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I’m currently the recruitment advisor for my chapter. At least once a year I hold a recruitment workshop for about 2 hours. We will work on things that are relevant at the time. The first workshop I did was geared more toward doing activities that would allow the girls to really think about how they were recruiting. The latest one I put on followed a presentation by Phired Up Productions (Phiredup.com) and the girls were completely re-vamping their entire recruitment strategy. We reviewed scheduled recruitment events, we discussed how the money allotted for recruitment would be spent, we practiced what to say to PNMs at events, and how to respond to PNM excuses (i.e. “I don’t have the money”, “I don’t have the time”, “My parents don’t approve”, etc.).
During meetings, I sometimes have handouts for the sisters that I’ll read. Some of them pertain to recruitment strategies, some of them talk about advertising tactics, some are relevant to using the internet for recruitment, and others provide examples of what other chapters at other schools have done in the past. All of this is to keep recruitment in their minds year-round.
I attend all scheduled meetings and recruitment parties, and I try to attend other things as well (i.e. welcome weekend, some Greek Week events, initiation). I try to be helpful to the girls without overstepping boundaries. You have to be an advisor, not their best friend.
The key to advising is to “push” the girls in the right direction without forcing them to do anything. You can give ideas and suggestions, but they don’t have to take them. More than anything, ask questions. Get them to seriously evaluate where they are as a chapter and where they’d like to be. Recruitment has an effect on almost everything that a chapter does, not just on numbers. Try and find out where they need help… financial responsibilities, being involved in other organizations, academic excellence, etc. Express to them how recruitment can affect these things, and then work out a plan to fix them.
Or maybe they truly are having a problem with numbers. Ask them why they think that is. Ask them what they can do about it. Tell them that to change something in their recruitment practices might be strange at first, but if they think it will help them, they should try it.
Be encouraging. Ask questions. Only take charge if something is seriously wrong.
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I believe in the values of friendship and fidelity to purpose
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