Recruitment at a private university
 

Hi,
This is my first time posting so here goes! I am a Sigma Sigma Sigma sister from a private university up in the northeast and well.... Our chapter is pretty small because we chose quality over quantity when it comes to PNMs (which we pride ourselves on). However, the problem is that we have approximately 10-13 girls graduating this spring or next fall and with those sisters gone, the numbers of active sisters will be cut in half and we will be left with about 15 ladies. So recruitment is a BIG must for us and our University is now enforcing partial recruitment structure which will have a negative effect on our chapter due on the requirements it imposes on the PNMs. We need to come up with some themes/ideas to make ourselves stand out from all the other sororities on campus in order to recruit a large number of quality women who deserve to be a part of our organization. Any advice or ideas would be greatly appreciated!!

Check out "I Heart Recruitment." That is a really great book that is geared mostly towards groups that do NOT rely completely on formal recruitment.

Would any of those strategies apply to a hearing impaired chapter? :)

Trust me... I live by "I Heart Recruitment". We also had speakers come from Phired Up Productions (the company that wrote the book) and their presentations were amazing. Go to phiredup.com, and you will find tons of good ideas.

As the book and website say, "Quantity DRIVES quality." Meet as many girls as possible and you'll have more to choose from when deciding who will receive bids. Choosing 10 new members from 100 potentials as opposed to 10 new members from 20 potentials is definitely a good way to find all of the high quality new members you're looking for.

Are you from a hearing impaired chapter? That's interesting! I think this book is applicable to all human relationships...it actually is a lot of common sense that people overlook when discussing recruitment.

After reading I Heart Recruitment, you'll cringe every time someone says that.

VERY true.

Exactly.

The three main things I've learned from Phired Up (that seem so incredibly obvious):

1.) You can't recruit who you don't know.
2.) Quantity drives quality.
1.) People don't join organizations. People join people.

Explain please? What requirements?

I know where you go to school. :) Is your chapter trying to move away from being mostly hearing impaired? I mean, you have what they call a Unique Selling Proposition right off the bat. Sorry if this is treading on issues/politics in the hearing impaired community etc....I don't mean to offend in any way.

Yes, drives it into the ground. :p Seriously, this statement sounds like the rush equivalent of "throw shit to the wall and see what sticks."

I think you misunderstood (or I didn't pick up on your sarcasm this time?). "Quantity drives quantity" does NOT mean have a little recruitment party and bid as many women who show up so long as your chapter has space and inevitably you'll have a little bit of quality in your chapter.

Quite the opposite. It means getting off your butts and reaching out to MEET, not bid, a large quantity of women in natural settings (not recruitment parties), befriend them, introduce them to sisters in a non-sorority context, and then introduce them to the chapter. The idea is to have as large of a pool as possible from which to choose members. A chapter isn't going to increase the size of their pool by having the cutest skit or most expensive food at their recruitment parties. A chapter increases the size of their pool by meeting women. It sounds so simple, meet people, but the general philosophy of recruitment has been "let PNMs come to you".

Say a chapter of 30 has 10 slots to fill to reach total. If they have a little recruitment party and 25 PNMs show up, they might think they're doing well, until grades, credits (either too few or jr/sr status), competition with other chapters, PNMs not serious about joining, PNMs who can't afford it, plus PNMs that your chapter just doesn't want, you name it, take its toll. No way that chapter is getting 10 members who are truly outstanding from a pool of 25.

However, if each member of this chapter of 30 gets 5 women interested in joining, that's a much bigger pool, and the chapter is much more likely to have higher quantity of high quality new members from a 150-PNM pool than a 25-PNM pool. Quantity drives quality.

So in other words -

"Quantity OF POTENTIAL MEMBERS drives quality."

That's true.

"Quantity OF INITIATED MEMBERS drives quality" = not true. When women say "quality not quantity" THIS is what they mean. I don't think anyone is against having scads of women interested in their group or showing up at open bid parties.

I know, it's simple stuff, but it's not how recruitment has been ingrained into NPC culture. And of course, what chapter wouldn't want scads of interested women, but the book gives good techniques for goal setting, motivation, and implementation to make it a reality.

True. And as has been said, the book is geared more toward chapters that implement non-formal recruitment practices. For schools with scores of women showing up, desperately searching for a place in a sorority, it's a given that they'll have a large number of members to choose from.

For my school, and many others where the sorority members have to seek out PNMs, this idea of getting out and working hard to meet as many people as possible, works well.

I know I've said this before, but it's kind of like what everyone is saying about how Pittsburgh will be fine in the recession since our economy already sucked. :p If you're from a chapter that has struggled or a school where Greek life isn't big, all this is second nature to you - or should be. When I see women in situations like that having no clue about open bidding or inviting friends to join, I wonder where the disconnect is. Honestly sometimes I think it's from everyone sitting around playing video games all day.

Not really, I truly believe it's applicable to almost any school. Even at a school like Maryland, where about 10% of the student body is Greek and 500ish women sign up for recruitment to join one of 14 chapters, it is applicable because your chapter can get women interested enough to sign up for formal recruitment if that is the only way to join. Plus, a rising tide floats all ships.

The only type of campus I would think this would be less applicable (but still somewhat relevant) would be at a small, academically prestigious campus where more students go Greek than don't. The pool can't get much bigger (but recruitment techniques can still improve).

33, I agree that as a society, we are becoming less social, or at least younger generations are. We text or write on someone's facebook wall instead of calling someone. It's easy, fast, and non-confrontational. It's really quite sad.

Unless you are making excuses like "quality over quantity."

Don't get me wrong... the ideas in the book are definitely applicable everywhere. But for those chapters that have to seek out the majority of their members, without having them show up at their door, it is probably a more valuable tool.. so to speak.

And yes, social skills have definitely dwindled.

I don't think it's always an excuse, more like shorthand. It's quicker than saying "we don't want to pledge a bunch of girls who will want to change the whole complexion of the chapter (for better or for worse) just to get our numbers up."

Coming from a chapter who was told by to get our numbers up by any means necessary - who gave bids to as many women as we could - and THEN were told that we shouldn't have pledged some of the women we pledged - well, just let me say it can be frustrating.

The OP is most likely using "quality over quantity" to say "we are a hearing impaired chapter and we don't want to pledge a bunch of girls who will change that so that the chapter is no longer recognizable."