New Professional Fraternity Recruitment Ideas
 

I just started a new professional fraternity for foreign service at my school and this fall we are taking our first real pledge class. It is co-ed and we have about just under 50 members right now. Our members are very diverse, but are all interested in careers in the international sector.
I was wondering what kind of events would be good for recruitment. I am the new president and my pledgemaster and I are in charge of making up the entire pledge process. I am a little overwhelmed and am just starting with recruitment ideas. Any help you could give would be great!!!

What activities have you done in the past? 50 members is a respectable amount, so you guys must be doing something right.

well we didn't have any type of recruitment last semester. Anyone who wanted could pay the small fee and join. We may have less then 50 members starting next fall, as dues go up and we expect more commitment from people. so i'm not sure where to start.

QFP

One thread will suffice.

actually they are two seperate questions, if you actually read them carefully. one asks about recruitment and one is about the pledge process.

Did your founders pass anything down? If you've taken in new members in the past, how did they learn fraternity business?

I am one of the founders of our chapter so we don't have anything at all from former members because there are none. The only other chapter we have been in contact with is male only so their recruitment stuff is way different.

OK. It sounds like you're pretty much doing everything from scratch.

Read this thread: http://www.greekchat.com/gcforums/sh...ad.php?t=93174

If your organization has another chapter, you should probably get pledge process information from them (as I'm sure there needs to be uniformity across the board). You can get recruitment ideas by skimming the recruitment threads.

well almost all that information is on social sororities and fraternities. I need help with a professional fraternity, whose goals and processes are quite different

Maybe have a couple of open interest meetings where you let prospective members know about your organization. Then have an invite only event and extend bids at that time.

That link was intended to give you a jumping off point. There is no "one size fits all" formula for GLOs. If you are a founder, you are the one who comes up with rules and processes (otherwise, what's the point of creating a new organization). You'll need to do a little research on your own.

Why not contact delta phi epsilon foreign service fraternity for help? Or decide what your membership standards are before you start planning rush? Look at some other professional fraternities as models.

They've been getting a lot of free publicity on GC these days!

This is how we got new members in Alpha Kappa Psi--Professional Co-Ed Business Fraternity. It has been awhile but I dont think we took first semester freshman. I believe PNM's had to have a certain college GPA to join and then another to remain an active member.

Remind yourself of the principles on which you were founded. Use that as a way to guide you as to what you are looking for in new members.

I would come up with a set of bylaws for your chapter as well that includes membership (requirements and a process to follow if a member needs to be released from the chapter).