Good Recruitment Icebreaking Questions

[KSUViolet06]

Originally Posted by ASTalumna06

- Do you have any questions about sorority life?

In recruitment workshops, we were always told not to ask PNMs "Any questions?" just because recruitment is such a nerve-wrecking situation that they most likely will go blank and not know what to ask, and they probably have a million questions.

I can agree with you on "what made you decide to go through recruitment?" That's a good question to ask because I found that you can learn alot about a PNM by asking that.

[ASTalumna06]

Originally Posted by KSUViolet06

In recruitment workshops, we were always told not to ask PNMs "Any questions?" just because recruitment is such a nerve-wrecking situation that they most likely will go blank and not know what to ask, and they probably have a million questions.

Good point.

I think that where I am, very few PNMs know much of anything about Greek life, so when I ask this, they'll usually ask me 10 different questions.

But when I do ask it, I generally give them "options" to choose from. Example: “Do you have any questions about sorority life? Scholarship opportunities, philanthropies, the time commitment...?” Usually something will hit them, and they’ll have a question to ask.

I also had one girl last semester who asked me about hazing. She felt bad asking about it, as she said she didn’t want to imply that we did it. But she was generally concerned. I said, “That’s a legitimate concern, one that I used to have at one point, but I can assure you that I wouldn’t have joined if I was hazed. Has anyone explained our new member program to you?” From there, we talked for 20 minutes, and the questions just poured out of her.

Another good option is to have numerous “visual aids.” Even though we don’t have a house, we make sure that we have as many paddles, t-shirts, mascots, awards, pictures, etc. there at our recruitment events. If you’re talking about why she’s participating in recruitment, and she brings up the fact that she's worked on many philanthropic projects, you can ask, “Can I show you some of the philanthropic activities we participate in?” We would then bring the PNM over to the table of stuff, and go through things with them. A scrapbook is always a good item to have. It can show PNMs a whole semester worth of stuff through pictures. It’s easier for you to talk when you have something to look at, and most likely she’ll have questions.