Originally Posted by LAblondeGPhi
I advised a group in a similar situation: small school, unhoused Greek system (this is an assumption on my part, but I find that small chapters at unhoused Greek systems typically are able to stay small rather than succumb to the pressure of house payments), etc.
Part of the problem, as we all know, is that with these chapters there often aren't the adequate campus, regional or alumnae resources nearby to help out year to year. Often, the Greek life advisor wears 8 other hats, and Panhellenic recruitment is priority #38 on a long list of responsibilities.
Couple of long-term things:
1 - FIGHT for more recruitment parties to get those pnms-per-party numbers down. Panhellenic needs to understand that as long as it gives you 5 PNMs for every member you have per party, they are doing a great disservice to their entire system. Even if this means extra parties only for your chapter (somehow).
2 - NO MORE RECRUITMENT COUNSELORS. I saw this every year with the chapter I advised, and I was livid every time. There should be an exemption for your chapter so that you have all of your women where you need them - recruiting.
3 - Buy and read "I Heart Recruitment" to get your COB game plan in place this year. For a chapter like yours, I'm going to bet that the major turnaround for you comes when you're able to recruit enough women in COB one year so that the next year you have more women to recruit with.
On to action items for this year:
1 - If you are allowed to by Panhellenic, see if you can get recent alumnae from your chapter and sisters from other chapters to help you on the recruitment floor. At this point, you need bodies to manage the PNMs. Alumnae are preferable, because they know the chapter and the campus.
2 - THIS!!
I'm going to bet that your women are a little less confident a formal recruitment conversations than the women in larger chapters on your campus. This often happens for a variety of reasons, but the main one in your case is that you don't have the luxury of selecting only your best conversationalists to recruit. Conversation workshops will be extremely important - practice with alumnae, practice with other chapters, get exercises from your HQ.
3 - Have a story and a "message" about what your chapter is and what it's looking for in new members. Having a clear point of view that has been discussed and practiced among your members will make them more confident in addressing the obvious fact that you're a smaller chapter. If your members are confident in their ability to address the benefits of a small chapter and the specific standards that you look for in women you recruit (notice I didn't say anything about drawbacks here, the point is to emphasize your standards), that will go a long way in winning over PNMs.
4 - Lastly, I had no idea what you meant by "Values-based recruitment activity". I had to Google the term, and I now only vaguely understand what you're talking about. Do you mean some kind of activity that conveys leadership or scholarship (etc.) in order to attract girls who most appreciate those values?
The only thing I can possibly think of that would work for your chapter is if each of your sisters took a subject to discuss (student government on campus, volunteerism, academic excellence, social opportunities, spirit and school pride, dance and artistic pursuits, etc), and you somehow let PNMs go to a section of the room that most interested them for the first half of the party, and then switched for the second half. Each sister could have a small tri-fold board or table (if allowed) showing some of the opportunities, and HIGHLIGHTING what groups your sisters are involved in. That way you *might* be able to get away with one sister doing a brief 2-minute presentation with 5-6 PNMs and then facilitating some questions with and among the PNMs themselves.
You'd have to spend a minute or so explaining the premise at the beginning of the party, and explaining that these are some of the activities and values you hold most dear as a chapter, etc. etc... you wanted to get to know the PNMs in a way that expressed their own interests and hopes for college, etc. etc.
The more I think about it, this might work. In your situation, I'm a fan of anything that helps manage the numbers of PNMs you have, even if that means getting out of the box a little bit and moving toward a more presentation-oriented style rather than traditional conversation.
Good luck!
|
Threaded Mode
