Board Application Tips
Board Application Tips
As the month of April nears, it’s also time for Best Buddies board applications! This is an important point in the school year, as Best Buddies chapter leaders will be passing the torch onto another batch of qualified, passionate individuals. One mistake that many Best Buddies leaders will make is starting the application process too late into the school year. On behalf of the YLC, we would highly recommend that you start thinking about applications and sending out any appropriate links to your members in April. Ideally, you will have finished the application process and selected your new board before your state’s Friendship Walk in April or May.
We’ve broken down this blog into three sections (Paper Application, Interviews, and Final Evaluations) so that you can find information that is helpful to you.
Paper Application
The first step of designing an effective application is creating a resource that 1) provides a brief description of each open board role and 2) asks applicants to answer a few written questions. Most chapters will choose to do this in an online format, either through a Google Form or publicly available PDF file. From personal experience, we usually send this out in a Google Form, as it’s easily accessible and simple to use.
Within this file, you should provide 1-2 sentences explaining the roles and responsibilities of each open position on the incoming board. Best Buddies University has a great resource that lists verbatim each of the roles, which you can view here. Typical Best Buddies board positions include: President, Vice President, Buddy Director, Secretary, and Treasurer - however, you can totally customize the roles based on your chapter’s unique needs. Some chapters may also create a “ranking” system, where each applicant lists their preferred board role and their second or third preference, should their first choice be given to another applicant.
To personalize each description so that it fits your chapter, you can list a few of the jobs that position will take on. For example, under the “Vice President” role, our chapter listed: Assist the Co-Presidents wherever needed, take attendance at chapter events, schedule morning announcements, and monitor relationships between buddies and peer buddies. This brief summary of the role can help applicants easily understand what is expected of the given position so they know exactly what they’re applying for. Additionally, listing the specific responsibilities of each board member will help your board effectively allocate these tasks in the following school year. Above all, you want to make sure that you are not adding an individual to the board who cannot meet their commitment because they are unaware of their responsibilities.
For Student Advisory Board (SAB) applications: Since most applicants will be applying to serve as a member of your state’s SAB, you would only need to list the expectations as an SAB member (Ex: Attend monthly calls, maintain good standing with your local Best Buddies chapter, etc). For SAB Chair applications, you can definitely customize the application to match what roles the past Chairs have taken on.
Now, onto the physical questions in the application. You can really customize these based on what you are looking for in prospective board members. For instance, if you are looking for innovation in the following school year, you could ask the question, “What ideas do you have that could benefit our chapter?” Or, if you are looking for someone who can build rapport and trust with buddies, you could ask, “What personal qualities or traits do you possess that could support our mission of inclusion?” Overall, you should aim to have 2-4 questions that are specific and aimed to learn something new about each applicant. Moreover, make sure that each question has a word limit so applicants are clear on how much they should write. I would advise chapter leaders to set a limit of ~200 words for each question, as this allows applicants to elaborate on their answers while also ensuring they don’t write something that is repetitive and overly dense (which means more reading for you!). Finally, don’t forget to set a deadline for the application to allow for sufficient time for your current leadership team to evaluate and interview applicants. :)
Interviews
The next step in the application process is setting up interviews with applicants who have submitted their paper application. While this is not required of chapters, we highly encourage Best Buddies leaders (especially those in the collegiate or SAB setting) to add interviews into the application process. By doing this, you can gain a more holistic understanding of the applicant’s background and goals in a personal setting. Interviews should not be the sole factor in determining an applicant’s standing, but rather complement the paper application to fully understand the applicant themself.
Similar to the paper application questions, interview questions can really vary based on what you hope to learn about the applicant. One thing to keep in mind though is that your interview questions should be different from the paper application questions. A lot of interviewers will choose to ask questions where the interviewee can essentially tell a story or recount a significant situation. While the paper application deals mostly with the roles and responsibilities of the prospective board member, the interview is a great time to consider the applicant outside of the traditional Best Buddies setting and understand what they can bring to the table. For instance, some interview questions could be:
Describe one time when you experienced failure and what you learned following that situation.
Tell us about your involvement outside of Best Buddies.
What unique identities or background would you bring to our board?
Your interview should aim to be 15-30 minutes long, and it’s up to you whether you want to have it in-person or through Zoom. You should also allow time at the end of the interview (roughly 5 minutes) for the applicant to ask questions. This is a perfect opportunity for you to find out how invested an applicant is in the position and whether or not they have done their research ahead of time. Additionally, make sure that you have at least two board members and the program advisor present at each interview so you can have an unbiased opinion of the applicant afterward. At least one person should be taking notes on the applicant so you can reflect on their answers during the “Final Evaluation” stage (more information below).
Finally, I’d recommend creating a spreadsheet that lists all of the applicants’ names and has three checkboxes beside each name to indicate whether the interview has been “Requested, Scheduled, and Completed.” This resource will provide a more streamlined way for you to organize and track applicants’ progress throughout the interviewing process.
Final Evaluation
Now that you have completed the paper application and interview stages, it’s now time for arguably the most important part: evaluating applicants. Before even starting the evaluation process, you should set up a time for the board and program advisor(s) to meet and discuss each applicant. Once this time has been set, you should take some time to thoroughly read each applicant’s written responses and look over the interview notes that you took. By doing this, you can have a solidified opinion about each applicant that you are ready to present to the rest of the board.
During the meeting itself, you should take ample time to thoughtfully discuss each applicant’s responses (both written and verbal) and credentials. While you may think there is an ideal candidate for the role, you should make certain that you are hearing out other people’s perspectives and remain unbiased. One method in evaluating applicants could be as follows:
You present the name of an applicant to the rest of the board and program advisor.
Each person will list two specific positive things about the applicant and one specific negative thing.
Consider the goals you have for the board next year and how this applicant could contribute to your chapter.
Each person will independently assign an overall rating of the applicant from 1 to 10, then present this number to everyone. An average rating will be given based on everyone’s independent scores.
After each applicant has been reviewed as a group, the applicant with the highest rating in their respective position (such as “Vice President”) will be given that position. If you used a “ranking” system in your paper application, you can consider giving the second highest scoring applicant their second choice position.
Overall, it’s up to your board over whether you want to base your evaluations off qualitative impressions and/or characteristics or a quantifiable system where you numerically rate applicants on a given scale. No matter what you choose, you should ensure that your decisions in choosing your next board are equitable and holistically reviewed. You should never choose an applicant simply because you know them or they gave off a subjectively positive first impression. Rather, decisions should be dependent on everyone’s input and comments while also considering your chapter’s goals. By following these steps, you will be able to craft a successful Best Buddies board that constructively works together to benefit the Best Buddies participant experience.
Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Accessibility (DEIA)
Check out this section from our YLC April 2023 Newsletter to learn more about how your chapter can support DEIA work while selecting your new board.
As board applications are just around the corner, it's crucial for Best Buddies leaders to brainstorm ways they can ensure diversity and equal representation on their incoming boards. First and foremost, chapter leaders should make sure their board includes both individuals with and without IDD in their chapter. For instance, one position many chapters have is a "Buddy Director." A buddy typically takes on this role, working closely with the officer team to plan engaging and inclusive events that embody the Best Buddies mission. It's also important to recruit board members that come from a variety of backgrounds, including but not limited to gender identity, race, age, and ability. You can do this in several ways, from adding a statement of inclusion in the description of your application to asking about the unique stories of applicants during the interview process. Finally, remember that representation in a board is not simply checking a box. Rather, it's about genuinely hearing and valuing other board members' perspectives and actively incorporating their ideas into future events and programs. By following these steps, your chapter can help create an inclusive, collaborative board that fully reflects the diversity of participants that Best Buddies serves.
And that concludes the board application process! Thank you for reading, and we hope this blog assisted you in your upcoming board applications. Wishing you a smooth and successful application season!
In friendship,
Nathan Moldavsky
YLC Member, Wisconsin
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