Applying for a student leadership position in College can be an intimidating process. Because of perks like free rent, scholarship, and other financial compensation, many students seek out the opportunities. That means more competition. How do you set yourself apart?

I've interviewed hundreds of candidates pursuing student leadership positions. There are some incredible lessons I've learned from preparing and carrying out hiring processes that you can read more about here. Having completed another hiring process recently, I was reminded again of a misperception that most students have coming in. We've all seen the memes, students are fighting in a world where you need more years experience and an education than is mathematically impossible! Something I have loved about these student leadership positions is that this is one of those opportunities to get that experience, while in school, and previous job experience is not required.

I want to summarize some of the basic, but valuable rules for applying for student leadership positions. Each position's application and hiring processes will have their differences, but these rules will hold true. Some may seem easy, and some may surprise you. All of them will help you get the job.

COMPLETING THE APPLICATION

1. Complete Everything Even if you have never completed a Cover Letter or Resume before, or filmed a video of yourself, do it. Because a large number of applicants are considered for the positions, hiring managers will look for easy ways to narrow down the candidate pool. Not completing one of the steps of the application is the easiest way to do this. Turning in something, even if lower quality, is much better than nothing. Give yourself a chance! If you need help, every College and University should have a Career Center. If yours doesn't, search another school's website. Most of the time you won't need to be a student at that institution.

2. Look For Money Words You have to make sure you know what you are applying for. Read the job description, talk to those who have done the job, make sure you understand what the important parts of the position are. As you create your Cover Letter, Resume, or other application materials, connect back to the job description. Look for those keywords that are repeated, or mentioned at the top. Job descriptions are written for a reason, don't ignore the helpful resource that they can be.

3.  1 Page or Less I know there might some debate on this, but my preference is that Cover Letters and Resumes are no longer than one page. It takes a long time to go through every application, so when I see somebody go to pg. 2 then it is a little disheartening. If you can't consolidate to one page, take another look and see what isn't necessary for that particular job application. Remember, not all of your experience will be relevant for that particular job. You need to customize your Cover Letter and Resume for each application.

GROUP PARTICIPATING IN A GROUP INTERVIEW

1.  Understand the Purpose Sometimes an organization will have a group interview. This may be new to you but it often is used as a very simple and quick way to narrow down the candidate pool. If the position you are applying for has a group interview, find out what they are looking for. Ask someone who got the job to tell you about their experience, or go ask the people in charge of it. I am asked every year and am always willing to help explain. For us, group interviews were to see how you can work with a team. We take the group of applicants, split them up into smaller groups, and have them complete some team-oriented tasks or challenges. We want to see candidates interact and communicate with group members, contribute, and have a positive attitude. Not all student leadership positions will require their team to be students who operate at 100mph all the time. It's okay if you are introverted, but you still have to participate.

2. Say Thank You After the interview is complete, go up to whoever was observing or scoring your table, shake their hand, and say thank you. Too often these people are ignored, and all the candidates go straight for the hiring manager. It's fine to say thank you to them, but remember the person who is going to be writing comments about you.

PARTICIPATING IN AN INDIVIDUAL INTERVIEW

1. I will... vs. I think In the interview, there will be questions about the job. More specifically, there will be questions about the skills and leadership qualities that successful student leaders have. You will be asked questions about communication, mediation, and organization. It is so common for candidates to simply summarize why they think communication is important for a team, or why it is important to be organized. Anyone can read a blog post or article about these subjects. In an interview, we want to hear what you are going to do about it. Use "I will..." statements in your answers to questions, this makes you sound so much more ready to take action and make an impact.

2. Answer the Question A struggle a lot of candidates encounter is to answer the question. It is okay that you are nervous, you're growing. If it helps, repeat the main point of the question as you begin your answer so you stay on point. Sometimes the way an interviewer words or phrases a question it will sound like they are emphasizing something other than what the question is really about. If there are two parts to the question, be sure to answer both parts. Ask them to repeat the question if you need to, but answer all of the questions.

3. Say Thank You. I know that at the end of an interview you are ready to get out of there. You are stressed and nervous. Take one last moment to shake the hand of each member of the hiring committee, thank them for their time, and then leave. In regards to follow-up, an email expressing gratitude is great, but the written thank you card is not dead! Write a thank you note to each member of the hiring committee and deliver it to their office. After a long day or week of interviews, it is really nice to come back to a note expressing gratitude. All those good feelings are then associated with you the candidate. I'm not saying that automatically gets you the job, but it definitely helps you get a few extra "points" to put you over the edge.

These are only a few of the long list that could be made but start there. No progress will happen unless you start doing something. Use each experience applying for a job as a learning experience. You can still get something out of it, even if not selected. Keep growing, keep trying, and you will get there.