CORS - how to get feedback from PNMs

[emily0325]

Lately my sorority has been having problems getting feedback from PNMs about weather or not they are geniunely interested in joining the sorority.

Girls come out to our events, but some are so hard to read due to shyness in some cases. We try to ask them if they're interested and plan fun things to do, but when it comes to extending the bids we're always nervious as to who is actually going to accept and who isn't.

Has anyone else encountered this? Anyone have any ideas as to how to know for sure?

[AlphaFrog]

That's the wonderful thing about COR - there's no quota. You bid who you want to. If they don't accept, they don't accept, and you bid another woman who you also like.

[emily0325]

Yeah, but you don't want to extend a bid to someone who isn't really into it.

I go to a smaller school so the pool is pretty limited after panhellenic recruitment has ended.

[UGAalum94]

And you don't want to seem like you offer bids to everyone either, I'd guess.

How many events do you have before you offer bids?

Could you use another invitation as a way to gauge interest, or do you think some PNM will keep accepting but don't really want bids?

I would seem to me that if you had kind of the COR equivalent of prefs, and the PNMs could kind of know it, only the serious would accept invitations.

[KSUViolet06]

This is how we did COB:

We usually have 2 days of open events, then we issue invitations to the last day. The invite-only event helped because girls could decline the the invite and we didn't have to wonder if they were interested or not. If they didn't like us, they could decide not to come back and we didn't have to waste a bid.

[AGDee]

It seems unlikely that they would continue to attend COR events if they weren't interested.

[AnatraAmore]

We ran into that problem a few years ago. PNMs would attend COR events for all three groups over the course of a week or so. All the groups on my campus had a requirement that you attend at least 2 out of 4 or 5 events to receive a bid during that week. At the end of that week, each group decided who to extend a bid to, but often we discovered that half of the girls we were extending bids to were also receiving bids from at least one other group. We found that doing an invite only night helped, but there will always be some girls who attend that event and A. decide not to pledge or B. attend the same event for another group as well and pledge somewhere else.

[NutBrnHair]

Originally Posted by emily0325

Lately my sorority has been having problems getting feedback from PNMs about weather or not they are geniunely interested in joining the sorority.

Hmmmm...maybe check the Weather Channel before you offer the bid.

[FSUZeta]

do you have the opportunity to speak intimately with these women? is there a connection being made, or is everyone just participating in the activity?

[texas*princess]

Originally Posted by AnatraAmore

We ran into that problem a few years ago. PNMs would attend COR events for all three groups over the course of a week or so. All the groups on my campus had a requirement that you attend at least 2 out of 4 or 5 events to receive a bid during that week. At the end of that week, each group decided who to extend a bid to, but often we discovered that half of the girls we were extending bids to were also receiving bids from at least one other group. We found that doing an invite only night helped, but there will always be some girls who attend that event and A. decide not to pledge or B. attend the same event for another group as well and pledge somewhere else.

I think the invite-only night is a good idea. Even if they attend, it's the sorority's job to make them WANT it more than any other group on campus.

If they just show up and everyone thinks "cool, she is interested because she showed up and she soooooo wants us; our job is done" they probably will not end up getting her if she attends two or more invite only nights.

I would think that invite-only night in COR is somewhat similiar to FR's Pref Night. A lot of pnms go to Pref Night - Many go to more than one Pref event. It is usually what happens during pref that closes the deal for many pnms who are torn during the recruitment process.

[melaxid]

I think the invite only event is a great event- chapters I have worked with do it similar to a pref night.

Also, I would suggest reading "I Heart Recruitment" from phiredup.com They talk about how to get the pnms to let you know if they would accept a bid if you were to extend one.

I know it is hard thought on campuses where all the chapters are COBing and trying to get new members. Something to think about is, if multiple chapters have to cob AFTER formal recruitment to get to total, maybe total is not set at the right level for your campus.

Good luck!

[AOII Angel]

Originally Posted by melaxid

I think the invite only event is a great event- chapters I have worked with do it similar to a pref night.

Also, I would suggest reading "I Heart Recruitment" from phiredup.com They talk about how to get the pnms to let you know if they would accept a bid if you were to extend one.

I know it is hard thought on campuses where all the chapters are COBing and trying to get new members. Something to think about is, if multiple chapters have to cob AFTER formal recruitment to get to total, maybe total is not set at the right level for your campus.

Good luck!

I was just about to suggest this same book. I just read it this week, and the suggestions in this book are aimed mainly at the COR type of recruitment. I'm actually going to send this book to one of the AOII chapters that is rebuilding. A lot of the stuff in the book is common sense, but most of it was stuff I hadn't thought of before. Good luck with recruitment.

[UGAalum94]

Originally Posted by NutBrnHair

Hmmmm...maybe check the Weather Channel before you offer the bid.

You are wicked. And they already do forecasts, so it's not so far off.

[PeppyGPhiB]

Do they know they're recruitment events? I know some chapters think it's better to invite women to hang out or go out with some members for a night of fun instead of broadcasting that it's a recruitment event, but that often leads to situations like yours where uninterested-in-membership girls keep coming...they don't know they're PNMs.

If that's the case, be sure that the members that are inviting these women tell the PNMs that these are informal recruitment events, not just hanging out.

[carnation]

This is a good one to bump...