Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) For fletch Guides
You're a college student and want to become a Guide - smart decision! It’s a flexible way to earn money and help out high school students that want to learn more about your school. And you’ll meet cool people.
What is fletch?
Fletch is an online matching service that allows high school students to find a college student to meet with for a tour of campus or simply conversation over coffee. Students can pick a fletch guide by searching for someone who has similar interests or hobbies which makes the conversation about the school more interesting and useful. Guides are able to be totally honest with the visiting student. Guides get paid according to the type of visit that the student wants.
How does fletch work?
After signing up for fletch and filling out the initial questionnaire, you’ll receive an email that approves you to be a fletch guide. Once approved, go into fletch and check that you are happy with your profile that was built based on your answers to the questionnaire. When a high school student selects you to guide them, you’ll receive an email to meet them in the fletch messaging section of the platform which you can find via the left side menu. Each guide request will have its own messaging thread. Via messages finalize the details: time, date and location for the visit. If it is a virtual visit, send the student your zoom link. If it’s an in-person visit, pick a location on campus to meet up that’s central and easy to find. Once you have agreed to all the details, the student will pay for the booking. After the booking is paid for, you’ll receive an email to confirm. If anything comes up before the visit, use the messaging section to communicate on the platform with the visiting student. The booking should appear in the Visits section of the site. Please keep all messaging and payment on the platform to protect the security and privacy of the student, and also for you. Your payout for the Visits you book will be paid after the Visit has taken place. Payouts are made 2 times per month so you may need to wait a few days after the Visit for a payout. You can be paid by fletch using your Venmo or your Paypal account. If you don’t have one, you’ll need to make one to get paid. When the date arrives for the Visit, meet up at the agreed time (please be on time!) and place and have a great time sharing all that you know about campus life.
How do I create a Guide profile?
We populated your profile with the answers from the questionnaire you filled out to apply. Once you are approved, you can go back and edit the "My Interests" section. One of the best ways to get more requests from visitors is to have a profile that makes a great first impression. High school students will use this section to understand what you have in common. The more details about clubs, interests, hobbies, music, what you do with your free time, etc that you can add for them to quickly learn about you, the better. Of course, space is limited here so don’t go crazy. Maybe 3-5 sentences. When writing a profile, use an upbeat tone and write in first-person to make your profile feel more personal.
In the "Visits" section of your dashboard you can choose the visit types that you are willing to do. You don’t have to do all of them. And you can change this selection at any time - for example, if you are away from campus over the summer you’d only take virtual meetings. If you are offering virtual meetings you’ll need to provide the visiting student an online meeting link to use such as google meet or your personal zoom link that most schools have provided their students. You can work this out with the visiting student in the messages area of the fletch webapp once they have chosen you.
Why do I need to upload a picture of my ID?
For security reasons, we need to see your student ID and have you use a .edu email address so that we can verify you are a student at the school. Sometime in the future, we will have a more automated way to do this. The picture of your ID is used only for this purpose and is never shared or posted on fletch.
Can I put “fletch Guide” as a job on my resume?
Absolutely! Being a fletch guide takes maturity, smarts and organization - these are all skills that employers are looking for. It’s a great demonstration of your “soft skills” or people skills that many careers require to be successful.
How should I prepare for a tour or meeting?
The most important thing about being a fletch Guide is to be friendly and helpful. So bring a great attitude and lots of good energy to the visit. We hope (and expect) that you’ll be professional and mature when visiting with the high school student. You don’t need to bring anything with you. You are also not required to follow up with the student after the visit, unless of course you want to. They will be asked to provide a rating and review of you based on their visit.
How do I set up a meeting location for the visit?
Because we know that the location where you decide to meet your visiting student may change depending on the time of day or day of the week, we wanted this part of the process to be as flexible as possible. Before the meeting is booked, you should use the messaging section of the webapp to work out with the visiting student where to meet on campus. Try to choose a spot that’s easy to find and central on campus. You can also use messages to work out any other details for the visit that need to be locked down. Never ask a visiting student for their cell number or personal email. After your meeting, if you both choose to stay in touch that’s completely up to you.
How do I get paid?
We use Paypal to process payments from credit cards. You will need to have a Paypal account or a Venmo account to get your payouts. You need to provide this information to us at fletch so we know where to send it. Once you are accepted on fletch as a guide, you’ll receive an email from us that will tell you where to send this information.
Why does fletch take 25% from the visit fee that you charge high school students?
After the visit is completed, fletch will payout the funds to the account you have on file with us. You will never be paid directly by a customer. Guides are paid the prices listed on our website minus 25% of the visit rate. This 25% fee covers the costs of running fletch such as marketing to bring high school students to the platform, customer service operations, platform maintenance, customer relationship management, operating costs, and payment processing (Paypal charges fees to use its services on each payment which we cover for you). This way we can make a great experience, ensuring privacy and security for everyone that uses fletch, and you can just focus on giving an awesome tour of your school.
What if I need to cancel the tour at the last minute?
Use the messages function to notify your visiting student that you can’t make it. If possible try to reschedule for the same day. You can also offer to meet virtually another time. If you can’t find a time to reschedule, please also notify us at hello@meetfletch.com with the subject line “Cancellation” so that we may be of service to the visiting student and possibly find another Guide to meet them.
What is the “visits dashboard”?
The visits dashboard helps keep track of the visitors who have booked you. You’ll be able to see your past and pending visits so it’s all in one place. You can also set which visit types you will be willing to do here. While we encourage you to offer all 3 types (1:1 tour, coffee 1:1 or virtual), we understand that sometimes it’s not possible given your proximity to campus (e.g. summer break) or your workload/schedule. You can change this anytime.