Drew and Adam sit down with Scholars Co-Founder and host of "The Internship Show" Parker Pell to discuss graduation, what collegiate members can do to leverage their Fraternity experience in the job market, and how Sigma Nu's partnership with Scholars can accelerate their search.
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The Gavel Podcast - Ep 5 - Graduation with Scholars Co-Founder Parker Pell
[Intro Music]
0:00:31.3 Drew Logsdon: Hello, Adam.
0:00:32.7 Adam Girtz: Hi, Drew.
0:00:33.6 Drew Logsdon: How are you doing, man?
0:00:34.9 Adam Girtz: I'm great, man. I'm feeling wonderful.
0:00:37.0 Drew Logsdon: I know. It's a good time of year, isn't it?
0:00:40.4 Adam Girtz: Yes, it is. The fresh air, that feeling of summer, finally, where you go outside that one day and you're like, "Oh yeah, it's summer. Yeah, here it is."
0:00:50.8 Drew Logsdon: Yeah, tempts are leaving the 40s and 50s, and entering the 70s and 80s. It definitely feels like summer is right around the corner. Super exciting.
0:01:01.6 Adam Girtz: Oh yeah. I went to the zoo this weekend.
0:01:03.8 Drew Logsdon: Did you?
0:01:04.4 Adam Girtz: Yeah, Kansas City.
0:01:05.8 Drew Logsdon: There you go, there you go. Yeah, hopefully, our listeners, they're also getting a chance to get out of the house from a long winter, get some of the fresh air, some outdoor time, some time with nature. There's a great John Muir quote about being out with nature and trees that I can't remember right now. [chuckle] I'm sure if you Google it, you'll find it and find it also inspiring but yeah, man, it's a good, good time of year. There's a lot of things happening, a lot of things happening for our listeners, and a lot of things happening in Sigma Nu world right now too.
0:01:39.4 Adam Girtz: Yeah, our seniors are graduating, going through, hopefully, the chapters performing the Affirmation of Knighthood, one of my favorite rituals, the sendoff for the seniors, the graduation into the alumni chapter, I guess.
0:01:56.7 Drew Logsdon: Yeah, yeah, yeah. And for all of our seniors listening, whether you have already graduated or you're about to graduate, both Adam and I want to say congratulations to you.
0:02:07.6 Adam Girtz: Indeed.
0:02:08.0 Drew Logsdon: No small feat in this day and age, especially with the past year, you guys have had, so big kudos, big congratulations. I'm sure folks got great graduation plans lined up, but yeah, folks are graduating, folks are kind of wrapping up their semesters, their academic terms. Our quarter school systems are probably getting close to that point. Maybe not there yet, but yeah, Affirmation of Knighthood ceremony, great virtual ceremony. We talked with the guys at DePauw a couple of episodes ago about the importance of ritual, this is another example of that. It's a piece of the ritual that your chapter can and likely should be doing as a great ritual ceremony to bridge the gap between a collegiate Sigma Nu experience to an alumni Sigma Nu experience.
0:02:53.9 Adam Girtz: Yeah, definitely. Another piece of the structure that I think fraternity gives, a collegiate experience, that capstone of it. You're capping it off with your brothers, you celebrate with your classmates, celebrate with professors, with families, and this is a way that we celebrate with our brothers that we've spent the last four to six years with.
0:03:15.6 Drew Logsdon: Oh yeah, oh yeah. The other big news, and not really news by this point but has been shared, obviously, coming up here in the month of June, near late June, we are going to have our virtual Grand Chapter, our 69th Grand Chapter. Completely virtual. The first time in the Fraternity's history that we will have a virtual grand chapter, which is exciting, and I'm sure, for some folks, a little nerve-racking as well too. Any time you do something new, it's an opportunity to stretch your wings and hey, as Bill Courtney reminds us, getting outside of the comfort zone is a good place to have some change, right?
0:03:51.0 Adam Girtz: Yup, you don't live in a vacuum.
0:03:52.9 Drew Logsdon: Exactly, exactly.
0:03:54.6 Adam Girtz: We had our first virtual College of Chapters this year and I think that was a great success in a lot of ways, so hopefully there are, as with everything, lessons that we can take from this that we can move forward with and implement in the future.
0:04:09.7 Drew Logsdon: Yeah, and so as a reminder, and by now, the May 12th registration... We're recording this on May 10th but by the time this episode comes out after production on the backend, May 12th will have likely elapsed for most of our listeners. Still, every collegiate chapter has two votes at Grand Chapter, and so it's important for collegiate chapters to ensure they have at least one person registered for Grand Chapter as to serve as their voting delegate. So you don't need to have two people but it's great to have two people because that's a really good representation and an experience for folks to have, but every chapter should have at least one person to cast your chapter's vote at Grand Chapter. And similarly, all alumni chapters that are in good standing have one vote as well too and Sigma Nu civics-wise, a little history lesson or civics lesson for us, Division Commanders and High Grand Officers and Past Grand Officers also have a vote. So the collegiate members do have the largest collection of votes at Grand Chapter, so...
0:05:12.0 Adam Girtz: Yeah, absolutely, and it's important that we have as many people present as possible from all of our different chapters. For everybody that is able to participate, that just makes the entire experience better and it makes sure that we are picking you the best direction for our Fraternity moving forward if we have that most diverse possible sample size of our voting population, right?
0:05:38.6 Drew Logsdon: Yeah, and this is it, man. This is our big every two years legislative convention. This year, every three years, a little bit, 'cause we had a postponement last summer, but this is it, man. This is the big shebang, so make sure folks are registered. And for folks who are listening who might just be an alumnus or a general collegiate brother, you are welcome to register as well too. So if you're an alumnus and you just want to experience it, you've never been to a Grand Chapter maybe because you weren't a voting delegate when you're a collegiate member or it just hasn't been near you geographically or what have you, definitely take an opportunity... This is an opportunity rihgt to register and see what this experience is like and view it as a participant, as an audience member, if you will, not a voting delegate, but an audience member in this great legislative convention that we have called Grand chapter. So should be a great one.
0:06:32.3 Adam Girtz: Yeah, I can say with certainty that this is the most accessible Grand Chapter that Sigma Nu has ever had. The barrier to be able to participate is about as low as it possibly could ever be, as far as distance, cost, all of those things. So if you're a general member and you are interested, this is the Grand Chapter to participate in, 'cause there's no hotel you need you stay at, there's no distance you need to travel. Very low barrier to entry here.
0:07:04.6 Drew Logsdon: If you can afford your mortgage or rent for this month, the month of June, and you can feasibly walk from your bedroom to wherever your laptop is, then you have already checked off two significant boxes to attend this Grand Chapter, so...
0:07:18.2 Adam Girtz: Absolutely.
0:07:19.1 Drew Logsdon: Absolutely. Yeah, and also right now, this month, so last month, April, we... At the end of April, we had the deadline for our award submissions and pursuit of excellent submissions. And so right now, folks at headquarters are furiously working over those submissions for review and going through that process. That'll take folks a large amount of time. But it's important. It's every... Over 160 chapters we have in the country, and every single one shared their self-assessment, and now we've got to go through that and check things off and take in feedback and make sure we give them the ratings and the feedback they need to improve and continue excelling with honor for next year.
0:07:57.9 Adam Girtz: Yeah. I love this period of time too, just to be able to see what our Chapters are proud of. This is where they get to showcase what they've accomplished and the good they've done both for each other and their community. It's a cool thing to be able to see.
0:08:14.6 Drew Logsdon: Yeah, yeah. And if you're listening, Mother's Day has already elapsed. Hopefully, you did your due diligence. You got a card for mom, you had a gift for mom. Hey, you gave mom a hug or a craft or something. You did your stuff there. Father's Day is coming up. So by the time you listen to this, you will have still time to get your Father's Day gifts in order. So making sure you go out there and get dad that great tie or that round of golf he's been looking forward to, or heck, just even taking him out for lunch and spending some quality time with dad. I'm sure he'll appreciate that. So Father's Day coming up next month in June, obviously. So make sure you guys are thinking about that. Additionally, we hope as you guys round out spring and we head full steam in the summer that you're thinking about summer plans with brothers, and especially some recruitment. There's no better time. Already now, I don't know about you, but just in my street, the neighborhood I live in, I'm already seeing the signs up in front yards, Elon bound, or, Western Kentucky bound, or, Tennessee bound, what have you. So kids are already picked out what schools they're going to next fall and they're excited. And so this is a great time to begin jumping on that and connecting with potential new members.
0:09:29.4 Adam Girtz: Yeah. Absolutely. I know several Chapters that have a significant portion of their prospective new members are found over the summer. And on top of just being able to recruit better, it's awesome to be able to... It's awesome for these graduating seniors that are becoming freshmen to have a friendly face on campus. So just as students of your universities, it's awesome to be able to provide that, that friendly face to those incoming new members.
0:09:58.9 Drew Logsdon: Yeah, yeah. Well, let's get into this here. Today on our episode here, episode five, we have a special guest in Parker Pell. Parker Pell is one of the founders of Scholars, a program, an online program that Sigma Nu is a partner of and we offer to all of our collegiate members. Scholars essentially, and Parker describes it even better in the podcast interview we're about to get into, connects collegiate members with career opportunities to internship opportunities. Kinda bridges that gap between, "Oh, I don't know anybody, or, I have a small network". But really connects folks directly with potential employers and kind of bridges that gap and serves as a kind of a super highway to get you to the opportunities that you want to experience.
0:10:46.5 Adam Girtz: Yeah. This was a great interview. I really enjoyed speaking with Parker.
0:10:51.8 Drew Logsdon: Yeah, yeah. Well, Adam and I over here, we'll stop jawing around and we'll get right into the meat of it, and we'll catch you on the back end. But let's send it right over to our interview with Parker Pell with the Scholars.
[Transition music]
0:11:28.0 Adam Girtz: Alright. Welcome, everyone. We've got Parker Pell with the Scholars program here with us today, a partner with Sigma Nu. We're very happy to have you here, Parker. Would you care to introduce yourself?
0:11:40.1 Parker Pell: Yeah, Adam and Drew. Thanks for having me. I'm Parker, one of the co-founders of the company Scholars. Our goal is to provide educational information through podcasting for job-seeking college students and recent graduates to be able to learn about companies like KPMG, Lyft, Craftimes, what their early career programs are all about, from tips and tricks to navigate their interview to how to get hired. Ultimately for all of our students that come to us to learn to be able to figure out if a company is right for them. At the end of the day, we started our company with a belief that there was a better way to learn about all of the different types of internship in entry-level programs at companies of all shapes and sizes, and understood that this generation's job-seeking college students weren't excited about reading as much as they were about listening to podcasts.
0:12:44.7 Parker Pell: And so we partner with companies, produce podcasts to educate students that come to us and then ultimately provide those students that learn about a company, a way to get in touch with a recruiter and how to navigate that internship. So very high level, but ultimately the goal is to be one of the largest hubs of information for job-seeking students and then not just a source of information, but also provide them a way to communicate and ultimately, hopefully, the goal is to land an interview with the company.
0:13:22.4 Adam Girtz: Okay, awesome. It's a great overview of a program that I'm sure has helped a lot of students. What was the... Tell me about the generation process of this? What was the creation like? What led to the founding of Scholars?
0:13:36.1 Parker Pell: Yeah, so... A little back story, there's three of us on our founding team. We all went to Rhodes College in Memphis, and we... I would say kind of always had that entrepreneur bug in our systems. When we got together, we were members of an entrepreneurship club, and Scholars is actually the second company that our team has started together. We started our first business when we were juniors in college and throughout college and into the summer of 2019, ran this business, and honestly just learned a lot. Learned about how we work together as a team, we're able to make connections and ultimately that first business actually failed. But what we took away from that company really was an understanding of what it meant as well as what it took to start a business, run a business. Trying to be as effective as possible. So fast forward, September of 2019, our idea... First Scholars was really born from that understanding and seeing our peers in Memphis that didn't have a easy one-stop-shop way to actually learn about the practical components of getting hired at companies.
0:15:10.3 Parker Pell: The differences in their internship or new grad programs, how to navigate the job or internship search process successfully in this new day and age with social media and being avid podcast listeners ourselves and really knowing job-seeking students really well and what they were ultimately evaluating brands for, we launched Scholars, kind of with the approach, obviously that I mentioned earlier, be a hub of information, provide practical advice to students through podcasting and then ultimately provide them a way to land an internship. Land an interview with a company that we're partnered with. So fast forward from September 2019, obviously COVID hits, and I'd be lying if I said that COVID didn't help our business. I know that the virtual environment shook the campus recruiting space all together. Ultimately for students listening as well, in the Sigma Nu fraternity, I can only imagine how many platforms and how many Zooms have been in for class, as well as trying to attend virtual career fairs, info sessions, you name it.
0:16:26.8 Parker Pell: And we saw a huge uptick in the interest in job-seeking professionals wanting to learn about these companies before they attended an info session or career fair. And what's the best way to learn about the a company other than obviously podcasting and figure out how you can actually use the virtual career fair that you're attending through your school to land an interview with that company. Tips and tricks, things to do from the mouth of the recruiters at these companies that we've been fortunate enough to be able to partner with and tell the story of. So virtual environment really helped us, and fast forward to today, we have been able to showcase over 120 companies, ranging of all shapes and sizes from all the way out West to the very tip of the Northeast, and it's been exciting to see, I would, say the response in general. From this generation's rockstar students who have faced more hardships than any student class has in a long time, obviously, facing a job market that's daunting, but taking the bull by the horns, doing everything they can to get a leg up and land an interview, and ultimately, our goal is to be hopefully a part of that experience for as many students as possible, as well as obviously, many of your members of at Sigma Nu.
0:18:04.9 Adam Girtz: Yeah, absolutely, and I can confirm, I've been working from home since March, and my podcast listening hours have gone way up. That definitely a good way and the modern student, as you said, has more time for that, just given that the stream lining up of how information gets to you, right? So you can listen to a podcast and learn about a company while you're riding the bus to class or commuting or you are doing chores, whatever it is. So definitely a great platform and an advantageous time to get into it, it sounds like, so... Definitely a silver lining.
0:18:43.0 Drew Logsdon: Yeah, and it's interesting too. I was going to pick a piece there, Parker, that, it seems like the... Everything is shifting virtually, and that as much as the pandemic has had a lot of negative impacts, it's really highlighted the ability that the scope of this virtual environment has given us that you're not limited... You mentioned career fairs, Parker, a student at XYZ school may not be limited just to his school's career fair because we're virtual now, and so now, there's a lot more access, and I think that's one of the big walls that have come down from the pandemic is this sense of increased access, I think.
0:19:22.1 Parker Pell: Without question, I would take your statement and emphasize it even more in saying that we've never had a recruiting system and process, that has ever been more accessible as well as open to change and open to talent from communities, cities and areas that companies before have not traditionally traveled to, from what we've heard. Ultimately, and at the end of the day, you think about, if we can remove all the barriers to entry then it's fair game for all, and I think you hit the nail on the head that this virtual environment, if a student has put in time to take advantage of the resources that companies are putting out there for them to take advantage of, then they should have seen access and opportunities to companies that they honestly probably never would have thought that they could have spoken to a recruiter at at a virtual fair info session. You name it.
0:20:32.9 Adam Girtz: Yeah so Parker help me out here and help our listeners out, our collegiate listens at least, let's say I'm a junior or I'm a sophomore or anything really, and I'm trying to get my foot into this process, what's the best way for me to take the tools that Scholars is offering and leverage that for my own success, what's the best starting point, how do I jump into this pool and get swimming in it?
0:21:01.0 Parker Pell: Yeah, yeah, well, obviously, we've got our partnership page with Sigma Nu where a student can go on to Sigma Nu's landing page and join Scholars community, you're gonna get exclusive access to content, you're going to get exclusive access to job opportunities, be able to engage with recruiters at companies of all shapes and sizes, so starting point, take what we're saying and take advantage, I would say of the partnership that we put together, the landing page, join and fill out a profile as robust as possible for you, really focus your profile on your experiences, it's not just about your grades, companies are looking way beyond that, I would say, when they're evaluating students for opportunities for interviews, so I would say, Drew to your point specifically, kind of first step, how can Sigma Nu members and collegiate members take advantage of the partnership.
0:22:13.2 Parker Pell: One, I would say is to, obviously, join our partnership landing page and let us know questions that you have, take advantage of the content, the educational materials to learn about these companies ultimately, because you want to make sure that you're applying and associating your time with the company that seems like they would be of interest to you, and then go at the end of the day, we always tell our members of our community at Scholars, emphasis really on the word community, as what we've tried to build is to provide us with feedback as well about their experience, what we can be doing better for them. We know that the landscape is ever changing, the needs of our students that join our community are ever changing, and so our goal is to educate as well as serve them, so I hope that answers your question here.
0:23:17.9 Adam Girtz: No, it does entirely. And what I think is, for me personally, one of the most fascinating things about scholars, it's the same reason why so many really interesting startups nowadays are really fascinating, is that they are really embracing this consumer power-free market to where a consumer, the entry user has a lot more control over their journey, than traditionally has been, and a lot more control over their own destiny, so to speak, and so what you guys are doing through Scholars, what I think is so cool is that, yeah, if you're a junior or you're interested in a certain area, now, you can enter this portal and you can find that passion or connect yourself, and you don't have to rely on these traditional passive mechanics to get access to things.
0:24:13.1 Parker Pell: 100% couldn't agree with you more. And hitting the nail on the head for us, it truly is about the student, and if we can do our part in providing resources and education to our community, then at the end of the day, we know that our mission will be successful and that relates obviously to the goal of our company which is, to be successful through providing value.
0:24:43.9 Adam Girtz: So Parker, you mentioned earlier that your potential employers are really looking at beyond just the students grades or beyond just the what you could see from a transcript or from a resume and looking into deeper into experiences. Could you speak on that a little bit more what... How might a student who's say, a freshman, sophomore, shape their collegiate experience to have some of those experiences that employers are looking for?
0:25:14.1 Parker Pell: Yeah. First of all, something to do is figure out how you as a student can hold a position of leadership. Whether that's with Sigma Nu, at your chapter. Whether that is a leadership position for a class project. Whether that is a club at school or an athletic team, or any of your old team. Even for that matter, I'd say that leadership is something that a recruiter is always looking for, that you can display and communicate very effectively when you are talking to a recruiter going through that phone screening and interview process. So I'd say that would be number one.
0:26:04.2 Parker Pell: Number two I would say would be, what are you as a student doing outside of school in terms of getting involved with your community? Companies in this day and age are providing interns opportunities to get involved with the communities in the cities or areas that they're interning in. Providing them with opportunities to get involved within their company culture, and I think that showing that involvement puts you on a pedestal and on a different level as a candidate.
0:26:43.3 Parker Pell: And thirdly, I would say would be... And this is very practical advice. What we always recommend to you students going through an interview process is they should come to that first interview with a topic or current event of the company that they're interviewing with, that they found on Google, to that recruiter and bring it up in that first interview. So if you see the company that you're interviewing with was in a current event in the last week or last month, mention that at the start of your first phone conversation. Ultimately, that shows the recruiter that you've gone beyond just reading their mission statement on their careers page and that you're actually interested in the inner workings of the company, that is fun fact, tidbit something that we've heard can make a student stand out immediately in the interview process.
0:27:43.3 Adam Girtz: Oh yeah, and it definitely would tell you too whether you're truly interested in that company. So I guess it works both ways. If you can Google them and find things that maybe would turn you off, you might point yourself in another direction. Then again vice versa, if you Google it and find something that really drives you towards the company that's all the better, it gives you more to talk about. Great advice.
0:28:05.7 Drew Logsdon: That reminds me, that advice really ties into a story I heard from an athletic director once, which was great coaching candidates come with an action plan. Like here's where you're at, and here's what I want to do. That they come to the table with something that gets the interviewer excited. That shows they did research on the situation at hand, and I think it also shows a sense of drive and it really picks you out from the crowd of this person... Like you said Parker, not only looked at the mission statement, but this person investigated, did some research, and if this person is going to do this for an interview, what are the potential and possibilities for this candidate when they're actually on the team and what they're going to contribute?
0:28:52.7 Parker Pell: Yes, 100%. I couldn't agree more. It's a great example.
0:28:58.7 Drew Logsdon: Well, we talked about some of the things that current students can do to capitalize experience, and a little plug here. Obviously everything you mentioned Parker, are things that Sigma Nu members, collegiate members can get through their Sigma experience. We talked about... You mentioned leadership, and I think this is something we try to highlight, and hopefully, I'll get your thoughts on this here in a second Parker, but how can a Sigma Nu student best translate their fraternity experience in that interview process? Because I think a lot of students sometimes say, "Oh, well, I was recruitment chairman or I was treasurer or I did this for the fraternity, but I'm not really sure." I think there's some hesitancy to share that, and maybe even not hesitancy, but confusion of how do I translate this experience to this setting, to this interview? How would you advise a student, a fraternity member who maybe had some positions and through those positions did some community service work? How do you best translate that so a recruiter who maybe did not have that same experience can understand it?
0:30:02.3 Parker Pell: Yeah, so I was involved heavily in my fraternity in my school as well, and this is something that always kind of came up, I would say, as we were... As an executive board advising the other members. And I think it goes back to what I said about conveying leadership through experiences. Think of a characteristic that you personally have or a personality trait that you personally have as a Sigma Nu member that is either one that you're moderately strong with, you may have some good communication skills, but not great. You may have something that you're like, I really need to focus or make better my ability to communicate my thoughts, public speech, you name it. Figure out something through your experience with your fraternity that you have improved over the course of your experience with that fraternity. Relate that experience and that improvement and that skill directly to a tangible story project that you can effectively communicate and show the transition from.
0:31:19.4 Parker Pell: So, for example, obviously, public speaking is the easiest one. You're a freshman, you don't like to speak in front of people, but you are in charge of reporting minutes from the previous meeting to your chapter of 150 people. You talk about the preparation that you had to do for the first time you did it, to the comfortability and preparation you had to do from the most recent time that you did that and show progression of how you took the experience that was laid out from Sigma Nu and actually translated it into a skill, and how that skill can relate to what you're doing for your internship. So that would be kind of my two cents.
0:32:05.4 Adam Girtz: Awesome. Great advice. And really, I think that's something that a lot of members may discount, is their, "Oh, well, it was just a quote unquote frat that I was in, it didn't really give me any job experience". But those are all very, very useful skills that you're learning and that you can apply in a workplace setting. Just to take that shift of mindset of from, "Hey, I was just reading minutes," to, "Hey, this is public speaking," so absolutely, I appreciate that advice on behalf of our listeners. So Parker, tell me about then the podcast itself. Which guests have been your favorites, or maybe if you don't want to pick favorites, what are some highlights if somebody was going to go back in your catalog and pick one or two episodes?
0:32:56.7 Parker Pell: Yeah, I would just say that the highlights in general for our podcast called The Internship Show has been the engagement from students and the feedback and questions that we receive from our audience about specific brands or just career-focused questions around networking or professional development, that our goal is to be able to answer. So I would just say that for us, the highlight has been that we've tried to do our part and we try to do our part consistently to ensure that our listeners and our audience knows that we're here to help them in any facet of the internship or job-search process, whether that's practically, "How do I craft my resume?" Or, "What does the word mentor actually mean?" I would say the coolest thing that we've seen and gotten is that feedback, because we want students that are joining our Sigma Nu Partnership landing page and learning through all this educational content, engaging with our partners to not hesitate to reach out. It's okay to have questions as long as your questions are intentional, and make sure that you're really just taking advantage of every opportunity possible.
0:34:30.2 Parker Pell: I would say if you have an intentionality with any sort of experience or any sort of action that you do, ultimately, that is going to be able to translate into your job experience. So I would say the feedback and just the response that we've seen has been the coolest thing. I would say that we've tried to do our part to partner with brands of all shapes and sizes, so all the way out west to tech companies, to big four, to healthcare so that Sigma Nu members can learn about a variety of different industries regardless of what they're interested in, or maybe what they're not interested in, all around.
0:35:08.4 Adam Girtz: Awesome. Well, Parker, I can say as a podcaster myself, Drew and I have recorded just about half a dozen episodes here, and one of my favorite things is that I've learned about myself and I've learned different skills from the guests that we've been able to have on. What's something that you've learned about yourself or that you've been able to apply from guests that you've had on in your own life?
0:35:37.9 Parker Pell: Yeah, I try to do my best to always take away one new learning from every conversation that we have with a recruiter, to be able to translate into the experience that Scholars is delivering to our audience. Whether that is advice, whether that is practical, how to DM recruiter on LinkedIn templates, you name it. I do my best and try at every conversation we have to figure out how can we take what we're learning from this new company and provide it to our audience in a manner that is most helpful and conducive. So I would say that that's what I've learned in how I go about the process of having these conversations is we're fortunate to be able to have them, and we want to make them as accessible as possible.
0:36:35.1 Drew Logsdon: That's outstanding, Parker. That's a great stuff there, and then I, again, encourage our listeners, if you haven't had a chance, definitely take advantage of those podcast episodes from Scholars and take a listen to them. I'm interested... You guys have probably filled a lot of questions, you've had a lot of insight from college students in the job market. What are the frequently common-made mistakes that job seekers are facing? I'm trying to think back to some stuff. I think I heard one student one time years ago say, "I don't understand. I'm sending my resume off to 40 different companies." And it's like, "Well, are you sending the same resume?" 'cause that could be the issue, right? You tailor it to the target you're aiming at. What are some common mistakes that you've heard from job-seekers so folks don't have to repeat those mistakes?
0:37:30.0 Parker Pell: Yeah. I think the number one mistake that is common. I would say, would be not appropriately following up when you have interactions with recruiters at companies, not sending enough thank you messages via LinkedIn after you attend a virtual event, not sending a thank you email, not asking for best next steps after the first phone screening and really understanding what each company that you're speaking with process actually is, because they're all different, would be the number one thing that causes stress, obviously, to the student as they don't know what's going on there. These recruiters at companies have hundreds of conversations, thousands of applicants, and if you don't try to figure out a creative way to stand out or to make yourself memorable, then it really is kind of luck of the draw if your resume gets through. And so I would say, make sure that you're doing everything possible to try to stand out, whether that's ensuring or wearing the funny bowtie on your first phone screen or first virtual interview.
0:38:54.0 Parker Pell: Sending a proper thank you is always important, asking the right questions or unique questions as well. I'll say those kind of things we've seen. But communication is just so key, at the end of the day these recruiters, their job is to obviously fill the role with the most qualified individual, and I believe that communication is a mechanism that a student can better curate their value to the recruiter to help them stand out.
0:39:30.7 Drew Logsdon: Absolutely. The old saying is true, right? The squeaky wheel gets the grease, right? And so if you could follow up making sure you stand out amongst the crowd, always important. Well, Parker, we really appreciate you taking some time today to sit down with us and share some exciting things you guys are doing at Scholars. And again, to remind our listeners, and we'll put it... We'll put the link in the show notes for this episode. You can access Sigma Nu's partnership with Scholars through the Scholars page on our website. We'll make sure we link that there, and that's the first step there. Parker can you also give another quick plug on that podcast that you guys have?
0:40:03.2 Parker Pell: Yeah, no, of course, and Adam and Drew, thanks again for having me. If you go to the Internship Show, it's on Spotify, Apple, iHeart Radio, Google, YouTube, you name it. The Internship Show is where you can learn about all the conversations that we're having. So, yeah, once again. Thanks to you both.
0:40:24.5 Drew Logsdon: Yeah, absolutely. And if our listeners want to get a hold of the folks at Scholars, what's the best way for them to engage with you guys?
0:40:31.7 Parker Pell: Yeah, no, hop on LinkedIn. Send me a connection. Parker Pell on LinkedIn, DM your question honestly, is probably the best way to go about it. Every single Sigma Nu member should have a LinkedIn, regardless of what your major is, that's important. Everyone goes to LinkedIn to professionally network, so that would be my last kind of two cents piece of advice as well.
0:40:54.8 Drew Logsdon: Perfect, perfect. We'll make sure we link those things in the show notes, and we'll make sure we... So if you haven't accessed them yet or you don't know where to access them, you can get them on the show notes for this episode and we'll put the links in there for folks to access, and these resources and get connected directly to him. Well, thank you, Parker, again for myself, and I'm sure from Adam as well.
0:41:14.1 Adam Girtz: Yeah, Parker, thank you so much for being here.
0:41:16.1 Drew Logsdon: Yeah, thanks for taking time, and we know you're busy and we look forward to seeing all the great things our students take advantage of to this great partnership with Scholars. So, thanks so much, Parker.
0:41:26.2 Parker Pell: Yeah, of course.
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0:41:50.5 Adam Girtz: That was great. Welcome back, everyone. From an excellent interview with Parker Pell, I really appreciate him being on the show. That was really fun.
0:42:01.0 Drew Logsdon: Parker is an incredibly smart individual, and we say this about everybody we have on the show here, but incredibly smart. It never ceases to amaze me. When you interact with folks, especially folks of startups, I mean people who create, people who start something up on the ground up and get going at it, it's like the old story of Wozniak and Jobs creating Apple in Jobs' garage out in California, or Hewlett Packard started the same thing in like a shed or garage, I think, as well too. But this isn't a computer company by any means, [chuckle] but Parker and his co-founder started this while they were at Rhodes College, kicking the idea around and launched it from there. So yeah, Parker, real super smart guy. And as Parker mentioned in the podcast, and we'll make sure we put a link in the show notes, Parker also hosts the Internship Show. So, even if you're not a senior, even if you're not at that point where... Or even a junior, right? Maybe you're starting your junior year next year, or maybe you're just a sophomore, or maybe you're just, you guys, you're thinking about what to introduce your candidates to next year, your freshman members, that's a great podcast entry some too... Along with ours obviously.
0:43:14.5 Drew Logsdon: Hey, here are some things to think about as you go down this journey of getting an internship and hearing from some experts and some folks who are actually in that area on what to do, so it's really great. And again, we'll include a link to the Scholars program that we offer through Sigma Nu, through your membership and our show notes as well too, take advantage of that.
0:43:36.4 Drew Logsdon: When I was in school, many... It's hard to think now, almost a decade ago, actually over a decade ago, when I was in school, this would have been great. This is so kind of access because... And I'm sure older alumni listing can relate to this too, when you're in school, your access to internships and careers information was limited to what's around me, like what's around me, or career fairs that my school hosted, or alumni in my fraternity are just networking, but you were kind of limited in that network. And now with the advent of the internet and with the help of Scholars, you could be in Valdosta, Georgia, looking for an internship or a career opportunity and get connected with a company through Scholars that's in San Diego or Memphis; like Memphis, FedEx headquarters, you want to connect with them this is a great way to bridge that gap.
0:44:32.8 Adam Girtz: Yeah, and it's... The counterpoint to that as well or I guess the other side of the coin is the fact that because we have all of this access now, it's almost like trying to drink from a firehose, right?
0:44:43.9 Drew Logsdon: Yeah, yeah.
0:44:43.9 Adam Girtz: Like if you've got this entire ocean's worth of opportunities, how do you sort it out? Where do you even start? And that's... In listening to the episodes of The Internship Show that I've went in and sampled as well as just looking through their catalog, I think Parker does a great job with that show of providing examples of, "Hey, here are companies that are hiring. Here is what their internship looks like," but then also, "Hey, here's a concept about the job hunt or the interview process, and here's how to navigate that as well as concepts like how do you apply your leadership experience that you've developed through school," those different things. So really, they come at it from a couple of different angles that help... It would help a student to navigate this entire ocean of opportunity that has now become available to them through the internet and the globalization of all of those things.
0:45:45.0 Drew Logsdon: Yeah. And we talked about recruitment before we launched in the interview. Talk about this when you're recruiting guys, right? Not all career services offices are created the same across the country and campuses, and those folks do really hard work, but career services office at XYZ university is trying to serve tens of thousands of students on that campus and with the limited staff or maybe sometimes limited resources. And this is a great way to bridge that gap. So, "Hey, you're meeting a P&M," and heck, every person going to college is thinking about that fourth quarter, right? What am I going to do with this? What's my next step? And this is an experience I want to go on for four years or five years or six years to get to my career, and what does that look like, and talk to recruits about that like, "Hey, this is something we offer through Sigma Nu. Your membership covers this experience and this partnership, and so getting access to this is an exclusive and really good benefit to take advantage of."
0:46:50.2 Adam Girtz: Yeah, absolutely. And I've talked about this with some of my chapters. It's like as... Your fraternity as a concept, part of what we sell is the networking aspect, right?
0:47:04.7 Drew Logsdon: Yeah.
0:47:05.2 Adam Girtz: That is part of the membership experience that we say in recruitment, is like, "Well, you've opportunities to network." Well, this is tangibly something that you could say, "Yes, we offer opportunities to network through our Scholars program, a partner of our national organization, and look at our website. This is exactly what it is. This is something that you have access to and can help you through that. So providing some substance behind that pitch there, I guess.
0:47:35.3 Drew Logsdon: Yeah, yeah. Well, and hopefully this is beneficial for our collegiate listeners. Hopefully, it's beneficial to our younger alumni listeners. There is no block to participate, to enjoy these experiences and these benefits. And for our older alumni, we'd love to hear some of your best practices and your tips for how can today's student excel in their career field. So if you're an alumni listener, and you've got some best tips... Heck, if you're an HR manager and you've got... These are some of the best answers I've heard to interview questions addressed. Great takes on classic interview questions. What are your biggest weaknesses? Well, my biggest weakness is I care too much, right? It's...
[chuckle]
0:48:17.4 Adam Girtz: Or I work too hard.
0:48:19.0 Drew Logsdon: I work too hard, or I will be here too long. [chuckle] And so if you've got some tips, share it with us. You can send those over to us at headquarters@sigmanu.org. Just shoot us an email, and we'll include this in the show notes, and let us know some of what are your tips or some of your great interview stories or internship stories, and we'd love to share those in later episodes. So before we head out, we do want to plug our next month's episode, which will be our last episode for Season One. We're not going away. We haven't been canceled. We have been renewed. We will be back for Season 2, but we got Grand Chapter coming up, so we'll be focusing a lot of time on that. But next month, we will have our sixth episode, which is our last episode of Season 1, and we are having who I think is maybe one of the coolest guests.
0:49:04.5 Adam Girtz: Definitely.
0:49:04.9 Drew Logsdon: Brother Dr. Timothy Huerta.
0:49:06.0 Adam Girtz: Yes.
0:49:07.1 Drew Logsdon: From Cal State, Los Angeles, our Eta Phi Chapter. Brother Huerta is frequently our parliamentarian. Has... Former vice regent as well, too, has served on the Jurisprudence Committee at Grand Chapter many, many, many years, and really is a great person to talk to and what we're going to talk to him about, what you'll hear in our interview next month, about Grand Chapter. How does it work, and how does parliamentary procedure work, and how does it work as a legislative mechanism, like you said at the beginning, Adam, to direct the fraternity into a direction forward, upward, towards excelling with honors. So looking forward to that.
0:49:47.8 Adam Girtz: Yeah, absolutely. Yeah, Brother Huerta... Brother Dr. Huerta is a really great conversationalist, and I really enjoy talking to him all the times I have been able to spend with him. So looking forward to that interview as well, and I think it should give our brothers who are attending Grand Chapter a great kind of dip into that pool. If it's your first Grand Chapter, I definitely recommend checking this episode out so you can have a little bit of preliminary knowledge on what to expect for Grand Chapter. If you've already been to Grand Chapter, it is a great insight into kind of the guts of it, what's going on and why it's important. But yeah. Really excited for that.
0:50:28.6 Drew Logsdon: Yeah. Excellent. Well, I think that wraps up our episode today, Adam. So I'm going to go ahead and motion to close. All in favor?
0:50:35.8 Adam Girtz: I second that.
0:50:37.2 Drew Logsdon: All right.
0:50:38.1 Adam Girtz: Aye.
0:50:38.4 Drew Logsdon: There we go. Aye as well. Excellent. We'll catch you guys on our next episode of The Gavel Podcast. This is Drew Logsdon.
0:50:44.6 Adam Girtz: And Adam Girtz.
0:50:45.7 Drew Logsdon: And we're signing off. We'll see you again next time, guys.
0:50:48.0 Adam Girtz: Bye, guys.
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