Revision history for ApplicationChecklist
Additions:
- Set aside time during the week to review applications. Sort the candidates into "A" and "B" candidates. At this time you may also request writing samples from students from whom you need more information to accurately evaluate.
- If you will be in the CMA office, then be prepared to greet the applicant (even if you are not interviewing them). Inform interview staff when the candidate arrives.
- If you will be in the CMA office, then be prepared to greet the applicant (even if you are not interviewing them). Inform interview staff when the candidate arrives.
Deletions:
- If you will be in the CMA office, then be prepared to great the applicant (even if you are not interviewing them). Inform interview staff when the candidate arrives.
Additions:
- The two staff in the interview will determine whether to hire, waitlist, defer to another semester, or reject the applicant.
- One week after the interview you will email the candidate using the "Rejection after Interview" template. The email does not need to go into details about why the intern was not accepted into this program.
**Offering Deferrals to Candidates**
- If a candidate is selected for a deferral to a different semester you will call the applicant by phone to make the deferred offer. You will then follow the same steps as a regular internship offer. Generally, however, rather than giving the candidate one week to accept or decline, we will give them an extended period of 2-3 weeks to make their decision.
- One week after the interview you will email the candidate using the "Rejection after Interview" template. The email does not need to go into details about why the intern was not accepted into this program.
**Offering Deferrals to Candidates**
- If a candidate is selected for a deferral to a different semester you will call the applicant by phone to make the deferred offer. You will then follow the same steps as a regular internship offer. Generally, however, rather than giving the candidate one week to accept or decline, we will give them an extended period of 2-3 weeks to make their decision.
Deletions:
Additions:
**Rejecting Candidates**
Additions:
4. If the interview is in-person, reserve 30 minutes of time in the Conference Room (if available). Use the Outlook Calendar "CMA 7.146D."
Deletions:
Additions:
-You may also contact candidates who do not respond to ask for an acceptance or rejection. If they do not respond to this email then move them into the physical "rejected" folder and change their status in Access to "No Response."
Deletions:
Additions:
**Reviewing Applications:**
**Scheduling Interviews with Applicants:**
- If you will be in the intern room at the time of the interview, then provide the application and interview folder to one of the staff members who will be in the interview.
- If you will be in the CMA office, then be prepared to great the applicant (even if you are not interviewing them). Inform interview staff when the candidate arrives.
**Scheduling Interviews with Applicants:**
- If you will be in the intern room at the time of the interview, then provide the application and interview folder to one of the staff members who will be in the interview.
- If you will be in the CMA office, then be prepared to great the applicant (even if you are not interviewing them). Inform interview staff when the candidate arrives.
Deletions:
**
Scheduling Interviews with Applicants:**
1. If you will be in the intern room at the time of the interview, then provide the application and interview folder to one of the staff members who will be in the interview.
2. If you will be in the CMA office, then be prepared to great the applicant (even if you are not interviewing them). Inform interview staff when the candidate arrives.
No Differences
Additions:
**Receiving the Application:**
**Contacting the Applicant:**
**Reviewing Applications: **
**
Scheduling Interviews with Applicants:**
**Organizing for the Interview:**
**Interview:**
**After the Interview:**
**Accepting Candidates:**
**Contacting the Applicant:**
**Reviewing Applications: **
**
Scheduling Interviews with Applicants:**
**Organizing for the Interview:**
**Interview:**
**After the Interview:**
**Accepting Candidates:**
Deletions:
Contacting the Applicant:
Reviewing Applications:
Scheduling Interviews with Applicants:
Organizing for the Interview:
Interview:
After the Interview:
Accepting Candidates:
Additions:
Receiving the Application:
Contacting the Applicant:
2. Email the candidate using the "Acknowledgement of Application" email template.
Reviewing Applications:
- "A" Candidates will be contacted by phone 1 week after their application is reviewed.
- "B" Candidates will be reserved for further review if there are not enough "A" candidates to fill available internship positions. You should periodically contact "B" candidates that their applications are still being reviewed.
Scheduling Interviews with Applicants:
2. Email the candidate once the time in your voicemail has elapsed using the "1st Contact" email template.
3. Email the candidate a second time one week after your first email. Update Access to indicate the 2nd contact and change the current status of applicant to "No Response." Use the "2nd Contact" email template.
Organizing for the Interview:
- Once the interview is scheduled do all of the following:
1. Confirm the interview by email within 30 minutes using the "Scheduled Interview" email template (make sure to choose by phone or in-person).
3. Select staff to perform the interview according to staff assignments in the intern room and remembering the guidelines in [[InterviewScheduling Interview Scheduling]].
4. If the interview is in-person, reserve 30 minutes of time in the Conference Room (if available).
5. Update the "Interview" Calendar with the applicant's name, the two staff members who will perform the interview, whether the interview is in-person or by phone/Skype, and the room number.
6. Paper-clip a copy of the "Interview Questions" and "Interview Matrix" to the application.
7. Move the physical application to the "Interview Pending" folder sorted by interview date and time.
Interview:
1. If you will be in the intern room at the time of the interview, then provide the application and interview folder to one of the staff members who will be in the interview.
2. If you will be in the CMA office, then be prepared to great the applicant (even if you are not interviewing them). Inform interview staff when the candidate arrives.
After the Interview:
- The two staff in the interview will determine whether to hire, waitlist, or reject the applicant.
- Ascertain from the staff the status of the candidate and update the candidate's information in Access.
Accepting Candidates:
- One week after the interview you will call the candidate to offer the internship.
- If the candidate is not there, leave a message. If the candidate does not call back within 1 business day, then use the "Offering Internship without Verbal Offer" email template with the "Internship Agreement Form" for the particular semester attached.
- If the candidate does speak with you, then send an email using the "Offering the Internship with a Verbal Offer" email template. Again, make sure to attach the internship agreement form for the particular semester.
- Generally, we will give candidates 1 week to accept or decline our offers. If the internship start date is close, or there are very few spots left, you may decrease this time-frame to a few days.
-You may also contact candidates who do not respond to ask for an acceptance or rejection. If they do not respond to this email then move them into the physical "rejected" folder and change their status in Access to "No Response"
Contacting the Applicant:
2. Email the candidate using the "Acknowledgement of Application" email template.
Reviewing Applications:
- "A" Candidates will be contacted by phone 1 week after their application is reviewed.
- "B" Candidates will be reserved for further review if there are not enough "A" candidates to fill available internship positions. You should periodically contact "B" candidates that their applications are still being reviewed.
Scheduling Interviews with Applicants:
2. Email the candidate once the time in your voicemail has elapsed using the "1st Contact" email template.
3. Email the candidate a second time one week after your first email. Update Access to indicate the 2nd contact and change the current status of applicant to "No Response." Use the "2nd Contact" email template.
Organizing for the Interview:
- Once the interview is scheduled do all of the following:
1. Confirm the interview by email within 30 minutes using the "Scheduled Interview" email template (make sure to choose by phone or in-person).
3. Select staff to perform the interview according to staff assignments in the intern room and remembering the guidelines in [[InterviewScheduling Interview Scheduling]].
4. If the interview is in-person, reserve 30 minutes of time in the Conference Room (if available).
5. Update the "Interview" Calendar with the applicant's name, the two staff members who will perform the interview, whether the interview is in-person or by phone/Skype, and the room number.
6. Paper-clip a copy of the "Interview Questions" and "Interview Matrix" to the application.
7. Move the physical application to the "Interview Pending" folder sorted by interview date and time.
Interview:
1. If you will be in the intern room at the time of the interview, then provide the application and interview folder to one of the staff members who will be in the interview.
2. If you will be in the CMA office, then be prepared to great the applicant (even if you are not interviewing them). Inform interview staff when the candidate arrives.
After the Interview:
- The two staff in the interview will determine whether to hire, waitlist, or reject the applicant.
- Ascertain from the staff the status of the candidate and update the candidate's information in Access.
Accepting Candidates:
- One week after the interview you will call the candidate to offer the internship.
- If the candidate is not there, leave a message. If the candidate does not call back within 1 business day, then use the "Offering Internship without Verbal Offer" email template with the "Internship Agreement Form" for the particular semester attached.
- If the candidate does speak with you, then send an email using the "Offering the Internship with a Verbal Offer" email template. Again, make sure to attach the internship agreement form for the particular semester.
- Generally, we will give candidates 1 week to accept or decline our offers. If the internship start date is close, or there are very few spots left, you may decrease this time-frame to a few days.
-You may also contact candidates who do not respond to ask for an acceptance or rejection. If they do not respond to this email then move them into the physical "rejected" folder and change their status in Access to "No Response"
Deletions:
2. Email the candidate using the Acknowledgement of Application email template.
2. Email the candidate once the time in your voicemail has elapsed using the 1st Contact email template.
3. Email the candidate a second time one week after your first email. Update Access to indicate the 2nd contact and change the current status of applicant to "No Response." Use the 2nd Contact email template.
- If the interview is scheduled then do all of the following:
1. Confirm the interview by email using the Scheduled Interview email template (make sure to choose by phone or in-person).
3. Select staff to
Additions:
When you receive an application from a student, there are many steps to get it through the process. You must keep track of the application both in its physical form and through the database in Access. Make sure to follow the steps outlined below to ensure that all students have a positive experience with Project Vote Smart. Just because they may not be qualified to work with us this year, does not mean that they may not reapply and work with us at a future date.
Remember that one of the most important things about recruiting is that while we are evaluating their qualifications as interns, the students are also evaluating our qualifications as employers. It must be a symbiotic relationship. Word of mouth is important not just with interns who work with us, but also with any student who applies to work with us.
It is important to use the email templates found in the P-drive at Project Vote Smart>Internship Materials>Recruitment>Email Templates to provide consistency to applicants across semesters.
A complete application contains both a cover letter OR writing sample and a resume. For some students, a writing sample may also have to accompany a cover letter in order to better evaluate their writing abilities. This will be determined on a case-by-case basis. But some general rules of thumb:
- Is their cover letter very short? Yes: Writing sample required.
- Is their cover letter full of errors? Yes: Writing sample, even if moved into the B-candidate group.
- Is their cover letter generally vague? Yes: Writing sample (to demonstrate their interest)
- Did the intern submit a resume at a career fair? Yes: Email candidate to ask for cover letter OR writing sample to accompany the resume. This will give you a sense of their interest and their writing abilities.
- Once an application has been received you will immediately do the following:
1. Check to make sure that BOTH a cover letter and resume are contained in the application. If not, when you contact to acknowledge receipt of the application you MUST ask for the missing document in order to move forward.
2. Email the candidate using the Acknowledgement of Application email template.
- Print the application and enter the information into the Internship Applicant database in Access.
- Set aside time during the week to review applications. I suggest time in which you are in the CMA office with few distractions. Sort the candidates into "A" and "B" candidates. At this time you may also request writing samples from students from whom you need more information to accurately evaluate.
- Call "A" candidates using the PVS mainline to set-up interviews. The preference should ALWAYS be for in-person interviews, but Skype and phone are acceptable for out of town students. You may also request a writing sample at this time. If you do not reach the candidate by phone then you will follow these steps:
1. Leave a voicemail that includes your name, Project Vote Smart, reason for the call and a call back number and time you will be available. Update the Internship Applicant database to reflect the 1st Contact
2. Email the candidate once the time in your voicemail has elapsed using the 1st Contact email template.
3. Email the candidate a second time one week after your first email. Update Access to indicate the 2nd contact and change the current status of applicant to "No Response." Use the 2nd Contact email template.
4. Move the candidate into the rejected folder with note indicating "2nd contact-no response."
- If the interview is scheduled then do all of the following:
1. Confirm the interview by email using the Scheduled Interview email template (make sure to choose by phone or in-person).
2. Update the candidate's interview status in Access to "scheduled" and include the interview date.
3. Select staff to
Remember that one of the most important things about recruiting is that while we are evaluating their qualifications as interns, the students are also evaluating our qualifications as employers. It must be a symbiotic relationship. Word of mouth is important not just with interns who work with us, but also with any student who applies to work with us.
It is important to use the email templates found in the P-drive at Project Vote Smart>Internship Materials>Recruitment>Email Templates to provide consistency to applicants across semesters.
A complete application contains both a cover letter OR writing sample and a resume. For some students, a writing sample may also have to accompany a cover letter in order to better evaluate their writing abilities. This will be determined on a case-by-case basis. But some general rules of thumb:
- Is their cover letter very short? Yes: Writing sample required.
- Is their cover letter full of errors? Yes: Writing sample, even if moved into the B-candidate group.
- Is their cover letter generally vague? Yes: Writing sample (to demonstrate their interest)
- Did the intern submit a resume at a career fair? Yes: Email candidate to ask for cover letter OR writing sample to accompany the resume. This will give you a sense of their interest and their writing abilities.
- Once an application has been received you will immediately do the following:
1. Check to make sure that BOTH a cover letter and resume are contained in the application. If not, when you contact to acknowledge receipt of the application you MUST ask for the missing document in order to move forward.
2. Email the candidate using the Acknowledgement of Application email template.
- Print the application and enter the information into the Internship Applicant database in Access.
- Set aside time during the week to review applications. I suggest time in which you are in the CMA office with few distractions. Sort the candidates into "A" and "B" candidates. At this time you may also request writing samples from students from whom you need more information to accurately evaluate.
- Call "A" candidates using the PVS mainline to set-up interviews. The preference should ALWAYS be for in-person interviews, but Skype and phone are acceptable for out of town students. You may also request a writing sample at this time. If you do not reach the candidate by phone then you will follow these steps:
1. Leave a voicemail that includes your name, Project Vote Smart, reason for the call and a call back number and time you will be available. Update the Internship Applicant database to reflect the 1st Contact
2. Email the candidate once the time in your voicemail has elapsed using the 1st Contact email template.
3. Email the candidate a second time one week after your first email. Update Access to indicate the 2nd contact and change the current status of applicant to "No Response." Use the 2nd Contact email template.
4. Move the candidate into the rejected folder with note indicating "2nd contact-no response."
- If the interview is scheduled then do all of the following:
1. Confirm the interview by email using the Scheduled Interview email template (make sure to choose by phone or in-person).
2. Update the candidate's interview status in Access to "scheduled" and include the interview date.
3. Select staff to
Additions:
======Application Checklist======
Deletions:
One Key Votes staff member should be assigned the role of internship coordinator. The primary reason for this is the generic Project Vote Smart email address can only be housed in one person's Outlook client. Although the generic inbox can be accessed remotely at http://wmail.austin.utexas.edu, it is better to have one person in charge of responding to or forwarding inquiries received in this inbox. In addition, only one of the three staff phone lines is published on our website and available to the public. The internship coordinator should be primarily responsible for answering this phone in case prospective interns call to schedule interviews. Finally, the coordinator should update the internship applicants information in Access as needed, and maintain organized hard-copy files of resumes and other application materials. There should be hard copy files for all new applications (sorted into A-List and B-List applicants), applications for interns that have been offered the position, applications for interns that have accepted the position, and applications from interns that have been rejected or have declined our offer.
The general responsibilities of the designated internship coordinator are as follows:
- Assign the department email address to your Outlook and maintain the inbox. Either respond to inquiries yourself or forward them to the appropriate person.
- Answer the department mainline and check voicemail regularly. Respond promptly to phone inquiries or forward them to the appropriate person.
- Update online job/internship postings each semester. Make sure to list every program separately. The next 2 semesters should be online for applicants.
- Send solicitations for intern applications to the info card list, the list of UT student groups, and the list of non-UT professors (ACC, St. Edward's, etc.) each semester.
- Register for career fairs each semester. Update Outlook calendar for future fairs when dates become available.
- Assign staff to career fairs and prepare materials for career fairs. Internship coordinator should attend all career fairs with other staff rotating.
- Collect info cards from career fairs and class talks, and update them in Constant Contact.
- Receive and print intern applications. Review applications weekly and sort into A and B candidates according to job qualifications. For any application for which you can't decide, set up meeting with other staff to review the applications and weigh in.
- Request and schedule interviews with prospective interns. You must contact each A-candidate by phone once and email twice. Be sure to include directions to the Strauss Institute. Template emails are located in Project Vote Smart>Internship Materials>Recruitment>Email Templates. Also be sure to update the intern information in Access for with the date of the interview and put "scheduled" in the status box.
- Reserve the Strauss conference room for 30 minutes for each interview (use CMA 7.146D - 2014 Calendar). Create entries in the office Outlook calendar for each interview and include names of the two staff members, whether the interview is in-person or by phone and the room number.
- Determine which staff members will conduct each interview (2 are required, except in extraordinary circumstances). Print a sufficient number of interview question lists.
- Track acceptances/rejections in Access for the upcoming semesters.
- Receive internship agreement forms and file them in the paper files. Note the date that the form was received in the intern's information on Access for the upcoming semester.
- Before the semester begins, ask interns to send in their proposed hours. Use the email template located in Project Vote Smart>Internship Materials>Training. Create a calendar in Outlook for the intern schedule and share with all staff.
- Meet with staff to determine morning/afternoon intern room assignments. Assign interns to supervisors according to which interns would work with which staff member the most.
- Once interns have been assigned to supervisors, update the Wiki and the intern information in Access with this information.
- Schedule first day orientations with interns. Be sure to group as many together as possible so that fewer orientations must take place. Assign staff on rotating basis. Print updated intern manuals.
- Schedule, plan, and execute intern orientations in coordination with Adelaide and the Legislative Research Director. Make sure that all interns attend or schedule a make-up session. Also make sure that refreshments are ordered - e.g. pizza, bagels, hot chocolate, or root beer floats.
- Make sure all interns are informed of various course credit options. Collect EIDs for all CMS 369V students and send them to the faculty supervisor (copy the Legislative Research Director).
- Amend the schedule if interns change their hours. If interns drop out, make sure this information is recorded on the spreadsheet. Interns have until the 12th class day to change their schedules. After this time it will be on a case-by-case basis.
In addition to these responsibilities, the internship coordinator may be required to assist with scheduling class talks and communicating with UT professors, in cooperation with the Graduate Assistant. The Graduate Assistant has dedicated only 10 hours per week to Project Vote Smart and is also a full-time graduate student; therefore, he or she may not always be available to perform class talks. **ALL full-time Project Vote Smart staff members are ultimately responsible for ensuring that scheduled class talks are covered!** The internship coordinator may perform talks, or assign them to other staff.
