Calm in the Face of Adversity - A Recruitment Advisor's Spring 2010 Story....

Hopeful4Spring · #1 11-02-2009, 07:34 PM

Hello All! I wanted to start a recruitment story as Recruitment Advisor to my alma mater chapter. My chapter has faced many ups and downs over the last few years with recruitment. We see chapter total within our grasp and then half of the chapter graduates. I want to share with you all this process from start to finish and welcome any advice and enouragement.

About Me
* Recruitment Advisor for Alma Mater (2 Years)
* Former COR, Recruitment Chair and President of my Chapter

About the School & Greek Life
* Medium Sized School
* Deferred Recruitment
* Declining numbers for Panhellenic Recruitment over the last 5 years
* Competitive COR for Fall Semesters
* Chapter Total: 50-60
* New Recruitment Format

About the GLOs
These are not all of the Sororities but they are the ones we most compete with for PNMs during recruitment.

Diamond : This is my home. For the last 8 years I have lived and breathed this organization. Back in the day we were known for being the overweight/awkward/less desirable group. However, those barriers have been broken for a few years now and its hardly the case but it seems that we're still the organization that everyone "Loves" but seems to pass over due to old stereotypes or the perceived "lower tier". All of the HQ Consultants tell us they don't understand why we do not succeed in recruitment because they enjoy our chapter and feel like the numbers don't justify our group as a whole. We are weak recruiters in the fall but have done well in the spring as of the last few years. But its still not enough to keep our numbers up. We have the fewest members on our campus.

Ruby: This organization is probably the closet to our "Rival". Many women who spend their pref day with Ruby spendtheir other pref party with us diamonds.They always seem to have a large variety of women and are always at total. But if you speak to some of their sisters they will tell you that once they get the girls they most desire, they pick up others to fill open vacancies.

Emerald: This organization has always been a pretty large variety of women. They had been known for being the party crowd and provocative as a nice word. They got in trouble for hazing several years and went from 45 to 12 members. They quickly reorganized and are back to a consistency around 45 members. Many other women that attend their pref also attend ours as well.

This year we will be following a new format and I'm extremely nervous and want more than anything to have a successful recruitment. I'm starting with my posts now because I want more than anything for these ladies to succeed and grow with great women that they deserve. Next post to follow shortly.

CougarGrad · #2 11-02-2009, 07:42 PM

I'm really excited about this story!

Hopeful4Spring · #3 11-02-2009, 07:50 PM

We are full speed ahead on planning and preparing for this upcoming Spring 2010. We now have the format and schedule for Formal Recruitment. Keep in mind that my school follows a deferred recruitment schedule with the Formal Recruitment in the Spring.

About the Recruitment:

* No Frills, No songs, No Dance, No Skits, No Chanting, No Decor
* Women will come and go to houses as they please up until preference day. They can stay at a house for 5 minutes or for 2 hours. They must visit each of the houses at least once to attend preference.
* Release Figures Methodology will not be used this year. There will be hand matching taking place
* 180 PNMs have signed up as interested in Recruitment so far. Official sign ups will begin next week. This is a huge difference from the 60 that signed up to participate in recruitment last year.

The Schedule:

Day 1 : Open House, All organizations will be given a booth for all PNMs to initially learn about each organization

Day 2 : Sisterhood Day, This to me is a strange/awkward day. Since we have no frills it consists of talking to women, scrapbooks and powerpoint videos with pictures.

Day 3: Philanthropy, Pretty self explanatory and allows for an activity related to your cause. All PNMs must have visited all houses before the end of this day to be eligible to attend preference

Day 4: Preference

Day 5: Bid Matching followed by Bid Day

I'm feeling very nervous about this format for recruitment. Also, with PNMs just being able to float back and forth between houses seems that it could look disorganized. Also, without using Release Figures Management, the better recruiting groups will not be forced to drop larger numbers of women and will carry women to the end of recruitment. This to me seems like a set up for PNM Heartbreak. However, all PNMs will be encouraged to rank all of the houses for which they attend preference.

Preparing starts now with possibly a last minute PR in the freshman resident hall and a workshop before everyone returns in January for the work week. I'm going to be on pins and needles now until Bid Day!! When we followed RFM in 2005 we began reaching quota although the numbers for Formal Recruitment were declining making quota a small number and leaving a lot of work left for COR.

More to follow!

33girl · #4 11-02-2009, 08:12 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by CougarGrad

I'm really excited about this story!

That makes one of us.

CougarGrad · #5 11-03-2009, 12:46 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by 33girl

That makes one of us.

See you on another thread, then?

Benzgirl · #6 11-03-2009, 12:51 PM

180 for three chapters is huge!

Titchou · #7 11-03-2009, 01:21 PM

Reread the post - she only listed the 3 they recruit against...states there are others but does not give the number.

Benzgirl · #8 11-03-2009, 02:32 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Titchou

Reread the post - she only listed the 3 they recruit against...states there are others but does not give the number.

My apologies.

littleowl33 · #9 11-03-2009, 03:46 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Benzgirl

180 for three chapters is huge!

Since we lost a chapter this spring, we're going to have ~215 PNMs for 3 chapters this year. Eeek.

Hopeful4Spring · #10 11-03-2009, 04:00 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by littleowl33

Since we lost a chapter this spring, we're going to have ~215 PNMs for 3 chapters this year. Eeek.

That's wild! The numbers for Formal Recruitment at my campus have dropped off horribly. We have a new Greek Life Director this year who is switching things up. I'm super nervous but I do hope that we will begin to see large numbers. It doesn't help at all when quota is only 4!

Thank you all for your support! This is a big recruitment for us this year as Panhellenic has been threatening us about our numbers (That's a whole other story). I've gotten a lot of support from HQ representatives and its always good to have other support as well.

Here's the run down of the last several years of Formal Recruitment Numbers:

2002: 110 (This was before Deferred Recruitment)
2003: 85
2004: 140
2005: 130
2006: 85
2007: 35
2008: 65

This will be a GREAT opportunity with our campus if the number is over 100. No one has any idea how numbers have gotten so low in the past year. Enrollment in the campus growing exponentially each year. If they can truly get 180 women into Recruitment this year our new Greek Life Director deserves a raise.

Our chapter is currently working on the logistics for this recruitment. Its going to be a completely different concept with having women "freely roaming" to and from each house. In fact, its nerve racking. It sounds like it could easily become a disorganized distaster real fast with so many women especially if they travel in "packs". We're hoping to nail down a great way to handle this.

If some things seem underdetailed I apologize...I'm trying to keep the identities of the campus and the organizations. All it takes is one person to roam to this thread to start putting together the pieces.

thetygerlily · #11 11-03-2009, 04:09 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Hopeful4Spring

* Women will come and go to houses as they please up until preference day. They can stay at a house for 5 minutes or for 2 hours. They must visit each of the houses at least once to attend preference.

I'm curious... how does Pref work in this case? Do they have to narrow it down to X amount, or have time minimums for the night? Or is Pref more like formal recruitment Pref with formal start & stop times?

33girl · #12 11-03-2009, 04:17 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by CougarGrad

See you on another thread, then?

To only mention two other chapters is silly, when there are more. Not to mention incredibly shortsighted on the part of a recruitment advisor. I hope this didn't carry over to real life.

I've never heard Panhellenic "threaten" a chapter unless housing is involved. Panhellenics simply don't have the power to close a chapter for numbers.

Sorry, but when I see glaring inconsistencies like that from someone who's been a member 8 years, it sends up a red flag for me.

Hopeful4Spring · #13 11-03-2009, 04:30 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by thetygerlily

I'm curious... how does Pref work in this case? Do they have to narrow it down to X amount, or have time minimums for the night? Or is Pref more like formal recruitment Pref with formal start & stop times?

The PNMs will be allowed to go to all Preferences if they choose. The sororities will release just before pref and the PNMs will be able to pick which Pref's they attend. These will have formal start and finish times.

SydneyK · #14 11-03-2009, 04:38 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Hopeful4Spring

The PNMs will be allowed to go to all Preferences if they choose. The sororities will release just before pref and the PNMs will be able to pick which Pref's they attend. These will have formal start and finish times.

Wait. PNMs can choose which prefs to go to, but yet the sororities will release PNMs just before pref? If Patty PNM wants to go to ABC, she can still choose to go even if ABC cuts her just before pref? This makes no sense.

Hopeful4Spring · #15 11-03-2009, 04:40 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by SydneyK

Wait. PNMs can choose which prefs to go to, but yet the sororities will release PNMs just before pref? If Patty PNM wants to go to ABC, she can still choose to go even if ABC cuts her just before pref? This makes no sense.

They can attend all Pref's as long as they weren't released after the first two days of recruitment. It is possible for Patty PNM to be invited to all Prefs. If Patty PNM wants to attend all Prefs she can. If Patty PNM is invited to 2 Prefs...she can decide to attend both or one of those Prefs.