles. This is more significant and memorable than merely listing your misfortunes.Scholarship committees are not as interested in problems as they are in solutions.) The judges will be reading essay after essay on the same topic, so make your essay unique and engaging, with positive energy.
Read, and reread your essay – refining, simplifying, and polishing. Show that you have thought deeply and broadly about what you have learned in your academic career and what you hope to learn next. Correctness and style are vital, and neatness counts. Adhere to the length requirements of the essay so you aren’t disqualified. Have someone read your essay, preferably someone with professional experience – a teacher, professor, writing tutors, or visit the college writing center if there is one available. Search the Web for articles on how to write scholarship essays. This is so very important – do your best work!
Interviews. Before you submit your applications, realize that you may need to be interviewed by the scholarship committee at some point in the process. There are academic scholarships or merit scholarships, especially those with high payouts that require a sit-down, face-to-face interview with the finalists in order to determine who is the most deserving of the award. Be prepared! Make sure if you get called in for an interview that you practice your scholarship interview skills and that you are comfortable with the topic of your essay. Review your application and keep a copy for yourself. That way, there are no big surprises when you go into the meeting room. If you need help with interviewing skills, visit the career services office at your university. Above all, be confident, be positive, and be yourself! (Smile!)
Next up – avoiding scholarship scams; then – finding scholarships!
The personal statement or essay. The application essay can be just as important as your GPA and extracurricular activities in helping you win a scholarship - probably the most important aspect of winning a merit scholarship. This is where your application needs to stand out!
Create an essay outline, and have a ‘basic’ essay written, using all your skills to create a portrait of yourself as a worthy recipient. Then read all information that comes with the scholarship application to determine the criteria for awarding the scholarships; emphasize these points in your essay. Make sure your essay fits the theme, and answers the question concisely. Use very specific examples from your life experience. Be specific, but show passion in your writing! (Word of warning – avoid the sob story; they rarely, if ever, win scholarships. Remember that every applicant has faced difficulties. What's different and individual to you is how you've overcome those obstacles. This is more significant and memorable than merely listing your misfortunes.Scholarship committees are not as interested in problems as they are in solutions.) The judges will be reading essay after essay on the same topic, so make your essay unique and engaging, with positive energy.
Read, and reread your essay – refining, simplifying, and polishing. Show that you have thought deeply and broadly about what you have learned in your academic career and what you hope to learn next. Correctness and style are vital, and neatness counts. Adhere to the length requirements of the essay so you aren’t disqualified. Have someone read your essay, preferably someone with professional experience – a teacher, professor, writing tutors, or visit the college writing center if there is one available. Search the Web for articles on how to write scholarship essays. This is so very important – do your best work!
Interviews. Before you submit your applications, realize that you may need to be interviewed by the scholarship committee at some point in the process. There are academic scholarships or merit scholarships, especially those with high payouts that require a sit-down, face-to-face interview with the finalists in order to determine who is the most deserving of the award. Be prepared! Make sure if you get called in for an interview that you practice your scholarship interview skills and that you are comfortable with the topic of your essay. Review your application and keep a copy for yourself. That way, there are no big surprises when you go into the meeting room. If you need help with interviewing skills, visit the career services office at your university. Above all, be confident, be positive, and be yourself! (Smile!)
Next up – avoiding scholarship scams; then – finding scholarships!
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