Recruitment Help
 

I am a newly elected Membership Director and have to plan for two weeks of Formal Recruitment as well as a Recruitment Workshop. I am trying to gather some ideas for three events, as well as a recruitment workshop and tips for our members to make our recruitment process stronger. We have been struggling for nearly the last two years and its time to change it around. Currently our chapter has 18 women, there are two sororities on campus, and we are trying to extend 10 bids for formal recruitment.

Any idea's and suggestions??

Although I have not read it, several women on GC strongly recommend the book I "heart" Recruitment. Look for it at Amazon.com and read the reviews. It might give you some valuable help.

Best of luck!

If you need ideas for formal rush I would contact your national rush chair (or whatever they call it) - they should be able to help you and maybe offer ideas that will be new to you and your campus. I will say though, if you don't feel comfortable with a big, elaborate skit, don't do it - even if the other group on campus does or if your traveling consultant encouraged it. You'll just look uncomfortable. Try having a "theme" instead of an all out skit.

First thing to do at the recruitment workshop is to clear up any internal problems you might have. THEN focus on strengthening your recruitment skills, like conversation skills, how to answer certain questions, etc. You can't get the idea of how wonderful your sisterhood is across to the PNMs if Susie is still POed at Becky for blowing off her officer duties last semester.

Is this for fall rush or are you planning ahead for next spring?

Do the PNMs have to sign up in advance for rush or do they pretty much just show up the day it starts and decide to rush then?

Go to Phiredup.com. This is from the people who wrote “I Heart Recruitment” and "Good Guys" (for fraternity recruitment) and they have A LOT of useful information on that site. Check out the blog, it’s very helpful!

One of the main points on there is that instead of having a recruitment goal of “I want to BID 10 new girls,” have a goal like, “I want to MEET 50 new girls.” That gives you people to choose from, not 10 people that might not be of a quality you’re looking for.

As a recruitment advisor for my chapter, I can tell you that in order to put on an effective workshop, the majority of what you do should be getting feedback from the members of your organization. Ask questions!

What do you think is working in recruitment?
What do you think is not working?
How can you more effectively communicate your goals and purposes to potential new members?
How can the chapter contact and draw in more potential new members?
How can each member contact and draw in more potential new members?

And if you want to narrow in on one aspect of recruitment that YOU feel isn’t working, ask more direct questions pertaining to that area of concern. Let’s say you view your chapter as one that has a hard time talking to potential new members at recruitment events. Ask questions like:

Who do you feel are some of the more outgoing members of this group?
Who in this group do you think speaks very well?
How can we help each other to communicate with potential new members?
Do you think we should create a system to rotate and talk to new members at events? If so, what should it be?

And create group activities. I just put on a workshop this past semester and had a few things that I had the girls do in order to get them thinking about certain aspects of recruitment.

One of the activities focused on who they should bid. I gave each group a worksheet describing 9 fictitious potential new members, each one having a positive and negative characteristic, and each group had to decide together who they would bid, and why.

Example: Sarah - A 2nd semester freshman who is enjoying her college experience just a little too much. Her grades are just barely above the 2.3 GPA requirement to join. She attends as many parties as she can on the weekends, and sometimes, during the week as well. She skips at least 2 classes a week, and says how she always forgets to do her homework. But she does a lot of community service, including volunteering twice a week at a local soup kitchen.

The girls have to separate the positive and negative points about each girl, determine what they could do to help her if she was a member, and decide whether or not to give her a bid.

I had another activity where I gave girls in different groups a business, and a product they have to sell. They are trying to market their product on campus. Each group was told who their target audience is, and then they answered questions about advertisement, things to say to potential buyers, what 3 main things they want to portray about their product, etc. That lead into a discussion about how they want to "sell" the idea of the sorority to girls on campus, how they can do that at recruitment events, and where and how they should advertise. Responses included new ways for communicating and displaying information at recruitment events, ideas about new and inventive advertising strategies, a discussion about explaining to potential new members how and why dues and financial responsibilities are an investment, and how the sorority’s values can be included in convincing new members to join.

After your workshop, make sure you follow up with the girls on a weekly basis. Continue asking questions! Have them list 3 positives and 3 negatives they observed during a recruitment event. Ask them if they see changes being made. Ask whether they think these changes are positive. Ask if any of them have come up with new ideas. Do this all year long. Don’t let them forget about recruitment!

If you’d like me to send you these activities, or any other handouts that I used at my workshop, I’d be more than happy to do that. Let me know! :)

You could try this now but it usually works best post-recruitment, so maybe you can give it a shot with the incoming pledge class. Since your last pledge class has most likely been involved for atleast a semester, things probably won't be so fresh in their minds.

Usually about a week after getting our new pedge class, they would take anonymous surveys about their recruitment experience with both Alpha Phi as well as the other sororities. We asked what they did and didn't like about our rush, their rush, what stood out, what sisters stood out (this is good for identifying girls who are great at rushing), why they chose Alpha Phi, etc. Girls can be honest because it is anonymous and if your chapter has a party or theme that you all think is great but didn't do much for the PNMs (my first rush as a sister.. cringing as I think about how we changed the words around to an Ashlee Simpson song to reflect sisterhood).

Hey ASTalumna...I would love to get some of your material. It would help me so much with figuring out what other chapters do that we could do as well. Thanks!

Thanks everyone for your help. If you can think of anything else please don't hesitate to drop in and leave me more info. I can use all the help I can get!!

you can do some role playing during ur workshop...
and go over what NOT to talk about during recruitment!!
and also some conversational skills!!
oh and don't forget songs!! learn songs!!

I read that book because I'm currently working with a struggling Chapter by long distance. I think it would be a good read for a Chapter that is struggling with recruitment.

ASTalum, I would love to have a copy of the girls scenarios you used. I think this would be a great way to get my girls talking about what kind of girls we really want to represent us.