It shouldn’t come as a surprise to you when I say I’m not a big fan of the job boards. It’s not personal, folks. The reasons are simple enough. I have a hard time sourcing new, fresh talent from the boards. For the most part, I think the quality of job seekers coming through them seem to be so-so compared to other sources. And then there’s the fact that I’m cheap – so the cost is a barrier for me. True, I might post a job here and there when I don’t have pipelines built up in a particular geographic area or talent function… but I don’t rely much on job boards. And so I’m always interested in other ways to find great talent.
So here’s an interesting source of talent to consider – but they also need some help from you.
The organization? National Society of Collegiate Scholars.
Their mission? To honor and inspire academic excellence and engaged citizenship for a lifetime.
NSCS is a not-for-profit. Their whole aim is to recognize and reward high-achieving college freshmen and sophomores who have a GPA of 3.4 or above and rank in the top 20 percent of their class. They offer scholarships, leadership training, internship and career opportunities. And think about their membership stats:
- Total Members: 692,173
- Undergraduate Members: 175,749
- Alumni (Post-graduate) Members: 516,424
- NSCS members have an average GPA of 3.7
- Members come from 243 different colleges and universities in every state, DC, and Puerto Rico.
- Top ten majors of members include Business, Engineering, Communication and Journalism.
From an employer’s perspective, their member base is potentially a goldmine for talent. Right? Because surely you already recruit from the schools their members come from and hire folks with some of the degrees their members have. And having access to the cream of the crop among those schools/majors would be ideal because, of course, you want the smartest cookies possible. And if you’re like me, you are always looking for talent in other great places. You’re tired of job boards.
But it’s not a free-for-all when it comes to NSCS’ members. Their Executive Director & Founder, Steve Loflin, has built up a fantastic organization that stays true to its mission. And he doesn’t want his member database to become just another job board overrun with lazy employers who post and pray. So here’s where your help is needed–
NSCS would like to connect more with employers. To support their mission, they are interested in enhancing their services to members in the way of internship opportunities for current students and career/networking opportunities for their alums. And right now, they offer a job board of sorts and for some employer parters, targeted marketing opportunities. But they want to both expand and refine their “offerings” to employers. So here are the big questions for ya -
- What kind of specific access would you want to their members?
- What would you be willing to pay for?
- And are there things NSCS could do to ensure some level of integrity to their members from the employers who partner with them?
In answering the money question – what would you pay for – consider this first – whatever you pay goes back to their scholarship funds. And they have an ambitious goal. They’d like to be able to provide more scholarships. Interesting organization with an interesting mission – but they need some help refining their direction and employer partnerships. So, hit the comments and let’s do some brainstorming. Or, if you feel inclined, contact their ED, Steve Loflin directly… nice, nice guy doing some interesting work. Let’s help a brother out.
