[civsa] Overnight Visit Host Training

[Mike Targonski]

Hi Meghan,

Based on your email, I feel that we, at Valparaiso University, run a
similar program to what you are looking for. We have a separate overnight
host team from our tour guide team (though some do both!). I hope that I
can provide some insight to your questions:

   1. I am currently accepting applications for new freshmen to join the
   overnight host team for our office's spring admitted student events. I have
   my student leadership team, a few staff members, and myself conduct
   one-on-one interviews for about 125-150 students. The schedule is hectic,
   but we will probably hire 50-65 out of this pool. Aside from typical
   questions on the application regarding hometown, major, and why they want
   to be a host, a new question I used this year was how was their transition
   to college and how would this help them if they were to be hired for this
   position. This has really helped understand a little bit about the
   applicant before coming in to their interview and has honestly made
   selecting who to interview easier based on their responses. During the
   interview, another question that provides a great response is "what are
   three things that you think all prospective students should know about
   Valpo that would want to make them attend here?" It shares a lot about the
   current student's mindset, their level of preparedness, and their grasp of
   this position's objective.
   2. This year, I revamped our overnight training considerably and
   received very positive feedback from the host team. We do not train our
   hosts to know everything about all the different colleges and majors on
   campus - they're usually paired only with a prospective student who is
   interested in their major. I wanted to help them enhance their ability to
   make each visit personal for the prospective student, while also owning the
   fact that you can't make everything perfect. We had breakout sessions led
   by our student leadership team. They covered customer service (our hosts
   email their prospective student before their visit to introduce themselves
   and get an idea of what they might want to do during their overnight, so
   areas like the importance of language, creating a warm feeling, and what
   things might be good to ask), storytelling, and what to do/not to do with
   your prospective student overnight.
   3. I have attached our host contract to this email that we have our
   hosts sign. They sign this at training and it is used should there need to
   be a meeting for disciplinary purposes.

Please let me know if you have any further questions about our program -
I'm sure there is plenty more that I could share. I'd be very happy to help
you with anything else that you might be looking for. I am traveling today
through Thursday, but will be back in the office on Friday and all of next
week if you want to email or talk! My email is mike.targonski at valpo.edu and
my office phone number is (219) 464-6448.

Have a great day!

-Mike

On Mon, Oct 19, 2015 at 9:50 AM, Meghan Westbury <
meghan.westbury at belmont.edu> wrote:

> Good Morning,
>
>
>
> We are in the process of restructuring our overnight visit program and how
> we recruit, hire and train our overnight visit hosts. In the past, we would
> just pull from our current Admissions volunteers and for the most part say,
> “Good Luck!” Our goal is to have a more dedicated pool of hosts, and in
> turn provided a better experience for our guests.
>
>
>
>    1. What type of hiring process do you conduct for your hosts? Any
>    interview questions you have found to be very telling?
>    2. Do you have any training recommendations you might suggest that
>    have worked well for overnight visit hosts?
>    3. Do you make your hosts sign a code of conduct?
>
>
>
> I appreciate any help you can provide as we get started with this new
> process. Any shared documents would be extremely helpful!
>
>
>
> Thank you!
>
>
>
> -Meghan
>
>
>
>
>
> Meghan Westbury, M.Ed.
>
> Visit Coordinator | Office of Admissions
>
> Phone: 615-460-6667
>
>
>
> [image: 125signature]
>
> belmont.edu  <http://www.belmont.edu/> *|*  belmont125.com
>
>
>
>
>
> _______________________________________________
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>
>


-- 
Mike Targonski
Assistant Director of Admission
Valparaiso University
(219) 464-6448
*Facebook: *Mike at Valpo <https://www.facebook.com/mike.atvalpo>
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