Tips for getting elected recruitment chair for a weak recruiting chapter?

[sisterlylove]

Originally Posted by 33girl

Tell your advisors that their "invite everyone back" strategy is hurting rather than helping -if they don't believe you, show them greeek rank and other sites where people talk about such things. Advisors who think this strategy works are oftentimes from chapters that never had to worry about it and were super selective. If they won't listen to you, go over their heads to whoever is next highest up in the chain of command. Be sure to back up your complaints with facts (since they started making you invite everyone, your return rates have dropped 25%, etc.).

You also might want to pass a bylaw (for now you can strongly suggest) that every sister must be involved in one campus activity outside of the sorority. No, jobs don't count. No woman wants to join a chapter whose members do sorority and nothing else - it contributes to the "snobby" stereotype.

Would it be a bad idea to mention possibly changing this when I'm trying to get elected? I don't want to make any empty promises, but if this is something that actually could happen I would like to do it.

As far as requiring people to be in more activities, I think that is already a requirement in our chapter! I don't know of anyone that is NOT in another activity.

[DeltaBetaBaby]

Originally Posted by sisterlylove

Would it be a bad idea to mention possibly changing this when I'm trying to get elected? I don't want to make any empty promises, but if this is something that actually could happen I would like to do it.

As far as requiring people to be in more activities, I think that is already a requirement in our chapter! I don't know of anyone that is NOT in another activity.

I want to caution you that you may have to handle this gently if the newest class hasn't been through recruitment on the chapter side yet. If you say, "we had to invite back everyone" and they didn't know that, they may feel bad. That's not to say the topic is verboten, just that it possibly has to be handled with care and you should think in advance about who has what information and who might be surprised by this.

[sisterlylove]

Originally Posted by DeltaBetaBaby

I want to caution you that you may have to handle this gently if the newest class hasn't been through recruitment on the chapter side yet. If you say, "we had to invite back everyone" and they didn't know that, they may feel bad. That's not to say the topic is verboten, just that it possibly has to be handled with care and you should think in advance about who has what information and who might be surprised by this.

Very very good point. Should I just mention how I want to help narrow down what types of girls we are and aren't looking for?

[LAblondeGPhi]

Originally Posted by sisterlylove

Would it be a bad idea to mention possibly changing this when I'm trying to get elected? I don't want to make any empty promises, but if this is something that actually could happen I would like to do it.

Yes - this is a bad idea. I doubt you'll be able to change how may women you're allowed to invite back. You'd be making empty promises to your chapter, and telling your recruitment advisor that you don't know what you're talking about.

As far as social media - quality over quantity. I doubt you'll get a whole lot of return with your target demographic - PNMs - by beefing up your social media that much. By all means, make clean up the content: make sure the photos you post are great photos with lots of well-put-together, smiling sisters doing fun activities. Highlight the fun activities the chapter is doing, etc. But think about this: the other chapters and students on campus aren't judging your chapter by your social media, they're judging it by personal interactions they have with your sisters every day. Likewise, the PNMs will be most influenced by their personal interaction with your chapter during recruitment and during the school year; next, they may be influenced by tent talk/reputation; next, outside experience with your organization (friends and family, etc.)

I understand your pain on getting women to get on board with conversation practice. I find that most "conversation practice" can be silly and boring: lots of partnering up with each other and practicing fake conversations. Most women wind up goofing off during these workshops.

Instead, think of ways to incorporate people from outside the chapter:
-Other sororities on campus
-Other chapters in your region
-Alumnae

The best practice is with women outside the chapter.

Also, figure out more fun workshops, and/or workshops where the girls have to do the practice. Examples:
-Group women in groups of 4-5. Have two sisters practice a mock conversation in front of the others, and have the others give helpful critique afterward. Rotate through the group.

-Group women in groups of 4-10 for "popcorn conversation": have someone lead the group by saying something a PNM might say in conversation (ex: I'm a sociology major), and then point to a sister to have her come up with something interesting to say or ask related to THAT fact. Then point to another sister for the same fact, and so on. I find that poor conversationalists have a hard time using the information that the other person has said to ask follow-up questions or give interesting follow-up anecdotes. The point of conversation is to get onto interesting tangents via give-and-take, but nervous people tend to just fire off a lot of random questions without LISTENING to the other person, OR they go off talking about something the PNM doesn't care about.

Also - talk to the recruitment chairs of the closest chapters of your organization for ideas. Talk to your recruitment advisor, etc.

[sisterlylove]

Originally Posted by LAblondeGPhi

I understand your pain on getting women to get on board with conversation practice. I find that most "conversation practice" can be silly and boring: lots of partnering up with each other and practicing fake conversations. Most women wind up goofing off during these workshops.

Instead, think of ways to incorporate people from outside the chapter:
-Other sororities on campus
-Other chapters in your region
-Alumnae

The best practice is with women outside the chapter.

Also, figure out more fun workshops, and/or workshops where the girls have to do the practice. Examples:
-Group women in groups of 4-5. Have two sisters practice a mock conversation in front of the others, and have the others give helpful critique afterward. Rotate through the group.

-Group women in groups of 4-10 for "popcorn conversation": have someone lead the group by saying something a PNM might say in conversation (ex: I'm a sociology major), and then point to a sister to have her come up with something interesting to say or ask related to THAT fact. Then point to another sister for the same fact, and so on. I find that poor conversationalists have a hard time using the information that the other person has said to ask follow-up questions or give interesting follow-up anecdotes. The point of conversation is to get onto interesting tangents via give-and-take, but nervous people tend to just fire off a lot of random questions without LISTENING to the other person, OR they go off talking about something the PNM doesn't care about.

Agreed with what you said about social media- I think we need to post more often though because the current chair only posts about initiation, big events like senior night, and philanthropy. We need to get sisterhood events, socials, and small things on there as well!

I LOVE your ideas for conversation practice, especially with having girls judge mock conversations AND participate in them. If no one is giving feedback about conversations, no one can improve.