Sorority Recruitment Survival Kit

Hello, beautiful - and welcome back to Haley Marie Blog! If you follow me on social media, then you'll know that the reason why I've been quiet lately is that my sorority (the Eta Chi chapter of Kappa Alpha Theta, located at Boston University) has been getting ready to welcome a bunch of new members into our chapter.

Following a busy recruitment weekend, I'm now out of commission with a bad cold - which thankfully gave me the chance to sit down and catch up on my blogging. So, inspired by my experience this weekend (my first time on the other side of recruitment!), I decided to bring you my must-haves for surviving the crazy, hectic weekend that is sorority recruitment.

In this post, I'll show you all my favorite beauty and life hacks to keep you feeling good - yes, even on five hours of sleep - and ready to chat up some PNMs like your life depends on it. This post is geared toward chapter women who are getting ready to recruit, but if you're a PNM, don't forget to check out my Ultimate Guide to Sorority Recruitment on Haley Marie Blog for some tips from the other side!

Now, without further ado, here are all the emergency items I couldn't survive without during the formal recruitment process....

Sweats

First thing's first: you must arrive with a pair of sweats for sorority recruitment. Most days, you're bound in high wedge heels or ill-fitting jeans/dresses. Arriving with sweats on under your dress and a pair of Ugg moccasins on your feet gives you a much-needed break from the hell your feet are about to experience for the next eight hours. Another pro-tip? Change into your sweats on your lunch/dinner break - a simple change of clothes can be absolutely life-changing when it comes to recruitment morale! 

Jewelry

Some nice jewelry staples are all you need to help you through the recruitment process. If your chapter is anything like mine, you've probably already been told what days you'll need to wear silver and what days you'll need to wear gold. Either way, I love wearing a statement piece with your letters on it, such as my KAO Alex and Ani bangle, to spark conversation and show your enthusiasm for recruitment. Another must-have is a pair of cute studs. Whether they're gems or pearls, your studs will follow you wherever you go, no matter the outfit, all throughout the next five days of recruitment.

Beauty

Nothing is quite as complicated as a recruitment beauty routine. Though you start to feel lazier as the days go on, your outfits technically get fancier. However, it's important to strike a balance between looking and feeling like yourself and looking and feeling like you're put together. While your normal self might be a disorganized sack of potatoes, you don't want to give away your lack of confidence to new PNMs looking to join your chapter! 

A good base is the most important thing, in my opinion, to makeup that will last throughout the sweat and tears of the recruitment process. I like to start with a primer - my current go-to is by the Ordinary, and cost just $5 at Sephora - and finish with the Urban Decay setting spray to make my makeup last. As for lips, the Anastasia and BareMinerals matte lipsticks are both amazing, long-wear formulas that embody that perfect "your lips but better" shade. (But don't forget to hydrate with EOS chapstick beforehand! No flaky lips allowed.) 

Nails 

No one wants to show up to recruitment with dirty, chewed-off fingernails. That's why I went the acrylic route this year, with a pair of French tips from a local salon that gave my whole chapter 20% off for recruitment. However, if you don't have access to a discounted service like this and can't afford a professional mani, Essie makes an amazing range of baby pinks that are perfectly recruitment appropriate.

Body

It's important to give a lasting impression during recruitment, which is why I find scent so important. One of the identifiers I most remember about a person after meeting them is the way they smell. I can easily forget someone's name within seconds, but I'll always recognize their perfume once I smell it the first time. It might seem weird, but your scent says a lot about you - so naturally, you want to smell fresh, clean and polished, not stinky and unshowered. 

Deodorant is a must to keep in your bump box during recruitment. (Pit stains? Big no-no.) I like LaVanilla Healthy Deodorant or Toms of Maine Deodorant because they're both formulated without aluminum, which has been linked to risk of breast cancer many times before. Additionally, bring along a mini rollerball or atomizer of your favorite fragrance. My personal faves? The classic Chloe perfume, or the original Prada Candy. (But if you're on a budget, then you can never go wrong with Bath and Body Works!) 

Last but not least, I would never go through recruitment without a couple bottles of hand sanitizer at the helm. Take it from a girl who got sick after shaking that many hands: you can't tell who's carrying the common cold just by looking! 

Hair

First thing's first: I couldn't have survived sorority recruitment without a big bottle of Dove dry shampoo. When you're going to bed at 1:00 AM and waking up at 7:00 AM every morning, washing your hair is the last thing you feel like doing. Luckily, dry shampoo saps up the oils just the same and leaves your hair feeling full-bodied, soft and just the way you left it after your last shower.

I also became addicted to my curling iron during the recruitment process, curling my hair for three out of the four days of recruitment. A big barrel iron, some Tresseme heat protectant spray and Not Your Mother's texture spray are all you need to get the loose curls of a wavy goddess. The key? Using low-to-medium hold hairspray to ward off crunchiness and keep those curls touchable and smooth.

Snacks

And, of course, what kind of post would this be if I didn't talk about the snacks that got me through sorority recruitment weekend? The best snacks for this kind of event tend to be non-perishable, which can be a challenge when you're trying to stay healthy. However, old staples like Luna bars, popcorn and Go-Go Squeeze applesauce packets make the perfect portable dishes to stash inside your bump box for recruitment. 

I also recommend bringing your own coffee to recruitment. We personally did not receive a break until day two of recruitment, and that break wasn't until 2:00 PM - so if you're like me and need coffee to survive and thrive, then you need to get your fix before you're trapped in that stuffy old room. Take it from me, and don't bump PNMs without your daily dose of caffeine! 

What recruitment essential couldn't you survive without? LMK in the comments below or @haleymarieblog on social media!

Why Every Communications Student Needs a Blog

Hello, beautiful! Today on the blog, I wanted to show a different side of me (I hope!) - which is why I'm writing about my future career goals.

One thing you may not know about me is that I'm determined to pursue a career in communications. That's why today, I'm here to tell you guys why I think it's so important to write a blog as a communications student.

Granted, I didn't start a blog because I wanted to go into com - I didn't even know what I wanted to do yet when I first became a blogger! But being a blogger is one of the things that let me down my career path into com, and once I was in com, I quickly learned how essential it is to have this skillset in the industry.

Blogging will help bolster your career in so many ways. Today, I'm only going to be talking about the five most important reasons why you should start a blog in com - but trust me when I say that the sky is the limit when it comes to blogging in the communications industry! In fact, it's so important that my Writing for Communications professor assigned making a blog as one of our first assignments this semester - thankfully, I already had that assignment covered ;) Easy A or what?

All jokes aside, here are four essential reasons why you NEED to start a blog if you're going to study communications. In my opinion, it's non-negotiable - and you'll soon see why!

You'll learn skills you need for your career.

The most obvious reason why all com students should start a blog is that you're going to be practicing the most important skills you'll be using in your job every day after college. Don't believe me? Here's just a brief list of the skills I've honed since becoming a pro blogger:

• Writing. Duh! That's what blogging is all about - but it's also the cornerstone of a successful career in communications, which is why it's so important to showcase your best conversational writing skills as a blogger pursuing com.
• Social media. Not only does blogging teach you how to write captions and posts for social media, but it also gives you experience creating graphics and even building a following from the ground up. Everyone starts from the same place on social media - aka zero - but by proving that you can build an audience of hundreds, maybe even thousands, of viewers proves to a communications agency what you're worth, and shows clients in tangible terms just what your agency can give to them.
• Content marketing. Did you know blogging is a form of content marketing? Every time you create a blog post and share it with your following, you're marketing your brand's content - aka your blog and its posts - to the world. That's how I figured out I wanted to go into content marketing: once I learned that blogging and content marketing go hand-in-hand, I realized there was a way to take my one true passion and truly make a living off it! 
• Brand placement, pitching and media kit-creation. As a blogger, I'm constantly writing emails to brands and pitching them my best ideas. One cool skill I've learned that goes hand-in-hand with this is designing, updating and sending out media kits to show brands I want to work with what my numbers are like and why I'm the best blogger for the job. I love that I know how to do this because I'm now prepared to do the same thing for clients down the road - and that gives me an edge that not all college students have! 
• Graphic design. Last but not least, because of blogging, I'm familiar with so many design terms and skills that I never would have discovered otherwise. For example, I code all of my templates for Blogger from a bare-bones outline, adding all the HTML and CSS myself to give my blog its characteristic flare. I also design my own graphics using programs like Canva, Gimp and the Adobe Suite - and because I do everything on my blog myself, I've built up a pretty impressive portfolio to show employers what I can do for them.

You'll build a personal brand and online presence.

Most big communications agencies these days aren't content to hire people who are just behind-the-scenes - they want someone who's established a brand for themselves and isn't afraid to put themselves out there. And blogging is the perfect way to show employers that you can do that! 

As a blogger, I have multiple social media accounts that are streamlined to include the same formatting, usernames, profile pics and color schemes. I also have a blog with its own unique voice, and carry that voice into my posts. All of those things put together comprise my personal brand - and as soon as an employer Googles my name or types it into Instagram, I'm proud to say that that's one of the first things they'll see about me. 

I highly recommend you start building a personal brand for yourself now rather than later if you want to go into the communications industry. Whether you're interested in PR, advertising or something else entirely, it's so important to show others who you are with your brand and online presence.

Your blog is a tangible example of your work.

If an employer wants to see what I'm capable of - whether it's a writing sample or a portfolio of my graphic design work - the easiest thing for me to do is link them to my blog, where all of those things live full-time. My blog is my social media presence, my personal brand and my following wrapped into one neat, pastel-pink package, which is exactly how I like it! 

Whenever I'm emailing back and forth with a potential internship, client or brand, I like to send them my media kit and blog link to show them all the cool things I can do as a communicator. I also like to keep my blog front-and-center on my LinkedIn page, so people who are looking for communicators like me in their workplace can easily find my profile in their search results.

In short, having a blog is the fastest way to ensure that employers won't write you off due to lack of experience. Your blog might not be a fancy internship, but it's an experience you literally created from scratch - and if that doesn't show employers how hardworking and dedicated you are, then they don't deserve you anyways! 

You'll come into any job experience with contacts.

As a blogger, if there's anything I've become way better at since I started, it's networking! I know, I know: the Internet definitely makes networking easier. But having a blog undoubtedly does, too! 

Because of blogging, I know other college students all around the world - some of whom have recently graduated and now have connections with employers! - and have developed personal and professional relationships with them. Additionally, I have email addresses for all the brands I've worked with in recent times, so I can easily reach out to them if my future employer is looking for a client to work with or a cool new brand placement.

In my experience, being a blogger is the fastest way to connect with someone you've never met before. In a PR internship interview? Mention you have a blog - chances are, your employer will have one, too, and start chatting with you in a much more personal tone! Framing your blog as a way to build professional contacts and network with people you've never met before is the perfect way to show others that you're serious about and dedicated to becoming a professional communicator.

Hey, bloggers: how has blogging helped you inYOUR major? LMK @haleymarieblog or in the comments below!