How to have an effective Recruitment?

[Frankie.J427]

Hey! I am looking for great ways and tips to make recruiting more efficient. I am part of a small sorority on campus and I am looking to help make rush next semester awesome! We really want to expand. What have you found helpful? How did you get your name out there? I would love to hear what you've got to say!

[Xidelt]

I really recommend the book "I Heart Recruitment." It has some really great, practical ideas and totally shifts your perspective on recruitment.

[Kevin]

Are you part of a national organization? What type of group are you (multicultural/NPHC/NPC?)

Also, do you not have alumni advisers who are supposed to help you with this? If not I would start cultivating alumnae who might be interested in giving back. Without alumni support, i.e., institutional knowledge, you are going to be stuck reinventing the wheel every year. So you might throw yourself headfirst into this thing, kick its butt and then the next person after you will start over from scratch. Sounds like a terrible idea, doesn't it?

Step 1: Find an adviser.

[AnchorAlumna]

If your sorority has a recruitment manual, READ YOUR RECRUITMENT MANUAL - COVER TO COVER.
It amazes me to find new officers who haven't even cracked the book. They come on here asking for help with ideas when all they have to do is open the book and start reading.
Not saying that's you, dear, but be sure to use the tools that may already be in front of you.

[Frankie.J427]

Thank you all for your help! I have talked to the President and we discussed things listed in our recruitment manual, but it is very flexible of events and things that we can do. We do have an alumnae advisor that helps us, but we are looking to shake things up and refresh some things because it seems that it isn't working quite well. We will definitely be in contact with other chapters about their tips and ideas as well. Is there any more advice anyone has? I really appreciate it!

[DubaiSis]

I think a big one for you to consider is as opposed to making every sister be fully involved with rush, have a team of your best girls and the ones most interested in the project handle it. Of course the other members will have to meet the girls, etc. according to your rules, but if you make Suzie Sister who HATES rush dig up some random girl to bring to a party or put her in conversation rotation, she's going to work against you. And that's not to say she isn't a perfectly awesome sister in all other aspects. We all have our own assets and interests. Better to have 5 girls who are really good at it focus their energy on 10 girls than 30 sisters focusing on 15. Of course my numbers are random and 5 girls might be a ridiculously low number for your chapter (as could 10 girls for COB), but really focusing on the sisters who want to be there and the rushees who are both likely to pledge and highly qualified will ease stress for better outcome.

If advertising is common at your school, great, use it. But know your school. If public invitations make you look bad at your school, then resist the temptation. Even if some yayhoo at headquarters says you should. If you are a VERY small Greek system, then by all means advertise. No one doing it in the past doesn't automatically make it bad.

[33girl]

Don't second guess yourselves OR rushees. Just because someone is a cheerleader don't assume she'll pledge XYZ where all the other cheerleaders are sisters and don't assume she won't be interested in you guys.

You make more lasting connections through common interests than through parties. My chapter just had a question on Facebook, how did you get involved? Almost every member had a personal, pre-rush connection. Make sure EVERY. SINGLE. MEMBER is involved in other campus organizations that they enjoy.