Recruitment fail. Suggestions wanted!
 

Hello, I am a newly elected recruitment chair. My chapter went through only 1 day of formal recruitment and went straight into COB.

An issue- is we are a small chapter- 12 girls. If we do not meet our quota of doubling it- we will be dissolved.

We have 3 pnm's. That have acccepted their bids. We need 10 girls.

We have given out roughly 8 bids, the other girls were disillusioned by a former sister that had to disaffliate. Which is an issue.

Any suggestions on what to do. We have COB every week, posters all over campus, we had an ad in the newspaper. I feel like we aren't wrking hard enough and even our national group has lost hope.

thanks.

Sounds like you have a really good start and the right idea. Since you have to get 10 more PNM's and quick I would start with your 3 new PNM's. Make up some very cute invitations and have each of them invite 1 or 2 friends over to an event. Then the 13 current members in the house are each responsible for inviting at least 1 friend over for the same event. It can be some one from a class, a club or the dorm floor. Plan something low key- you pick. The key is that EVERY ONE needs to participate.

Are there any young alumni around campus that are put together that can recruit for you? They could approach women on campus ask if they are involved in greek life and explain that there is a Chapter with leadership opportunities where they can hold an office and make a difference. This is similar to what National Organizations will do when colonizing a new Chapter.

Finally, Panhellenic must have a list of women who were not placed during formal recruitment. Call every single one of those women and have them come over to meet you girls. Put together a presentation (power point would work well) of what you do, who you are, colors, pins, pictures ect. You girls need to sell yourself and it is going to be a lot of hard work, but you can do it.

Be willing to take upperclass students. Juniors and Seniors count towards doubling your numbers. Reach out to people who may still be interested later in their college career.

Have a sisterhood night event and tell each of your actives to bring an unaffiliated woman that they know to the event.

Don't just invite them....go pick them up and bring them to the event...go the extra mile to let them know you are interested!

Wonderful suggestions above! :)

Another idea is to put it out that you are looking for a group of girls who want to join together. Approach clubs, sports teams, dorms, etc.

Personally inviting girls goes miles.

Also, get the book I <3 recruitment and use it... religiously! They have such good tips and it is targeted for informal recruitment.

The style they market becomes ingrained in all the sisters. You learn to call PNMs personally, never mass e-mail, target certain parts of the sorority towards certain girls (i.e. if you have a pre-med student, talking about academic programs goes miles!), and more. It just happens and everyone starts doing it.

It's hard work but it pays off... I can't talk too soon, but we are already seeing results from this approach in my chapter and I am excited!

Good luck.

STOP DOING THIS IMMEDIATELY. I don't care if your traveling consultant/alums/national people told you to do this. It makes you look desperate and like you don't care who you take, just so you take members. No one wants to be part of a group who's basically crawling on their bellies to get them to join. Not to mention that if Linda Looney sees your fliers and shows up, you have to find an excuse as to why you're not giving her a bid.

t*p's suggestion is the best. Any woman who joins at this juncture should have at least another sister who can back up her character and willingness to stick around even though things might be rough. You don't need letter pimps/jacket sisters.

Hey ladies!
Thank you so much! The school I go to does not count juniors and seniors towards quota. Also, we are trying something new, which is tabling around campus to get our name out.
We have been doing the individual invitations to things as well. Which have worked. We have only had one Linda Looney. But luckily we are not able to take her.

Another issue that seems to be springing up is the fact other sisters, are not bringing girls to events.
Again thank you so much for your suggestions!

Hold them responsible for this. It is up to all of you to be successful in recruitment. I'm not sure if this would be a standards issue in your chapter, but if this is something that your chapter has agrees to, make sure those sisters know that it's not something that's okay to blow off.

Again, thank you so much!
We met with our advisors and split our girls into recruitment groups and came up with an action plan!
:)

My big is the advisor for one of our smaller chapters. They have done some of the things mentioned in this thread and have had a successful recruitment. It can be done.

Hold those sisters accountable when they don't bring guests to events they're supposed to bring guests to. EVERYONE must be a part of it.

Yes, it's frustrating to have to do multiple jobs when you're in a smaller chapter. Remind everyone that as you grow your chapter, things will fall into place- your sisterhood will grow with new girls and new personalities and new people who you can divvy up jobs between, AND (hopefully) you will keep your charter and live to recruit again.

"I Heart Recruitment" is really a great book. You should be able to get it on eBay, but don't sit and wait for it to arrive. Implement that action plan.

Personal attention goes a long, long way. Good luck!!

Update!
We had another girl accept her bid last night!
And are handing out another bid night!
That's making us to 5 girls!
I also set up recruitment groups of 3 girls a piece to each individually invite 5 girls to our next event.
Which is our Phi-esta!
More updates to come... thank you again for everything you are amazing!