Informal Recruitment: Why?

[BlueHen]

Hi, everyone. I am the recruitment chair for a social and professional engineering and technical science sorority. We always participate in informal recruitment on our own and I really want to get us a big candidate class this year.

I did read the stickied threads and everyone's advice to search the threads and read up first. I've done that and found some great advice about informal recruitment. I even bought that I Heart Recruitment book and it was a great idea.

There are so many ideas and I'm not sure which are most effective. So I was just wondering: Women who joined through COB, why did you join? Did any particular activity draw you in? When/how did you notice that your chapter was recruiting? What "sealed the deal"?

[Nanners52674]

My chapter only does informal since we're the only NPC on campus. I looked into because I was interested in greek life and then I feel in love with my chapter.

I first found out when I looked it up on the schools website and then found a group on facebook. It was never about the activities at recruitment. It was about the members.

Nanners is definitely right. Recruitment isn't about the activity- it's about the people. I Heart Recruitment is an awesome resource! It talks alot about communicating to PNM's.

I joined my chapter because the women were interested in getting to know me and not just recruit me. Ironically, I was set on NOT JOINING at first, but they still continued to get to know me. I also ended up having a lot of my classes with the women in the chapter; so, we ended up studying together or being in other groups on campus together. As I got to know the girls, I got to know the sorority itself, and as time went on, I was able to see how wonderful the chapter was.

So, for activities, make sure it's something light that will enable the PNM's to get to know your chapter. I'd try to steer clear of movies and save those for a sisterhood type of event. I go to a service school; so, small service projects usually help to draw some people in.

Reading I Heart Recruitment is an awesome start. Also, check your sorority's website and look for any kind of training power points or things of the sort. They might be a little lengthy, but they're full of great information. Good luck!

[agzg]

I joined during informal recruitment but it was a little different at that time on my campus. Basically, Formal Recruitment was in the spring and was what we know as formal recruitment here on GC (maybe with a few smaller differences due to the size of my campus and its chapters). Informal recruitment in the fall was actually partially structured - there was a two week period where all the chapters were holding parties, they tried to coordinate so that if someone wanted to go to more than one chapter they would be able to, but a PNM wasn't required to go to all the chapters. I went to all of my chapter's recruitment events, including a preference round (most chapters on my campus had preference during informal recruitment at that time) then all the chapters participated in a bid day which included showing up at PNM's dorms/apartments with balloons and surprising the crap out of them (although they're not really that sneaky - I heard them coming about a mile away). PNMs were able to receive up to five bids (one from each chapter) and then had 24 hours to decide, although most people didn't take that long. The chapters would then wait at their houses for the PNMs to come and sign their bids, then have a party with cake (which ended up getting smashed) and then they would be off to some sort of activity (bowling or the movies or something).

My campus doesn't work this way that I know of now. Many chapters will start bidding for the fall New Member classes before classes end during Spring semester (shortly after their spring classes are initiated) and then they COR until "bid day" which is the kickoff to the fall New Member period. This means they can bid anyone that's been to enough recruitment events, which don't necessarily happen all during a certain time period.

I realized, though, after I graduated, that the recruitment parties really weren't what drew me to my chapter. It was because individuals were consistently recruiting me the entire time, which is the heart of COR. They started recruiting me when I was working as an Orientation Adviser over the summer before I joined. They showed me their house and invited me to hang out with them without me knowing that they intended to recruit me in the fall, I thought I was just making friends. However, after making friends with a handful of women in the chapter, in addition to those that were my friends before they even joined, it made it so much easier to see myself as a member of the chapter.

I feel like chapters work harder during informal or COR than they do during formal recruitment. They actually develop relationships with PNMs before actively recruiting them. As a result, I think, classes of New Members that joined via COR or informal recruitment tend to be closer with the chapter upon initiation, because the sisterhood bond has been developing since before formal pledging even began.

On my campus (this does NOT fly for most other campuses) often times the fall new member classes are larger than the spring new member classes unless the chapter is just below or over total. If they have 10 spots to total, they tend to fill all their spots. During spring recruitment they bid to quota, but it tends to be smaller (5-8) and since houses are already at total from fall semester they don't often go over quota unless they get a quota addition.

[minDyG]

I joined through COB. For me, Greek life was something I'd already toyed with in my mind, without making the commitment of going through formal recruitment. I happened to befriend someone who was a Delta Gamma, and she suggested that I sign up for informal recruitment. I thought it would be a good way to meet people, even if I didn't decide to join, but when I went to their house and saw what an amazing group of women they were, I knew I had to join!

After I was initiated and I participated in informal recruitment from the inside, it always held a special place in my heart. I knew that the ladies going through COB were just as great of finds as any that would go through formal recruitment in the fall, and I worked as hard as I could to make sure that we got an amazing group of new members. We had some really cool events: a fashion show, an hors d'oevre party, inviting the PNM's to AnchorSplash. And in the end, our spring pledge class ended up being some of my best friends in the chapter!

[KSUViolet06]

I also joined my chapter via COB. Chapters at my school put ads and flyers up around campus. I had been interested in being Greek, so I saw Sigma's flyer and decided to check it out.

The activities weren't the thing that "sealed the deal." They were pretty fun though and really allowed me to interact with everyone.

It was interacting with those women during that week and realizing that they were the people I wanted to be my sisters.

[texas*princess]

I agree w/ those that said the activities themselves didn't 'seal the deal' for me.

I joined via COR. I was a transfer student and didn't think I'd want to join Greek Life when I first got there. A week later, when I saw all the girls wearing their white dresses and waiting to be let into the chapter rooms that were located on the first floor of my dorm (was before they all got houses), I began to wish I had gone through recruitment.

Like minDyG, I met an ADPi a couple of months later and she encouraged me to sign up for informal recruitment in Spring. There were two sororities COR'ing at the time, but I fell in love with all the girls @ ADPi. They just seemed to genuine & nice.

LIke someone else mentioned, steer clear of movie nights .. save those for other times. You want to do something that is engaging and gives your members a chance to get to know the girls.

[ASTalumna06]

I sat behind a girl in my meteorology class the first semester of my sophomore year. She wore an AST jacket, with huge letters on the back of it, almost every day. It was kind of hard to avoid looking at it. She was very outgoing, became close with the professor (not THAT close!) and would always help people around her when working on group projects/packets for labs. One day, I asked her, "What's Alpha Sigma Tau all about?" and of course she was excited. I found out later that she was friends with my friend KJ, a Delta Chi. So now the two of them were talking about getting me to join, without my knowing.

The following semester, that sister ended up transferring to another Penn State campus, and my thought of sororities had kind of dwindled to nothing. Out of sight, out of mind. But little did I know, KJ talked to another sister about me. This sister lived and breathed Alpha Sigma Tau. I think everyone on campus, including myself, knew her as "The Girl in Green." KJ introduced me to her, and she was really nice and friendly. She would approach me in the campus cafe and talk to me whenever possible. One day, she asked me to come to a recruitment event. Not too keen about the idea, I said, "Yea, I might be able to make it.." which was a lie. I had nothing to do that night, but the thought of walking into a room, by myself, with 15 girls I didn't know wasn't exactly my idea of a good time.

Another day, the sister asked me if I wanted to attend the recruitment party that night. I said I'd try to make it. She asked me, "If you want, I can meet you at your dorm and walk there with you." At that point, I figured why not, and I gave her my phone number. She called me that night when she was outside my building, and we went to the party together. I remember we watched 'Friends' that night, and just ate and talked. I went to a few more recruitment events after that, but I honestly couldn't even remember what we did. I can only recall the first one, probably because of the "special attention" I received.

If that sister hadn't walked with me to the event, I never would have joined. Remember that sometimes, all the wonderful events and great conversation skills won't get girls to your parties. Pay special attention to potential members, and remember how uncomfortable informal recruitment situations can be for them.

[tm481823]

hi i will be a sophmore in the fall and i go to saint joseph's university and the school has a small greek life with only four sorities i tried as a freshman with formal recruitment and did not get a bid to a soririty of my choice there were over one hundred girls at recruitment which was the biggest my school has ever had should i try again? i miss having that one group of friends that have one thing in common

[BlueHen]

Thanks for all the input everyone. I'll remind my sisters to be very friendly and personable. That was the reason I joined, too, so I probably should have considered that. I think the wearing of letters around campus will help too.

Our chapter doesn't really do an informational night. We have pamphlets we hand out. I might suggest we try it: it might be more boring than other informal recruitment events, but it seems like a good idea to fully explain everything. I also am putting together a presentation about constant recruitment and having sister remember that we are recruiting 100% of the time.

Thank you again for all the advice and your stories about joining via informal. If anyone else wants to add, they should.

(I joined through informal as well because that was all Alpha Omega Epsilon did, but I wanted to hear others stories.)

[ASTalumna06]

Originally Posted by BlueHen

Our chapter doesn't really do an informational night. We have pamphlets we hand out. I might suggest we try it: it might be more boring than other informal recruitment events, but it seems like a good idea to fully explain everything.

Informational nights can actually be really fun if you make them that way. A couple times when I was active, my chapter put on a "fashion show" and had sisters wear different sorority attire. A few girls wore lettered shirts, a few wore jerseys (we all received them at initiation), some wore badge attire, others wore whites, etc. We had an announcer (who was usually the funniest/most entertaining out of all of us) who would describe what everyone was wearing, and when each outfit might be worn.

We also played a game of Bingo where all of the spaces were things having to do with the sorority (AST, green & gold, anchor, yellow rose, pearl, our motto, founding date, national philanthropy, etc.)

All of the sisters would then talk about fun/meaningful things, like how they got their nicknames, and what their best memories are with the sorority.

Then we'd open it up to a Q & A session.

Have fun with it!

[prblms4loki]

I joined because I had missed Formal Recruitment in the fall and with so few sororities on my campus, it was pretty easy to narrow down the girls that I truly wanted to be sisters with. If I didn't have friends in it though, I probably would have never joined since I never would have heard about it, it wasn't very well publicized.

[groovypq]

This is a great thread. The chapter I advise has informal recruitment (much like agzg's, sounds like) coming up, and the points in here are excellent!

[littleowl33]

I joined during Formal Recruitment, but my chapter does COB every year. There are only three Panhel sororities on campus, and we're the only one who does COB (the other two groups are way above chapter total). There are a few smaller sororities (one multicultural, one latina interest and two asian interest) who do informal recruitment, but we don't really compete for the same demographic. Generally the women who want to pledge those groups are pretty firmly NOT interested in NPC.

We tend to take a pledge class of about 25 through Formal Recruitment in January, then immediately go into COB and add about 10-15 more within a week. In the fall, we can't COB freshmen but usually pledge 6-10 sophomores and juniors. Spring COB is usually girls who dropped out of Formal Recruitment for whatever reason, freshmen whose friends joined through FR, or upperclassmen who don't want to deal with FR and are joining because they have friends in thr group already. Fall COB is almost exclusively women who are there because they have friends in the group. We do some light advertising - usually just flyers in mailboxes - but rely almost entirely on our sisters to bring in their friends. Because of this, we usually know who our pledge class will be a few months in advance! In the past year, we've only had a handul of girls come to COB without knowing anyone. This is wildly different from Formal Recruitment, where most PNMs don't know anyone in Greek Life. Having your sisters recruit outside of actual recruitment, Formal or Informal, is so, so important.

[born2bdphie]

I joined through informal spring of my sophmore year. In all honesty I had no idea what was going on. Some girl in my class kept inviting me over to her sorority house to bake cookies and play twister and other random stuff. I didn't have much going on that week so I went to three of these gatherings (which were actually events and I didn't really know it untill the third one). I didn't actually know I was being rushed untill I was invited to pref night haha... and even then I didn't understand the signifigance of it. I went to pref because I thought I was making new friends and *maybe* joining a sweet "club"... haha I didn't really know about bids either they had to call me to come over to the house to give me mine because they couldn't find me in my room where I guess I was supposed to be.... hahaha... I guess the moral is, in informal recruitment girls join friendships, not sororities.