What makes a good rusher?

[FleurGirl]

Hey girls!
Recruitment is coming up, and as one who passed on formal recruitment entirely and did COB, I'm a little nervous about being on the recruiting side of the formal process! What do you remember about the conversations you had during rush? What made them good or bad; memorable or forgettable? What was your favorite conversation topic/particular moment of recruitment? Any advice is much appreciated!

[sydney bristow]

Using the search function is a good place to begin. APhiAnna's convervation thread is good. Just sayin'.

[Benzgirl]

Trying to make a connection with the PNM. As Jen mentioned, what works for you won't necessarily work for everyone.

I remember one girl that came through rush at the end of the day during first round. After 18 houses, everyone was tired. One of my sisters just couldn't connect and gave me the "help" sign. The PNM was wearing the most awesome pair of shoes. Immediately, I said, "cool shoes, where did you find them". It turned out, they were hand-made by a relative and she started to talk about how she was learning to make shoes herself. For some reason, she opened to me -- my guess is that she was tired of the "where are you from and what is your major" and was excited to talk about something else.

When the PNM came back second round, she was waving at me when we came out singing. The best thing to keep in mind is where you can connect with a PNM on a deeper level and typically, that will lead to something else.

[AXOrushadvisor]

This is more general information as I'm to old to even remember what I talked about during recruitment I think there are several things that make a good recruiter. One is the ability to be warm and friendly. I always tell the girls to treat PNM's like they are coming to your home and they are! The ability to hold a conversation and talk about everything and nothing. Some of the most creative recruiters make it fun especially if they get a stick in the mud who wont talk. I'm not sure being a good recruiter is a skill you can learn. I happen to think really good ones just have the ability to talk, laugh and hold an interesting conversation with a stranger. Sometimes the ones you think will be really good at recruitment are awful. Usually girls know when they are not good at it and those are the ones that tend not to like recruitment. Good luck!

[crescent&pearls]

Answering the question what makes a good rusher (recruiter?) is more complicated than what makes a good conversationalist.

To me, a chapter that is successful at recruitment has a variety of women that all contribute something to the project. Some are creative and organized at planning stand out recruitment events. Some bring prestige to the chapter through their campus and community involvement, scholastic achievement or personal achievements. Some are good singers, or can pull off a slightly goofy skit without it seeming goofy. And let's face it, some are the lookers that stand out in front and clap and sing with a big smile and they do a lot to represent their chapters as fun groups that are welcoming and fun to a part of.

Great conversationalists are the closers that are rare. Good conversationalists are sincere, interested, make eye contact, are aware of their body language, and are generally just nice people who are socially confident. It's finding that place between being slightly aloof but not haughty that is so elusive! Ultimately, you just have to be yourself and if you really like your chapter and are proud of your membership, you can be a good recruiter and you will make connections with the women you meet.

[FleurGirl]

This is all really great advice! Thanks everyone!

[AnchorAlumna]

All good advice, but I believe anybody can learn to be a good recruiter. It does, however, take some practice, and you can do that with other sisters, "swapping" with a nearby chapter or even another sorority on campus...or just practice a bit in everyday conversations.

What you're practicing is getting to know somebody you've never met before. Skills that are handy throughout life.

A few tips: relax, prepare mentally by telling yourself this is fun and keeping a list of topics in mind, practice with a respondent who has 1-syllable answers, forget about yourself and concentrate on the other person.

I highly, highly recommend reading the old classic, "How to Win Friends and Influence People." Several here have recommended "I Heart Recruitment." Barbara Walters had a good book out (probably out of print - check used paperback bookstores or amazon.com), "How to Talk to Practically Anybody About Practically Anything."

Good luck to you!!

[RaggedyAnn]

Originally Posted by Jen

I feel like a lot that were good we just kind of stumbled into.

I remember at one sorority we were talking and the subject of sports came up and I said I was a hockey fan. The conversation rocketed from there because the rusher and I had a ton in common regarding hockey, and the next sister to bump her did as well. It may not have turned out that way with most people, so a lot of it is luck that you'll hit a topic you can gab about.

I got tired of "what's your major" and "do you live on campus" and all of those questions because they were asked everywhere. After the first day there's a definitely feeling of "shouldn't you know this?" even if you know it's impossible for them to remember and even if you're meeting different people. I suppose question fatigue just makes you cranky to hear it again past the first day.

I think everyone is different and that's what makes it hard. I love talking about favourite TV shows and actors and books and writing. Someone else might be totally bored by it. I think a good rusher would be able to take cues from the PNM and realize the conversation topic wasn't interesting to them and try to find things that might be. So having an arsenal of possibly topics to discuss is a good plan.

I remember when we bumped we introduced the PNM and also mentioned something she had in common with the sister we were introducing to her. This also made it easier to remember PNMs later, because you could relate to them somehow. I still remember my first bump experience as a PNM with ASA because the sister and I had the same major. It dawned on me right away what they were doing and it made me very comfortable actually. I couldn't wait to find out what other similarities I had with sisters. Another bump was that I was from the same geographical area.

The biggest piece of advice I have though is to keep a smile on your face and stay perky, even if you have to fake it. People are naturally drawn to happy people. If your having a bad day, put the biggest smile on your face for ten minutes before you get to your destination (works great if you are driving by yourself). It may sound corny, but it works. I used that technique as a salesperson all the time. If your going with a group, you can do it while showering or fixing your hair.

Oh, and put a positive spin on recruitment. If you think of it as something you have to go to, you won't get the most out of it you can. I always thought of it as another opportunity to spend time with my sisters and loved the idea of looking for new sisters.

[greekgirl50]

As cliche as it is, I learned that the phrase "Be yourself" is not only excellent rush advice for a pnm, but for an active as well. Being genuine is key.

Also- try to use specific examples when you are talking about your chapter. For instance instead of saying, "Academics are really important at XYZ" you could instead say "What I love is all the academic support I get from my sisters. For example, I was really worried about my anatomy class, but I got old notes from my big and formed a weekly study group with other xyzs in my class. It helped so much and I ended up acing all three exams." Does that make sense?

[KSUViolet06]

Good reads:

http://www.greekchat.com/gcforums/sh...t=Conversation
http://www.greekchat.com/gcforums/sh...hlight=rushers
http://www.greekchat.com/gcforums/sh...es+recruitment