I have been able to see, in my years as a global talent acquisition specialist, that there is an expensive and repetitive trend. Women in STEM scholarships candidates tend to miss opportunities for strategic funding due to a lack of advertising. As a former manager of graduate recruitment and corporate bursaries, I have seen the reality of what companies and foundations are doing when they give money to students.
Organizations are giving away money as part of a deliberate strategy to fix a well-documented talent gap. They are trying to find the candidates that they know may have disqualified themselves simply because they don’t believe they qualify.
The best applicants I have worked with do not go into the search for funds as if it were a treasure hunt. They understand that a scholarship is a partnership and that they are selling themselves to the foundation as the answer to the foundation’s mission.
Why Funders Give Away Money
To me, as a former head of talent acquisition, the unique STEM scholarships are a way for companies and foundations to invest in the development of their workforces. Companies and foundations are not philanthropic; they are creating a pipeline.
They know that the inclusion of all employees (and especially women) in the workplace will result in greater innovation and that the lack of women in the STEM fields is a major market failure. Your application is your proposal for why you are a worthwhile investment in that pipeline.
Analysis of Under-the-Radar Funding Opportunities from a Recruiter
The most effective funding opportunities are typically those with a highly defined objective. Below are my observations regarding the different types of funding opportunities that provide the greatest amount of strategic value to the applicant, based on the types of successful applications I have reviewed.
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Bridge-Building Scholarships
These awards are designed for women who can bridge between STEM and other areas of study. For example, the Estee Lauder Foundation Women in STEM Scholarship doesn’t want chemists; they want to find candidates who can identify the intersection of data science, chemistry, and consumer needs.
- Strategic Perspective: In addition to your academic record, describe a project or area of interest that crosses multiple disciplines. This illustrates the ability to think in terms of interdisciplinary collaboration, one of the most valuable assets to many top-tier organizations.
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Legacy Awards
Scholarships awarded in the name of pioneers such as Hedy Lamarr or Rosalind Franklin are investing in something more than good grades; they are investing in a legacy of overcoming barriers. The committees that oversee awards in honor of pioneering women are particularly interested in stories of perseverance and non-traditional pathways.
- Strategic Perspective: Tell the story of your journey as a pioneer. How did you overcome obstacles? How have you forged your own pathway? Your narrative should reflect the same tenacity as the namesakes’ and illustrate how you were able to persevere over obstacles of all sizes.
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Returner Grants
Awards such as the Emily Roebling Structural Engineering Grant are vital. They recognize that career paths are not always linear. From a talent acquisition viewpoint, candidates returning to the workforce often bring a level of maturity, focus, and world experience that cannot be found among their younger peers.
- Strategic Perspective: If applicable, portray your career interruption as a development opportunity. Highlight the problem-solving, project management, and resilience skills you developed while working outside of the traditional lab or classroom environment. This shifts the focus of your experience from a liability to an asset.
Blueprint for Success: A Systematic and Professional Approach to Winning Funding Opportunities
Successful applicants for these awards require a disciplined and professional approach.
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Intelligence Gathering
Don’t rely solely on generic search engines. Seek out professional associations within your field of study that serve as gatekeepers, such as the Society of Women Engineers or AnitaB.org. These associations are also hubs for both talent and funders.
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Building an Evidence File
As you move through your degree program, purposefully create an evidentiary file of examples of your success. This is your “brag bank,” but instead of bragging about your accomplishments, consider them case studies.
- Example: Instead of saying, “I worked on a project that was about coding.”
Document: “Served as lead on a 3-person team developing a Python-based app to streamline data entry for a university lab. Processing time was reduced by 30%.”
This creates the type of evidence that will be difficult to dismiss.
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Developing a Strategic Application
Many candidates submit generic essays in response to scholarship opportunities. However, a generic essay will not help you win the award. Your application must directly respond to the mission of the funder.
- Leadership: If the scholarship is focused on leadership, your essay must include a story where you used leadership to get things done.
- Innovation: If the scholarship is focused on innovation, you must include an example of a problem you solved using a creative approach.
- Pro Tip: A simple infographic of your research process or a schematic of a project can add visual appeal to your application and demonstrate communication skills and a modern problem-solving approach.
Final Assessment: From Applicant to Ideal Candidate
You must transition from seeing yourself as an applicant hoping for a handout to seeing yourself as a high-potential professional presenting a business case. The people who fund you are always looking for a return on their investment; hence, you should make it worthwhile.
The return on their investment is your future contributions. Your application must persuasively make the argument that by investing in you, the funder will advance their mission, whether that is increasing gender diversity in aerospace, developing the next generation of ethical AI leaders, or funding research that addresses a significant challenge.
When you enter the application process with this strategic, evidence-based mindset, you are doing more than applying for scholarships. You are positioning yourself as the obvious, low-risk, and high-reward choice, the type of candidate I would have advocated for for any of our organization’s top-tier bursaries and graduate recruitment initiatives.
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