Recruitment counselor interviews - help!!
 

I applied to be a recruitment counselor yesterday. I already got an email from panhel saying that they want to interview me. Oh... and my interview is on Friday and I currently have one of the WORST colds I've had in college. I'm pretty nervous that I won't be able to make a good impression when I'm sick. Hell, I can't even study when I'm sick.

So my question is... have any of you interviewed to be a recruitment counselor? What questions did they ask you? What kind of responses are they looking for from me? And do you guys have any tips and tricks for acing this interview (even if I AM sick)?

I know I have to be DTP for this interview as well, so I was planning on wearing a lace dress (I wore it for a day of recruitment) with a cardigan and wedges. And maybe my pin... since we are supposed to be DTP.

Any help would be appreciated!!

When I was a recruitment counselor back in the dark ages, I seem to remember several questions that posed different scenarios that we might encounter as a recruitment counselor and how we would handle those situations. It might be a good idea to be prepared to answer questions such as "You overhear one of your PNMs telling the group that ABC is the top group on campus and they only take 6 foot, 90 pound, blonde, super model, neuroscience majors whose parents own fortune 500 businesses", or "Patty PNM only gets 2 invitations on 6 party day. One of the chapters that dropped her was her legacy chapter. Patty wants to drop out of recruitment."

It's tough that you will have to soldier on with your interview despite being sick, but that might work in your favor. If you are willing to get dressed up and answer lots of questions while feeling bad, maybe they can imagine what an awesome job you will do when you are well!

Just remember to think PANHELLENIC before you answer. You don't have to know the answers to everything but you shouldn't show bias. Your goal is to guide women thought the process and help them find a sorority while overcoming hurdles and land mines like tent talk, dirty rushing and unexpected cuts.

Bump

Everytime I see this I start hearing the super mario brothers tune in my head.

DTP?

Down to party? :p

Dress to pin! My first reaction was "Down to...?" as well.

Yes, DTP is dress to pin haha. Maybe that's not a thing that everybody knows. They actually did ask me a lot of situational questions during my interview, so it was helpful to know the answers to some of those. And I actually heard back from panhel yesterday and I got it! I really want to do the best I can so I might have to ask about that at some point - but I have about 6 months before I actually need to do something as a recruitment counselor.

My advice to you is understand the MRABA inside out. What happens if you SIP, why you should, why you shouldn't (and there are valid reasons for both) in EVERY scenario. Live it, know it, love it. If there is nothing else you can share with rushees, a thorough and confident knowledge there will help some girl in distress at some point. And spend the next 6 months learning awesome things about every chapter, including THAT chapter.

That all sounds good. But what do MRABA and SIP mean? (I think SIP might be suicide pledging but yeah)

Bless you, if you don't know these terms, time to hit the book!! And I mean the Big Green Bible of sorority rush, the NPC Unanimous Agreements :)

SIP= Single Intention Preference or suicide
MRABA= Membership Recruitment Acceptance Binding Agreement (bid card signed after Pref)

These girls will need your help in understanding what all this means. Read ALL of the rush information here on GC to see the kinds of questions PNMs will have for you.

I was a spring pledge. I dropped formal recruitment after the first day when I was a freshman. So yeah... I'm not an expert on recruitment unfortunately. I've been on the other side of it twice. Fortunately I have 6 months to prepare, and I'm sure we're going to go through some training before we do this.

Good luck and I hope you will update us on your experience with this, what an excellent opportunity.

Not to scare you but girls like you who don't make it their life's work to understand the process can actually hurt the futures for a lot of girls. Misinformation abounds. Here are some well-intentioned myths that rush counselors share:
You have to fill in every blank on your MRABA or you will get cut
Your chances of getting a bid into your first choice are greater if you fill in all of your choices
A chapter who wants you more could get you even if you ranked them lower, even if your first choice also had you as their first choice
There is any realistic scenario where you "fell through the cracks" or "there was a computer SNAFU."
A girl in a chapter who promises a bid has any actual authority to do so or knows with certainty what the final bid list will look like
After pledging that any member who tells you where you landed on their bid list isn't lying. Trust me, she doesn't know. She might THINK she knows, but the 2 or 3 people max who actually know aren't telling.

Also, know in advance the likelihood that informal rush or COB (same thing) will or will not happen on your campus. If there is a chapter or two that are significantly below total, they certainly will be continuing to rush, even if they have a stellar outcome. The top chapters, even if they would happen to miss quota by a couple (which can happen with RFM being what it is) will NOT be doing an informal rush. They will find girls, seek them out and handle the bidding quietly, and probably before the other pledges even know quota was missed. It's called snap bidding, and you really need to know the difference between that and COB as well.

Here are some terms to learn and understand the differences
RFM
Quota
Total
snap bids
COB
Informal Rush
SIP (it is considered impolite to use the word suicide)
bid matching
BEST chapter
WORST chapter
extension
colony
bid list
cut
preference