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The H.O.P.E. Scholarship

Tag Archives: eddie francis

You Have to Be “Recruitable”

28 Monday Oct 2013

Posted by The H.O.P.E. Scholarship in Uncategorized

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Tags

advice, college student, eddie francis, etiquette, impression, interview, job fair, recruit

Eddie_Francis_PromoI was working a job fair where I met a recent college graduate. I was recruiting for an auto body company and she sheepishly approached our tabled and said, “I guess I don’t have the skills to work for you.”

Whoa. What?

After I let her know that we weren’t only looking for people to knock dents out, I replied, “Now, let’s talk about your approach.  Don’t you eeeeeeever do that again.”

As a job recruitment consultant, I want to satisfy two parties—the employer and the job seeker. In order to do that, I need “recruitable” candidates—people who make me want to advocate their employment.

As a college student, there are five areas where you can make yourself recruitable:

The Résumé

In most cases, a résumé is the first contact an employer has with a candidate. That’s why it is so important to make sure certain elements stand out. For you, the college student, those elements include:  the GPA, student organizational involvement, work study or off-campus job(s), and references.

Let’s dig in a little more. Let’s say you don’t have a GPA over 2.7. You can make up for that by showing great student organizational involvement and/or great performance on the job, whether it is work study or an off-campus job. Understand that the résumés of students with high GPAs automatically go to the top of the pile. Still, great leadership skills through work outside of the classroom is valued.

In the case of student organizational involvement, you should be able to demonstrate bottom line success. You can show such success through membership increases, fundraising results, volunteer hours, awards, etc. These kinds of quantifiable results, in the workforce, are called productivity. FYI, you don’t need a title to show great leadership skills; but be prepared to prove how you contributed to your group’s success.

Presence

Notice that I described the graduate who approached me at the job fair as “sheepish.” Making a great impression is important. I would have reacted differently had the first words out of her mouth been, “My name is (blank) and I have a degree in (blank). Working at a car repair shop has never crossed my mind but I was wondering if you had anything available in my field.”

It goes without saying that confidence establishes a great presence. Make sure you look clean. Employers always remember students whose clothes are pressed as well as those who smile, speak clearly and loudly, use correct grammar, and show great posture.

Speech

Great speakers are almost always highly recruitable. I encourage you to take public speaking classes at your college or university, because it is a great way to strengthen your interpersonal communication skills. This is especially important for the job fair environment where projection and articulation are sorely needed. As a public speaking coach, I focus heavily on these two specific elements, because it is difficult to make an impression when people can’t hear or understand what you say in a crowded room.

Body Language

Slouching, scowling, etc. are major pet peeves of mine. When I had a sour look on my face, people would tell me that no one cared what kind of day I was having. They were right. Body language such as poor posture, blank looks, and dragging feet communicate a poor attitude and/or low self-esteem. Even if you smile while you drag your feet, you’re still dragging your feet!

Let’s look at it from my side of the table, as a recruiter. If I am conducting interviews and three out of every five candidate walked in looking like they wanted to brighten my day, who do you think I will remember (for the right reasons)?

Social Skills

Take advantage of etiquette classes or workshops. Learning to do things such as shake hands and eat properly go a long way in dealing with recruiters and employers. We also monitor students’ social skills online. No, I will not lecture you about your social media presence. Instead, I’ll give you an example of how sneaky I am.

I conduct a social media presentation called “TMI: Turning Bad Social Media Habits Into Great Career Opportunities”. I spoke to a group of well-dressed, well-groomed, well-behaved student athletes only to show them how trifling some of them presented themselves online. Yes, unbeknownst to them, I found some of their stuff and put it on a nice, big screen for them and their peers to see. It only took about five minutes of Googling each victim to get what I wanted. It was great that they showed nice social skills for my presentation but what I found online told me otherwise

I have a secret. Your social media accounts, web sites, profiles, etc. all count as your public presence.

The biggest thing to remember about being recruitable is to not wait until a job interview or the next job fair. Recruiters and employers are watching all the time. Enhance your “recruitability” through counseling at your campus career center. Use what you learn to create a strong presence.

Live H.O.P.E. Give H.O.P.E.

Eddie Francis
Guest Contributor

About Eddie Francis

Eddie Francis is a job recruitment consultant and the author/presenter of “The Black Greek Success Program.” He has also worked in mass media and higher education. Eddie’s past blogs on the H.O.P.E. Scholarship Blog include “The 10 Freshman Commandments” and “The Secret of Gumbo”. You can learn more about him at EddieFrancis.com.

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#hopedealer T-Shirts. Do you have one?

23 Monday Sep 2013

Posted by The H.O.P.E. Scholarship in Uncategorized

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#hopedealers, bcustory, crystal degregory, daniel shannon, eddie francis, fashion, hbcustory, kenya d. morris, paul quinn college, philanthropists, philantrhopy, rob shorette, scholarship, scholarship awards, t-shirt

T-shirts have the ability to speak volumes. They can communicate the school you attend/attended, the causes you support, the brands you love and more. Yes, students want to be comfortable but the culture of picture taking and sharing through social media sites like Facebook, Tumblr and Instagram has moved wanting to look good and represent something higher on the importance scale.

For hope dealers the #hopedealer t-shirt shows a comraderie of those committed to positively changing their communities. Who’s wearing their #hopedealer t-shirts?

  • Crystal DeGregory, Founder and executive editor of HBCUStory
  • Rob Shorette, PhD Student
  • Daniel Shannon. Motivational Speaker and Founder of Daniel Shannon Speaks
  • Kenya D. Morris,  Communications Specialist and Freelance Make-up Artist
  • Eddie Francis, Director of Communications at Paul Quinn College
  • YOU

Do good while looking good. All proceeds from the T-Shirts sales are used as scholarship awards. Purchase your #hopedealer T-shirt today. To place an order email info@thehopescholarship.org.

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The Secret of Gumbo

18 Monday Mar 2013

Posted by The H.O.P.E. Scholarship in Uncategorized

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

advice, black greek success program, chapter, eddie francis, education, fraternity, greek, gumbo, HBCU, sorority

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERAI’ll never forget the words of an old radio colleague, a very cool Cajun man named J.P., who said in a classic South Louisiana dialect, “Eddie, cookin’ takes love.”

In the Black Greek Success Program, I tell my fellow Greeks that every chapter is like a bowl of Gumbo; you have to find a way to gather the ingredients, prep them, and get them to work together.

The mission of every fraternity or sorority chapter is to maintain a healthy family that will promote the mission of the organization.  Creating a family is the easy part; the trick is to maintain that family.  Here are 7 things that fraternity and sorority members need to know.

  1. Identify your chapter.  Determine the collective personality of your chapter and decide how it successfully promotes the mission of your organization.  By knowing who you are as a family, you will have a better understanding of who belongs.
  1. Observe your prospects.  Once you know who is interested in your organization, watch them from afar to assess whether or not they are serious about contributing to your fraternity or sorority.
  1. Identify how your prospects fit.  Do you have a prospect who is a pure worker?  Do you have a prospect whose strong personality will contribute to the chapter’s growth?  Most importantly, do your prospects genuinely want to work for the betterment of your organization or do they simply want to be seen with a nice line jacket while they stroll at the next party?
  1. Appreciate the bigger family.  One of the biggest problems we have in the Black Greek System is what I call “chapter delusion”.  These are the chapters that seem to believe they are bigger than both the entire organization and even the college or university.  Without your fraternity, sorority or your college/university, you wouldn’t be a member of “Elegant Epsilon Eta”, “Bold Beta Mu”, or “Chaotic Chi Xi”.  The chapters that maintain a focus on contributing to the bigger families, especially financially, tend to be the most respected and critical players in the game.
  1. Know that the real work starts after initiation. Maintain the family; when you initiate your new line, impress upon them that the reason they have letters to wear is the work of those who came before them.  Let them know that if they want to be associated with the notable members they brag about, it will take a commitment to service, education, and their lives.
  1. Manage your family.  When you deal with people, problems almost never work themselves out.  It takes strong, consistent leadership to steer diverse personalities in a positive direction.  Take advantage of personality tests to identify your members and to figure out how their strengths contribute to the success of your chapter.
  1. Always seek wisdom.  I always listen to those more experienced than I am, even people with whom I don’t agree.  Every chapter member should have a mentor who both preaches the mission of the organization and has a productive life.

Our blood relatives aren’t perfect, therefore, expecting perfection among our frat brothers or sorors is unreasonable.  That is why it is so important to understand the value of getting the personalities in a chapter to work together.  To create the best gumbo (or family), we need the right ingredients and stir it with love.

Live H.O.P.E. Give H.O.P.E.

Eddie Francis
Guest Contributor

About Eddie Francis
Eddie Francis is the author and presenter of “The Black Greek Success Program” and a 1989 initiate of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc.  He also serves as the Director of Communications at Paul Quinn College in Dallas, Texas.  Learn more about him at EddieFrancis.com.

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