Alexandra Robbins, Authoress of PLEDGED, said:

[icicle22]

Originally Posted by skylark

Maybe this is more just my own experience with HQ communication, but I have never felt that they were encouraging us to recruit a certain image. Sure, maybe they wanted us to recruit women who had potential leadership qualities and had good grades, but that was the end of it.

Any image-focused drive I think comes more from the PNMs trying to peg the groups into some stereotype in order to pick the right one. I think the advice to the PNMs to keep an open mind is good, but I think that AR's book does more to close minds about sorority life than it does to open minds. I really think that AR should have looked at greek life on a variety of campuses before writing her book, too.

If you ask me, any campus would be better off having someone at www.phiredup.com speak to a campus about changing greek life for the better. Their I Heart Recruitment book is fabulous.

I've got to get that book.

[33girl]

Originally Posted by icicle22

I've got to get that book.

Perhaps I'm cynical, but I checked out that site and the main theme seems to be "formal rush isn't everything." Which...you should already know.

[icicle22]

Originally Posted by 33girl

Perhaps I'm cynical, but I checked out that site and the main theme seems to be "formal rush isn't everything." Which...you should already know.

Well I just checked if they had it on Amazon, and they did...with only one review that is.

[33girl]

Just from the blog entries and pages of the books that were available. In other words (I think I'm paraphrasing James here) you shouldn't RUSH, you should truly RECRUIT. It's true, and I realize it may be a big revelation to some chapters, but if it takes a book for chapters to realize that our HQs are really falling down education-wise.

[icicle22]

Originally Posted by 33girl

Just from the blog entries and pages of the books that were available. In other words (I think I'm paraphrasing James here) you shouldn't RUSH, you should truly RECRUIT. It's true, and I realize it may be a big revelation to some chapters, but if it takes a book for chapters to realize that our HQs are really falling down education-wise.

Well, that would make total sense.

[skylark]

Originally Posted by icicle22

Well I just checked if they had it on Amazon, and they did...with only one review that is.

I should make a disclaimer here... the review on Amazon is from me :-) The book obviously made quite an impression on me at a time I really needed inspiration advising my chapter.

[skylark]

33girl: the website only gives a general synopsis of what is in the book... I honestly wouldn't have bought it either if all I knew was what was on the site. It was someone else who had read the book and gave me some of the advice from it that related to a problem I was having that "sold" me on the book.

And yeah, we all already know formal recruitment isn't everything. The book gives great, concrete ideas for chapters, though. They talk about chapters in every possible situation and give examples of what worked for those chapters. They also give ideas/critiques about why certain techniques for recruitment don't work and why others do. Sometimes you knew something didn't work, but didn't know why and this book helps you to get at what works on your campus.

One of the things in the book that I constantly remind myself of is to concentrate on helping and encouraging the members who are already excited and want to work rather than focusing on trying to motivate the girls who aren't interested and you have to push 5 times as hard and they still do very little. Why waste 5 times the energy? Hopefully, of course, the nonmotivated girls come around when they see how much the sorority is improving, but focusing on them will only set a negative tone.

Basically, I think the book helps you get into the right frame of mind for reevaluating and improving your sorority chapter's current game plan.