Home » College Site Access » Product Description: College Site Access to The BIG Guide Online

Product Description: College Site Access to The BIG Guide Online

We partner with colleges and universities to
help students build global career skills.

This page describes all the components available with
College Site Access to The BIG Guide Online.

School Services

Schools purchase a site license allowing unlimited access to The BIG Guide Online for students, staff, faculty and alumni.

  • Individual User Accounts: This is one of the strongest features of College Site Access to The BIG Guide Online. With the customization tools, users can write private notes, highlight text in yellow and bookmark or discard any Resource or Organization Profile in The BIG Guide Online (view screen shot, view features). With My Learning Path (view), students are invited to select one or more of 12 international objectives (view). They can also complete some or all of the eight quizzes in the My Inventory of International Skills section. Customization features help students stay organized in their research and encourage long-term use of the guide, starting in the first year at college.
  • Registration Process: Each user must register the first time they use The BIG Guide Online by using their school-designated e-mail address and choosing a personal password. (If your school or organization does not have school-designated e-mail addresses, alternative registration processes are available). (See sample registration page.)
  • Alumni Registration: School administrators can provide access to The BIG Guide Online to individual alumni (even when those alumni do not have school-designated e-mail addresses).
  • School Branding: Your school logo and individual list of sponsors appears in the site masthead (in the top right-hand corner) of all BIG Guide pages (view). Your logo also appears during the user registration process for your students (view).
  • Usage Statistics and Privacy: School administrators have access to "live" usage statistics, user demographics and a user list. We have very strict privacy policy and procedures that have been reviewed positively by many of our subscribing schools.
  • Continuous Content Updating: Our content is continuously updated and new content is added regularly (see below for more details). View a list of recent major updates.
  • Marketing The BIG Guide Online to Students: View our Marketing Campaigns and discover a list of 35+ projects to help you promote the availability of The BIG Guide Online to your students, colleagues, alumni and faculty.
  • Staff Training and Video Tutorials: We have many options to help you train your staff and student ambassadors about using and marketing The BIG Guide Online: (1) monthly staff training webinars (Register here), (2) a 12-minute overview tutorial outlining the major features of our site (view video), (3) 15 video training tutorials about every aspect to the site (see the Help menu when signed into the site or view screen shot) (4) instructions on how to organize a staff training session (5) a Reader Tracking Sheet (PDF) outlining all the features of the guide and (6) customized staff training when a school assembles five or more staff. 
  • College Seminars: College Site Access subscribers also benefit from a substantial discount on Jean-Marc Hachey's College Seminars.

The BIG Guide: Features

The following features make reading The BIG Guide easy, fun and productive. Enjoy!

  • Navigation: Students and staff can make their way through the site easily with the quick-view Table of Contents, Chapter Details, Crumb Line and other navigation tools. On The BIG Guide, navigation is fast, efficient and intuitive. View. (This is not a PDF file.)
  • My Notes: Available throughout the book, this feature allows users to write private personal notes for future reference. The Insert Date feature automatically stamps today’s date on each entry. View.
  • My Bookmarks: Allows users to mark any section in the book (advice sections, Resources or Organization Profiles) and quickly find information that they have assessed as being particularly relevant or useful.
  • Yellow Highlighting: This feature allows readers to highlight information anywhere in the book.
  • Discard: This feature allows users to better organize research. The “Discard” function puts a strikethrough line on any Resource or Organization Profile which is of no interest to the user. Once activated, this feature is visible from the List View and the Detail View, so that users waste no time reviewing material that does not apply to their personal goals.

The BIG Guide: Content

The BIG Guide chapters, listed in the main menu, contain the most important and relevant information on the site. View menu

  • The BIG Guide's Content: 44 Chapters of expert advice (950,000+ words), 27+ Quick Guides, 2,600 Organization Profiles in 24 databases and 1,200+ annotated Resources in 75 bibliographies. By visiting the site and accessing information each year while in school, students will find the information they need to help them develop strong “International IQs.” The guide includes:
    • PART ONE: Living Overseas: These eight chapters describe the unique set of skills that define international people. These are the skills currently being sought by international recruiters.
    • PART TWO: International Experience: These nine chapters help students gain international experience, either by going abroad to volunteer, study and/or intern or by accessing international activities on campus. Awards, grants and programs for international studies in the US are also discussed.
    • PART THREE: The International Job Search: The eleven chapters in this section help define how an international job search differs from a domestic one. This section contains some of our top-rated chapters, including our two flagship chapters: Selling Your International Skills and International Resumes.
    • PART FOUR: The Professions: This section describes the nuances of the most popular internationally-oriented professions with the following chapters: Teaching Abroad, Careers in International Development, International Law Careers, Engineering Careers Abroad, International Business Careers, Health Careers Abroad, Spousal Employment & Freelancing Abroad, and The 50+ Worker Abroad.
    • PART FIVE: International Career Directories: This section’s eight chapters are accompanied by annotated listings of international employers in the following areas: Private Sector Firms, Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs), Governments, The United Nations and International Governmental Organizations (IGOs) and more.
  • Updates to The BIG Guide Online: We are constantly updating our site, keeping all of our information fresh and current. We have a full-time researcher who regularly reviews our Resources and Organization Profiles to make sure that our links are active and functional. We are transparent with our research process by providing a Last Update date on every Resource and Organization Profile so that you'll always know how current our information is. Readers are encouraged to send us feedback on each Resource and Organization Profile with the Contact Editor button. We are constantly adding new sections and improving our list of features. View a list of recent major updates.
  • See Ten Reasons to Purchase The BIG Guide
  • Resources: After searching through thousands of Web sites and publications, we choose the very best. More than 4,000 Web sites, books, companies, resources and organizations are described in 65 topical bibliographies.
  • List View: The List View shows alphabetical lists of the Resources and Organization Profiles in each chapter. Readers can see their My Bookmarks and My Notes features from this view.  List View
  • Detail View: The Detail View shows the details/annotation of a Resource or an Organization Profile. These carefully researched descriptions contain basic info, web links, addresses, categorization and the option to make a reader comment with the Publish a Review feature. Detail View

My Guide

The My Guide menu is where students can access their customizable tools. View menu

  • My Learning Path is the starting point for all users when they first access The BIG Guide Online. Users are asked to choose one or more of 12 goals (e.g. Volunteering Abroad, Studying Abroad, International Student Studying in the US/Canada). Once one or more goals are chosen (view), the My Learning Path feature will provide a list of essential readings of Quick Guides, Chapters, Resources, Organization Profiles and Quizzes. Users can track their progress by marking completed reading and research with the My Choice and Completed checkmarking columns (view).
  • My Bookmarks: This is the list of personal bookmarked items, compiling each user's favorite parts of The BIG Guide.
  • My Notes: This is the list of each user's personal written notes, available for almost every part of The BIG Guide.
  • My Inventory of International Skills: (HOT FEATURE) This unique set of quizzes allow users to track their international skills and raise their skill level over the course of their time at college. These eight insightful quizzes are designed as learning tools, helping students measure their preparedness in three areas: My International Personality, My International Experience and My International IQ. The My Scorecard feature displays each student's international credentials with a Novice, Bronze, Silver or Gold rating. Quiz answers are permanently saved, allowing students to raise their scores as they build international experience over the course of their time at school (view). The Quiz Tips feature provides expert advice for each quiz question and the My Notes feature allows students to track their skills and objectives within each quiz question. View
  • My School: These are links to your college’s international services, programs and documents. Organize this section any way you wish. Consider listing: career services, study abroad services, international student services, internationally-focused courses, student international clubs and/or students' personal stories from abroad. View
  • My School Network: This is a list of all students from your school who have registered for The BIG Guide Online. This service allows students at your school to get in touch with fellow internationalists on campus and is a great way to strengthen the international community at your school. (Note: e-mail addresses remain private when being contacted by other students. Students also have the option to opt out of this service at any time, including during the registration process.) View
  • My Profile: Each user can modify and manage his or her preferences, login information, password and basic dashboard.

Tools

The Tools menu is home to some of the hottest advice on the site. View menu

  • Quick Guides: Very popular with students and student advisors, Quick Guides are one-page summaries of the most popular topics (27+ in English and 18 in French, with more on the way). They are easy to read and print, and valuable to both students and advisors. Subscribing schools have FULL REPRODUCTION RIGHTS to these PDF files for distribution during student advising sessions, career workshops, study abroad fairs and other events on campus. Student advisors in the career office as well as those in the study abroad and international student offices will get much use out of these easy-to-access and easy-to-use guides. View
  • Ask the Expert: Users can send questions to author Jean-Marc Hachey, who regularly publishes answers to select questions and organizes an easy-to-use archive for user review. View
  • My Global Career Skills Newsletter: Tips and bits of information will be sent to students weekly, helping them stay motivated and focused throughout their years in college as they build international credentials. Users can also access the archive and manage their subscriptions to this newsletter. Coming soon (February, 2011).
  • Quick Tip Videos: These quick videos, presented by Jean-Marc Hachey, offer students bite-sized, inspirational tips to help them build global career skills.
  • Go Abroad Videos: These videos highlight study and go abroad programs that capture The BIG Guide philosophy.
  • The World Online: This eclectic mix of world videos has been compiled to inspire, to amuse and to make students and BIG Guide users take action. This section includes: The World in Facts, The World in Pictures, The World in Inspiring Adventures, The World in Songs, The World in Ideas and The World in News.
  • Student Advisor Tools: Discover a host of student advising strategies:
    • International Organizations with Clubs on Campus: Over 33 clubs that can be established on campus to help students build international experience. View  
    • Seminar "My Global Career Skills": Present our two-part SEMINAR, My Global Career Skills, to your students; PART ONE: A 30-minute pre-recorded WEBINAR by Jean-Marc Hachey (you can also book a live webinar with a Q&A session); PART TWO: An hour-long WORKSHOP run by a facilitator at your school, making use of our online quizzes (see the Power Point slides in My Inventory of International Skills). We have a detailed Project Manual to help you present on four subject areas: (1) My International Experience (our most popular subject), (2) My International Jobs and Internships, (3) My International IQ, and (4) My Political, Economic and Geographic Knowledge. (Download the Project Manual Word version, pdf version.) Contact our client services staff () for a personal consultation about delivering these seminars at your school.
    • Marketing The BIG Guide Online to Students: Discover a list of 35+ projects to help promote the availability of The BIG Guide Online to your students, colleagues, alumni and faculty. The more you market the availability of The BIG Guide, the more you help students and others develop their global career skills. View Marketing Campaigns
    • White Paper on Campus Internationalization: We are very pleased to publish our first White Paper, entitled “International Academic Mobility: Two Decades of Practice ” written by Daniel Guay, a leading thinker and innovator who focuses on how universities can organize themselves to promote international exchanges on campus. NEW (June, 2010).
  • Student Advisor Tools (FUTURE PROJECTS): Our student advisor services is a growth area for our site and we look forward to serving you with the following future services:
    • Online Courses for Students and Student Advisors: We have already released the My Global Career Skills seminar (see above) and we have plans to develop the following online courses: travel abroad, study abroad, intern abroad, work abroad, international resumes & interviews, pre-departure orientations, and re-entry orientation.
    • Accreditation in Global Career Skills: We are assessing the feasibility of introducing an accreditation process for students and student advisors.
    • Campus Projects to Promote Global Career Skills: Over 30 projects designed to help students build international experience while on campus.
    • Campus Internationalization 101: Help demystify the concept that's sweeping campuses across the world.
    • Award-Winning Internationalization Projects: The editors of The BIG Guide have chosen award-winning projects that mirror our philosophy of promoting students' international skills.

Search

The Search menu provides eight search methods. View menu

  • Keyword or ID Number: Search our entire site using the Keyword or Advanced Search features. This is one of the most powerful features on our site. ID Numbers are equivalent to an online page number. Each Resource and Organization Profile is identified by a unique numerical code. All subtitles also have ID numbers. Find information even faster by tracking and searching for specific ID numbers.
  • Advice/Content: Search for your bookmarked sections in the advice/content sections.
  • Resources (Web sites, service organizations and books): Search alphabetically to access all 1,200+ resources from A to Z, select any one of the 75+ individual bibliographies or view your bookmarked Resources.
  • Organization Profiles: Search alphabetically to access all 2,600+ organizations from A to Z, select any one of the 24 organization categories or view your bookmarked Organization Profiles.
  • Job Categories: Search job links by selecting one of 170 job categories.
  • Countries and Regions of the World: Search by country or region of the world.
  • Cities in North America with International Contacts: Search by North American city in order to view the organizations located in that city.  

Help

The Help menu provides links to video tutorials about our international career-building philosophy and how our site works. View menu

  • Download our Reader Tracking Sheet if you would like a map of all of our services, or you are organizing a seminar about The BIG Guide Online and would like to track your progress on paper, pages 1 through 5 list all the parts and tools of The BIG Guide Online, and page 6 provides an outline of the tutorials mentioned below.
  • Video Tutorials: 16 short videos about all The BIG Guide’s online features. Videos are sorted into a logical learning path, ideal for individual viewing or for stop-and-learn discussions during a seminar while teaching students, student advisors or other staff about how to navigate The BIG Guide Online. You can find these in the Help menu linked above.
  • 12-Minute Overview Tutorial: Choose this if you are pressed for time. View video (12 minutes)