Horizon Point Consulting

Category: Beyond Ready

Beyond Ready is Horizon Point’s line of resources for students preparing for college and/or career.

  • Scholarship Search – Where do I begin?

    Scholarship Search – Where do I begin?

    Whether you are a freshman in high school or closing in on your junior year, scholarship searching should be at the top of your to-do list. Paying for college is expensive and scholarships are a great way to help soften the financial blow for students and parents.

    Here are a 7 few tips to help you get started:

    1. Keep track of your high school activities. Well-rounded students are favored when scholarship boards are sifting through hundreds or thousands of applications. If you aren’t already, get involved! Join clubs in school, volunteer in your community and/or get a part-time job. These will all be helpful when preparing for scholarships (and life).

    2. Develop a master essay for ease of applying for several scholarships. Check out How to Write a Killer College Application and/or Scholarship Essay.

    3. Proofread and have others proof your essay and application.

    4. Check with your parents’ employers. Often times, employers offer scholarships for children of their employees.

    5. Utilize free scholarship search sites. Fastweb and Unigo are a couple of good ones.

    6. Check with your high school counselor for ideas on scholarships that would be a good fit for you.

    7. Don’t miss the deadline! Be sure you are aware of due dates for applications. This is crucial. You don’t want to waste your time applying if you have already missed the cut off.

     

    In addition to following these tips, check out these are helpful articles on scholarship searching:

    Where to Find College Scholarships

    10 Tips for Finding College Scholarships

    12 Tips on Winning Scholarships

  • Your Resume Needs a Summary of Qualifications

    Your Resume Needs a Summary of Qualifications

    Creating or revising your resume can be a daunting task. Resumes are often the best and only way to market yourself when applying for a job. It’s your foot in the door. That being said, we believe an amazing Summary of Qualifications is essential to getting noticed.

    What is a Summary of Qualifications? It’s a great alternative to an “Objective Statement.” Truth be told, companies aren’t interested in your objective, they want to know what you can do for them. The Summary of Qualifications should be placed underneath the standard information included in the heading of your resume (name, contact info, linked in address, etc.).

    What should you include in your Summary of Qualifications? Three things are important:

    1. Results (professional or personal as long as it is related to the position for which you are applying)

    2. Key skills (job specific)

    3. Accomplishments (money saved, time saved, money earned)

    Summary of Qualifications Sample:

    Skilled Information Technology professional with 22 years of experience managing the full cycle ofIT infrastructure, including planning and managing system requirements and integration, developingapplications to solve problems, testing, managing upgrades and resolving system issues all with a focus onmeeting user requirements and business needs. Knowledgeable of Healthcare compliance regulations and requirements and how they relate to IT infrastructure. Skilled in designing and implementing financial softwaresolutions.Proven information technology project management experience by managing projects on time and under budget.

    Check out our Beyond Work Workbook for more Job Search tools.

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    If you are needing assistance with your Summary of Qualifications, resume, or preparing for an interview, we offer services that may be beneficial to you. Contact us today!

  • 4 Things to Do After An Interview

    4 Things to Do After An Interview

    You’ve made it through an interview, or two or three interviews, as it seems to be these days. You relax for a second, happy that this part of the process is over, but that lasts only about half a minute before you begin going through every possible scenario in your head about how things could play out. Do you get a call back with an offer? An invitation to come back for another interview? A thanks but no thanks letter in the mail? What will happen next? And what do you do in the meantime?

    It can be extremely nerve-racking as you wait after an interview, but here are four tips to keep yourself focused on what you can do instead of focusing on what you can’t.

    1. Respond with thanks. Immediately send a thank you note, handwritten if possible, to everyone you interviewed with. Beyond that, focus on having gratitude for the opportunity to interview, and regardless of the outcome, how the opportunity to do so can help you in the future.

    2. Be patient. Many people become frustrated by how long it takes to hear back after an interview. Put yourself in the employer’s shoes and realize how much they are also probably doing on top of trying to select a candidate for this role (of course this empathy needs to go both ways). In addition, some of the control on timing is out of their hands due to things like reference and background checks.

    To help with this, inquire in the interview about what the next steps are and when you should expect to hear something back. Then follow their guidelines with your follow-up. For example, don’t call asking about the position two days after your interview if they told you it would be two weeks before they get back with candidates. As a rule of thumb, if you don’t know their timeline for follow-up, wait at least two weeks before following up with them.

    3. Continue to look and apply for openings that are of interest to you. This helps to keep you focused on what you can control instead of dwelling on if and when and what you are going to hear from those who have interviewed you.

    4. Continue to network. In fact, this should be a strategy regardless of whether you are waiting on interview results or not, whether you are an active job seeker or not. We’ll have more tips for you on networking here on the blog this week.

    What is the most nerve-racking thing for you post interview? How do you combat this?

  • Paying for College – What are the options?

    Paying for College – What are the options?

    The average cost of college is $23,000 per year and rising annually. This is intimidating for both students and parents alike. However, there are tons of scholarships and financial aid tools out there. Just knowing where to go for information is worth reading this article.

    So, let’s get started. First, you should become familiar with the FAFSA (Free Application for Federal Student Aid). Completing this application is essential for high school students who will be applying for scholarships. Many scholarships require the FAFSA application be completed prior to completing their application. Here is a link to the website and online application: Federal Student Aid.

    In addition to applying for scholarships through your school of choice, ask your high school counselor for a comprehensive list of scholarships. You can also register and apply for scholarships with FastWeb.

     

    Types of Federal Student Aid” Video

    Check out this video to learn about grants, loans, and work-study jobs and how they can help fund your education. (Captioning available in English and Spanish; just start the video and click on the CC symbol at the bottom.)

     

    Grants and scholarships are other alternatives to paying for college. According to StudentAid.Gov:

    Grants and scholarships are often called “gift aid” because they are free money—financial aid that doesn’t have to be repaid. Grants are often need-based, while scholarships are usually merit-based. Grants and scholarships can come from the federal government, your state government, your college or career school, or a private or nonprofit organization. Do your research, apply for any grants or scholarships you might be eligible for, and be sure to meet application deadlines!

    Student loans are another way to pay for school. Unlike grants, loans are borrowed funds and must be repaid. In addition to Federal Student Loans, private loans are also readily available and may have higher interest rates.

    For more insight on paying for college, check out How to Nail Down a Great College Financial Aid Package fromForbes.com.

  • Resumes – A Must for High School Students

    Resumes – A Must for High School Students

    A resume is essential for college or career bound high school students. Applying for colleges is competitive, as is applying for a job. An easy to read, well-developed resume that sets you apart from others can help put you in a favorable position.

    So, how do you get started? First, you should make a comprehensive list of your academic achievements and extracurricular activities. Be sure to include all activities, honors, jobs, internships, volunteer hours, and so on. Ask others for input. Teachers, counselors, parents and friends can be helpful in creating your list.

    Next, you can begin to build your resume. It is important to keep your resume to one page if possible. Here are a few key items to include:

    • A header with basic information including your name, address, phone number and email address.
    • Overview (optional): Can be used for a specific purpose such as consideration for a scholarship or intended major
    • Key Stats: Class rank, GPA, SAT and/or ACT score
    • Education: High schools attended. (Optional: Senior year classes & AP or impressive courses taken prior to senior year)
    • School Activities: List activities and grade including clubs, class activities, sports, etc. Include leadership roles and special recognition.
    • Community Activities: List activities, leadership roles and grades during which you participated.
    • Enrichment Activities: Include relevant programs, special projects, travel experiences, hobbies, musical accomplishments
    • Work Experience: Starting with the most recent, list each work experience, including job title, business name and location, dates of your employment. Include anything else that would be impressive (e.g. specific duties, recognition).
    • Volunteer roles

    As you are working on building an amazing resume, consider using action verbs. Quintessential Careers has a good list to get you started.

    For sample resumes, check out these links:

    College Basics

    Basic Sample Resume

    Adventures in Education

    Finally, don’t forget that your resume is an opportunity to market yourself! Essentially, it showcases your strengths and abilities. Allow your talents, passions and values to shine and you will set yourself apart from the crowd!