Professional Development Events

Here are a few examples of event to help promote professional development. ==Practice interviews==

One-On-One

 * Benefits
 * Most comfortable for the majority of people, so a larger turnout is more likely.
 * Straightforward
 * Can be rolling to accommodate for many people's availabilities.
 * Difficulties
 * Finding the best interviewers.


 * If a brother is conducting and interview it can easily become very informal quickly.
 * Different interviewers will have different strengths, some may focus on dress, or the resume.


 * If rolling, it is an extended responsibility.


 * Rooms constantly need to be booked.
 * Especially bad if either party doesn't show up as there often isn't a replacement, so someone's time is wasted.
 * Tips
 * Test interview with your interviewers to see their interview conducting strengths and weaknesses.


 * Be polite and respectful about it.


 * The more accurate the simulation the better.


 * Alumni or other professionals that the interviewee does not know will be the most effective.
 * Send the resume/cover letter and the job they are pretending to apply for so the interviewer understands what they are pretending to represent.
 * Match fields of study as best as you can.
 * Ask the interviewees take it as seriously as possible


 * Thank and reward your interviewers afterwards.

On The Phone

 * Benefits
 * It can be the simplest to set up


 * Location is not an issue
 * Only 2 people need to be scheduled at a time.


 * Any alumni and associates internationally can conduct.
 * It can easily be a rolling/repeated event.
 * Difficulties
 * Finding the best interviewers.
 * Hardest for interviewer to observe and communicate feedback
 * Timing. The continental US alone has 4 time zones.
 * Tips
 * Send the resume/cover letter and the job they are pretending to apply for so the interviewer understands what they are pretending to represent.
 * Match fields of study as best as you can.
 * After finding the interviewer and interviewee's availability the give them both a time range that the call can happen.
 * There are brothers and alumni across the country that your brothers don't know, ask them to help.
 * Make sure that the interviewer and interviewee can contact each other after the interview to give/ask any more information.
 * Be considerate of timezones and make sure everyone is on time.
 * Thank and reward your interviewers afterwards.

Panel Interview

 * Benefits
 * Especially difficult to perform in, preparing them for the worst.
 * Multiple perspectives to highlight what needs to be improved upon.
 * Difficulties
 * Getting more than 1 interviewer at the same time.


 * Scheduling.
 * Preparing them to work together.
 * Send the resume/cover letter and the job the candidate is pretending to apply for so the panel understands what they are pretending to represent.


 * Very hard or infeasible to make a rolling event.
 * Tips
 * Make sure the panel all know that they will be on a panel and are prepared.
 * Thank and reward your interviewers afterwards.

Interview Competition

 * Benefits
 * Incentive to come and perform well
 * Makes it far more realistic
 * Difficulties
 * The hardest to plan.
 * Usually not free, as a prize has to be made.
 * Tips
 * Plan months in advance.
 * Develop a rubric that is edited by your judges.
 * Don't compare different graduating classes if you can help it.
 * It can be handled at least 2 ways


 * A series of panel interviews where the panel decides who wins.
 * Best for small groups


 * A series of parallel one-on-one interviews where the judges pick their best candidate. Reduce, swap and repeat until all of the judges have interviewed all remaining candidates and they decide who is the best candidate.
 * It will be long but it will accommodate for many candidates.
 * Feed and take care of your judges.


 * Thank and reward your judges afterwards.

Professional Materials
Business Cards
 * Benefits
 * Helps brothers differentiate themselves from other individuals
 * A clean method to share contact information
 * Difficulties
 * Has initial costs
 * Some chapters and universities subsidize the cots
 * Online sites like Vistaprint offer deals for free business cards

Resumes/Cover Letters

 * Benefits
 * It directly helps brothers get jobs and be more professional.
 * As a rush event it helps show who intends to be professional in the future.
 * Difficulties
 * Finding good examples
 * Finding good editors