Recruitment Help!!!! - Page 2

LadyLion4Life · #1 01-09-2010, 11:45 PM

Ok, so here is an update as to what I have going on now. I still need some help lol. I met with my exec. and advisers today just to go over stuff for next semester and this is what they came up with and will not budge from:
We are having three COB nights the second week back from class as a kind of informal formal recruitment. Don't know if I like this but, like I said they are stuck on that. I need to come up with themes for each of these three nights and I am at a complete loss as to what to do for this.
After these three nights the exec wants to do one COB a month. My adviser wants to keep up with us just going out and getting our name out there and befriending the girls on campus in hopes that they might want to join as well. I feel like at this point my adviser and I are just very scared about getting women to come out to these events. My chapter is very stuck in its ways about advertising via flyers for our COBs and I don't know what else to do. It's turning out to be a very frustrating position.

33girl · #2 01-10-2010, 12:30 AM

Printing flyers costs money. Unless the use of them is tangibly increasing the amount of money that comes into the chapter (i.e. unless the total amount of members you have is shown to be increasing as a result of the flyers) it is not a cost effective best practice. Therefore it should be trashed.

I guess my next question is to why the exec board has so much say as to what the recruitment chair can do? I mean, I was on exec and the only thing that I can remember us voting on relative to rush is the budget and maybe dates so they didn't conflict. We didn't vote on this will be the theme, we will do this, wear that, we have this many open bid parties. That's the rush chair's JOB. If we weren't going to let her do it, we wouldn't have voted her into the office, or have the office.

Anyway, have the theme for the week be "holidays." Valentine's Day, St Patrick's Day, 4th of July. Wear red the first day, green the second day, red white & blue the third day. One (very very short) game each night. And no skits. CONVERSATION is your focus. Also, each sister should be required to invite at least one rushee to the parties.

Leslie Anne · #3 01-10-2010, 12:38 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by 33girl

One (very very short) game each night. And no skits. CONVERSATION is your focus. Also, each sister should be required to invite at least one rushee to the parties.

I agree!!! NO SKITS! Unless it's right on target, a bad skit (or even a mediocre one) makes everyone uncomfortable. It also wastes precious time that should be used in conversation.

LadyLion4Life · #4 01-11-2010, 03:12 AM

Our previous exec decided things last semester for a few things regarding recruitment. Our COB nights are almost all conversation with a few ice breakers thrown in. A lot of you are saying each sister should bring a girl to the nights and we have tried to enforce that in the past. Our problem is that we only have one freshman in our chapter and a few sophomores. Do you guys have any advice as to how we could enforce the every women bring a PNM with this being the case?

Blue Skies · #5 01-11-2010, 10:08 PM

One of the wisest pieces of advice that I was ever given was, "Cultivate friends of all ages."

LadyLion4Life · #6 02-19-2010, 12:43 AM

Sorry for bumping this but I guess I still need help lol. My chapter had a round of COBs and they went ok, but not great (I blame a lot of it on our PR chair for doing no PR). That aside we had three nights with an average of 5 girls at each night

We have a group of 6 girls who accepted bids, but our goal is to have 14. Everyone has lost hope now because 1)we did not get 14 the first time through and 2) another sorority had COBs a week after us and had an average of 25 women at each of their three nights. I don't know what else I can do to encourage my girls to get out there and meet PNMs. We are all a little shy, but this is getting bad (My chapter only as 25 women with 7 graduating). I have scheduled another two COBs next week because my president told me to but I don't know if they are going to help us. If anyone has any more suggestions for me as to what I should do in this situation please please help!

KSUViolet06 · #7 02-19-2010, 12:47 AM

Stop worrying about the numbers everyone else is getting for COB.

Focus on you.

Think of this way, that's 6 more girls than what you had before COB.

33girl · #8 02-19-2010, 01:15 AM

Yeah, don't worry about how many girls come to another group's parties. Out of those 25, they may have only bid 2.

Just tell the sisters if they ALL aren't going to go out and meet women and invite them to COB events, you're going to cancel the events, because you all have better things to do with your time, and you'll all have plenty of time to do it once the chapter is closed due to low numbers.

Honestly, it sounds like they need something to wake them up. If no one else is doing their job, why should you?

Has your national org offered you any help on this?

LadyLion4Life · #9 02-19-2010, 01:44 AM

They send consultants and everyone gets all these good ideas from them, but there is never really any follow through. I get to meet with one tomorrow so I am hoping that she can give me a couple pointers. I just feel very lost about this because I am getting no help from the previous recruitment chair.

I do like what you said about people having tons of free time if we get shut down. I feel like people never really think of it that way. I might bring that up to my chapter if things don't start turning around.

ASTalumna06 · #10 02-19-2010, 03:05 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by LadyLion4Life

They send consultants and everyone gets all these good ideas from them, but there is never really any follow through.

Do you have a Recruitment Committee?

A small group of hard-working, dedicated girls will have more success than 25 girls, most of which aren't making an effort.

Tell your chapter that you're starting a committee, and that you want people to join who truly want to see the chapter grow, and who will do almost anything to see that happen. Then brainstorm!

And read these three blog entries from Phiredup.com:

"Big Events: When They Work and When They Don't"
http://www.phiredup.com/index.php?op...p=476&Itemid=2

"The Fun Theory"
http://www.phiredup.com/index.php?op...p=447&Itemid=2

And this last one... I actually put on a recruitment workshop for my chapter not too long ago, and one of the things I did was read this blog entry ("Be Nice to People (at least for a week)": http://www.phiredup.com/index.php?op...p=418&Itemid=2) and then asked the sisters to come up with some of their own "nice" ideas, or to expand on the ones that were mentioned.

Instead of trying to make skits and decorations more exciting, why not trying to make RECRUITMENT more exciting?

Do something different, bold or daring. Do something that people will remember. Do something that you actually ENJOY doing.

And when the rest of the sisters see your committee having so much fun and making a difference, maybe they'll want to join in, too!

Psi U MC Vito · #11 02-19-2010, 03:12 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ASTalumna06

And read these three blog entries from Phiredup.com:

Do you get a commission from Phired Up or something?

ASUADPi · #12 02-19-2010, 09:42 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by KSUViolet06

Stop worrying about the numbers everyone else is getting for COB.

Focus on you.

Think of this way, that's 6 more girls than what you had before COB.

While 6 is great, I see the OP's concern. I came from a chapter that struggled with numbers and eventually closed. (They did recolonize, but the was prearranged with our closing). As much as you want to be excited about the 6, when your charter is up in the air (which when a chapter is struggling and possibly has been struggling for a while that is probably going to be a question from HQ, "should we keep this chapter?"), you can't help but be worried and say things "crap that other chapter got 25". Because you are all competing for the same PNM's.

First, sit down with the PR sister and no holds barred ask her why she didn't advertise the events? PNM's can't come if you don't advertise. Word of mouth will only get you so far. What kind of advertising can you do on campus?

OP-I've pm'd you.

ASTalumna06 · #13 02-19-2010, 03:08 PM

I have a few comments and questions about your PR, as well...

Quote:

Originally Posted by LadyLion4Life

People see us and tend to think there is something wrong with us because we are so small. Our girls are all sweet, talkative, and really down to earth.

The key is making yourselves look bigger.

Keep in mind that there is probably a HUGE number of female students on your campus that know nothing about Greek life. Absolutely nothing. They've never thought about joining, because they don't even know what it is they would be getting themselves into. And they also don't know that you're the smallest chapter on campus. Meet these girls!

If your sisters are sweet, talkative, and really down to earth, they should have no problem BECOMING FRIENDS with some of these girls.

Quote:

Originally Posted by LadyLion4Life

Sorry for bumping this but I guess I still need help lol. My chapter had a round of COBs and they went ok, but not great (I blame a lot of it on our PR chair for doing no PR)

Don't blame your PR chair! If you leave everything up to your PR chair when it comes to "advertising" for recruitment, you're going to be disappointed. Are the two of you working together to come up with the best ideas for the chapter?

Quote:

Originally Posted by ASUADPi

First, sit down with the PR sister and no holds barred ask her why she didn't advertise the events? PNM's can't come if you don't advertise. Word of mouth will only get you so far.

This I will disagree with.

At the workshop I recently put on, I asked the sisters a question: "How many of you joined the sorority because of a poster you saw on the wall, or because you approached a group of girls wearing funny letters on their shirts?" Guess how many people raised their hand... One. And she was only intrigued by a poster which talked about our philanthropy successes.

One girl even said, "I never even noticed any recruitment posters until after I joined."

PR (when it comes to recruitment) shouldn't be about posters and wearing letters, it should be about MEETING NEW PEOPLE. How you go about that is completely up to you. (Refer back to the links in my last post).

33girl · #14 02-19-2010, 06:32 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ASTalumna06

Don't blame your PR chair! If you leave everything up to your PR chair when it comes to "advertising" for recruitment, you're going to be disappointed. Are the two of you working together to come up with the best ideas for the chapter?

Well, in this case, yeah, I WOULD blame the PR chair.

It just sounds like the OP is being given all of the responsibility of rush and getting numbers up, but being continually hamstrung with 1) sisters who insist on doing things the same way they have always done them, even if those methods don't yield jack sqaut 2) sisters who volunteer for things and don't follow through 3) sisters who don't understand rush is THE WHOLE CHAPTER'S job.

I'm sure there are more than a few closed chapters of your org who would happy to tell your chapter sisters in no uncertain terms that if they keep going the way they are, they are headed for EPIC FAIL. While I agree with KSUViolet that thinking "OMG we're going to lose our charter" all the time and always comparing yourself isn't good - it seems like the chapter needs that kind of wakeup call. It's like they think "well, it hasn't happened yet, so it never will."

ASTalumna06 · #15 02-19-2010, 07:39 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by 33girl

Well, in this case, yeah, I WOULD blame the PR chair.

It just sounds like the OP is being given all of the responsibility of rush and getting numbers up, but being continually hamstrung with 1) sisters who insist on doing things the same way they have always done them, even if those methods don't yield jack sqaut 2) sisters who volunteer for things and don't follow through 3) sisters who don't understand rush is THE WHOLE CHAPTER'S job.

Right, it's the whole chapter's job. So just like the OP doesn't want to get blamed for only getting 6 girls, she shouldn't place the blame on only one person, either.

Essentially, almost every position is a position of the entire chapter (or at least of a committee). Everyone needs help, and everyone needs to communicate with one another. And if the Recruitment Chair would like things done a certain way by the PR Chair, then they need to communicate and work with one another.

I think we need more information about the situation in order to decide who dropped the ball on that one.

(But again, PR isn't the sole reason that new members join).

And let's face it... I'm sure that the OP isn't the ONLY person in the chapter who isn't completely apathetic. If that was the case, they'd already be looking at an inactive chapter. There have to be some sisters who are willing to help.