A chapter recruitment story.
 

Hi, everyone! I am a long-time lurker and have chosen to come out of "hiding" to post my chapters' story. I have recently seen an influx (or what I feel is an influx) of young ladies saying things like "they're the smallest chapter, they'll take anyone" and I want to tell the story from our side, hopefully to make some women understand that this just isn't true (without digging into membership selection, of course!). I hope that by telling our story, PNMs who may encounter a chapter like this will learn to give them a second look and not immediately dismiss it, as well as gain some helpful advice from all of the wonderful and intelligent women (and men!) on GC. This will be an ongoing story, so while there may not be daily (or even weekly, sometimes) updates, I hope it will be entertaining for at least somebody to read - plus it'll be nice to get it all out and potentially receive (outside) feedback from far more experienced individuals.

First, a little background on my chapter. My campus has 5 or less Panhellenic sororities and is located in a small college town somewhere in the US. We have between 100-200 women go through formal every year, with quota generally somewhere between 15 and 30. Approximately 20% of my campus is greek, and the sororities are a very small percentage of this. My organization has been on campus a little over 30 years, and as far as I know, has never actually reached total. We have been close, but never fully achieved it. Currently, we are at approximately half of total, which is significantly less than the other organizations on our campus. I have been a member for two years, and for at least the five years before I joined, we would rarely have half of quota show up on bid day. We have been open recruiting since my campus instituted total, and it is becoming very discouraging to our alums and collegians alike.

This thread will chronicle my chapter's journey through formal recruitment, open recruitment, all the struggles that our chapter faces by being a weak recruiting chapter, etc. Please let me know if this is the wrong place to post this, and if you're highly interested in chapter specifics feel free to PM me. :)

Can't wait!

Oh, this is so interesting! Thanks!

Update: work week is underway! We have all moved into our chapter house and are having a lot of fun with our visiting officer from Nationals who has come to help us perfect our recruitment strategies! She has already changed at least 1 major aspect of each day, we are a little stressed, but have faith that she knows what she's doing and it will all benefit us in the end!

Our campus has 3 days of recruitment, with bid day being Sunday afternoon. Day 1 is philanthropy/skit day, and each woman attends a party at each chapter on campus. Day 2 is sisterhood/housetour day, and each woman may be invited back to a maximum of every chapter. Day 3 is preference, and each woman may attend a maximum of 3 parties.

I wish you all the best for a successful recruitment, and I'm looking forward to your story!

This is wonderful, thank you lilabelle!

Enjoy work week, it was always my favorite week of the year! =)

This sounds interesting! Carry on! Good luck to you and your hardworking sisters.

I think this is a great idea! Good luck with recruitment and all of the prep!

Never give up! The chapter I advise colonized with seven....fast forward 9 years.... after LOTS of hard work (and LOTS tears and laughter), targeted PR, many COB's, and very strategic planning.... we were one away from total in spring, which is 35. Had 3 not graduated in fall (how dare they! LOL!) we would have been at total. We returned with 26 this year and I'm 100% confident they will reach total in recruitment...and not have to COB for the first time in their history (and you'll hear me screaming with joy across the country!)!

They key is to work smart! I'm happy to share things that worked for us if you are interested. Good Luck!

Congratulations! Good luck this fall as well!

lilabelle, good luck with your chapters recruitment.
I know it is hard, but always think positive and keep strong.

Just curious, given that your campus has a small number of chapters, have they considered moving to a max 2 party Preference? Also, for context does your campus use RFM?

Great idea for a thread. Best of luck with Recruitment!

With only one previous day of invite back a max 2 party pref probably would do more harm than good. This is a small system. They only have to do the pref party once.

That is awesome! Would you mind sharing tips? I know there are WRCs everywhere that would love any ideas you can pass along.

Good Luck this year!

I fully agree with Delta-adpi, any tips anyone has would be wonderful to share! I know my chapter is always looking for new ideas to change things up and keep us from getting burnt out on the same COB event ideas, etc.

To answer a question from upthread, yes our campus does use RFM.