Successfully Recruiting Is Essential to Your Chapter’s Survival, So Start Your Program Off On the Right Foot Now

Create a Goal and an Attitude

Pick a number of men you want to have recruited for the upcoming semester. Your goal is a reflection of the faith you have in your brothers and the fraternity, so choose the goal appropriately. Present a goal to the chapter that is a little higher than your leadership’s goal. Keep this goal alive by continually mentioning it and making it a focus point. Be excited about recruitment. Attitudes are contagious so be the leaders who always present recruitment as an Opportunity and not as a Challenge.

Identify Roles

Different brothers have different strengths and that it’s no different when it comes to recruitment.  Some brothers are more outgoing and will be able to go out and engage many prospective members and bring them around. Other brothers will be better at conversations with the prospective members once they are around, and finally some brothers’ serve well with behind the scenes work (creating events, recruitment PR, etc). Figure out what works best for each brother, prepare them for their role, and then let them contribute accordingly. Utilize the skills and talents of the entire brotherhood.

Plan Events Now

The point of recruitment is for you to get to know the prospective members and for them to get to know the fraternity. It is essential to remember that the more interactions they have with the group, the closer they will feel to PLP. If all the events we offer are the same, then what is the incentive to keep coming back? Have a variety of different events. While we do want to show the prospective members our social and fun side, we also want to plan events that have a purpose and will enable both us and them, to see a different side of each other. Use your creativity to come up with some ideas for events that are different than what you’ve normally done to compliment the best events you know you want to offer. More information on creative recruitment events can be found through working with IHQ and other chapters. Don’t be afraid to seek suggestions.

Confirm IFC/Greek Life Rules

Make sure your chapter knows the official rules and regulations of recruitment on your campus (who can be recruited and when, what type of parties can be held, when bids can be given out, etc). No need to get nailed with a sanction for violating a standard that is created by your IFC or Greek Life office.

Hold a recruitment workshop

These can be very effective in getting brothers on board with your goal and your vision. Workshops can be used to go over recruitment strategies and techniques, to cover conversation starters and frequently asked questions, to review your evaluation process when it comes to giving out a bid, etc. Make these workshops mandatory and have them well in advance of recruitment to get brothers on the same page ASAP.

Target returning and incoming students

            Returning students

Have brothers think about and share with the group the names and information (facts, likes/interest, major, hometown, etc) on other men already on campus that they feel could be a good fit for the group.  Once this information is established you can then start to recruit these men informally. 

The chapter could also approach sorority women and/or college professors and ask if they know of any friends/students who might be interested/would fit well with Greek life. 

            Incoming students

These men can be targeted in many ways. First, if a chapter has brothers who are involved with freshmen orientation, serve as residence hall assistants, or work as course assistants for predominantly freshman based classes, those brothers will be in a position to meet large numbers of potential members who they can then in turn introduce to other brothers in the fraternity. This is such an easy way to start building friendships among first year students and the brothers. 

Second and most popular, mailing campaigns can be done to quickly share a small amount of information with a large group. Hence, the fraternity can send out fliers or emails to the entire male population at the school to start generating and gauging interest in the fraternity. Email marketing programs such as Constant Contact can help with this and enable the fraternity to not only send out information BUT also maintain information about who specifically has read the emails which then enables the chapter to hone in on select individuals who may have an interest in the group. This makes recruiting a much easier task.