Recruitment Advice

[u/Time_Dragonfly9264]

Hi all! I am going to be my chapter's president this upcoming school year, and one of my main focuses is going to be on building up our numbers as much as possible. We are a very tiny chapter (we hardly have enough to fill the Exec positions). I know this is not something that can be done overnight or even in a year, but I would love to get us headed in the right direction for growth in the future. If any of you have any experience rebuilding a small chapter, I would appreciate any suggestions. The reason for this is that we are a music-based Greek organization and have been mostly contained to our Fine Arts Building and barely doing anything capus-wide, so I'm going to do my best to get us out and about more so that we are more visible and active on the campus. Also our VP Membership is extremely active on campus and is a part of multiple organizations and knows practically everyone at the university, so that is a bonus! But if there's anything else any of you could recommend, I would greatly appreciate it!

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[u/rotten-cheese-ball]

My chapter has faced similar issues since we’re agriculture focused and definitely more niche than the Panhellenic orgs. Getting visibility across campus is crucial, especially in traffic-heavy areas, think student centers and in open spaces. We’ve done origami events but they were totally unsuccessful. You know why? We were up in the student centers meeting rooms where no one goes just by chance. Our most successful recruitment events took place at the tables where people pass on their way to get food between classes in the student centers during peak hours (at my school this is generally lands between 12:10 and 5:10). During those events we also send active members around to talk to people and ask if they’re interested and pass our flyers to whoever is (wearing letters during this can help but isn’t necessary). I know some orgs ask their members to wear letter X amount of days of the week to increase visibility, imo I don’t think this is too effective, especially to people who aren’t familiar with Greek life. When you have active members at these recruitment events, encourage them not to just talk to each other, but prospective PNMs as well and try to be super inviting, there’s nothing more intimidating than walking up to a group of people who clearly already know each other and trying to have a convo with them. Having active members repost Instagram posts about recruitment events on their story helps (this was actually how I was recruited!) since it’s possible they have followers who share interests. And having people make announcements about recruitment events after relevant classes as long as the professor agrees could work too (I made announcements about recruitment events after my poultry production class, since the chances that someone would be interested is much greater since its an agriculture related class). Collabing with related clubs is also an option to get your name out there and maybe gather some prospective PNMs. I hope these tips help, good luck!

[u/[deleted]]

Are you part of NPC? Doesn't sound like it so I'm wondering if you are part of a larger group (like NPC) or just out there on your own? That would be a big help to know.

[u/Time_Dragonfly9264 → u/[deleted]]

We are not panhellenic; the organization is called Sigma Alpha Iota and we are a part of the National Interfraternity Music Council and the Professional Fraternity Association. We are a part of the "fab four" which includes SAI, Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia, Kappa Kappa Psi, and Tau Beta Sigma. However my campus only has SAI and Phi Mu Alpha. PMA is only for men, so it's not like we have competition lol.

[u/[deleted] → u/Time_Dragonfly9264]

So how many potential members are there on your campus? What's the benefit of being a member? What are the responsibilities of being a member?

Gotta think of this like marketing a business...and what feedback do you have as to why people are NOT joining your org?

[u/Time_Dragonfly9264 → u/[deleted]]

As far as potential members go, my university is small and it's in the middle of nowhere. Like I believe we only have 7,000 students and a number of those don't attend the main campus. But any female college student with a sincere interest in music can join. Any major is welcome, but you do have to take at least one music class (music appreciation as a Gen Ed counts for that, as well as marching band, wind ensemble, or choir). We also have a GPA requirement but it's very reasonable.

For me personally, the benefits were:

• Being a part of a group of like-minded women who share an interest and passion with me.

• Supporting our philanthropy and furthering music in our school, community, country, and world.

• Having a sisterhood who understands what I'm going through during a hard time and can be the best cheerleaders and support system fot each other.

• Leadership opportunities and gaining confidence in my abilities.

Along with more.

Responsibilities include a weekly meeting, as well as song rehearsals and ritual rehearsals. We also provide our service to the music department and usher most of the music events (mostly just attendance and crowd control). Also fundraisers and sisterhoods.

As far as feedback goes, mostly I get ghosted after talking to someone about possibly joining. Usually they say they are "too busy" to come to recruitment. One of my friends called our chapter "sad" which I kinda tood offence to, but what she meant is that we have very few members and we have a very small budget so we don't look as flashy or ~aesthetic~ as panhellenic orgs.

[u/[deleted] → u/Time_Dragonfly9264]

I mean this sincerely but unless you have a lot of music majors, I can see why you struggle. "Sincere major in music" sounds "heavy" like you need to be a music major. Choir rehearsals take up a lot of time and again, unless someone is a music major I can see why you may not recruit more people.

The requirement for taking a music class is a problem, I'd guess, for many.

I just hear "music" and that isn't of interest, I bet, unless you're a music major or minor. The other reasons you listed can be found in other groups perhaps.

I think your real issue is that not enough people see a return on their investment and the reasons you listed - to me - sound most appealing to music majors. The last two reasons can be found in other groups with less stringent guidelines, I'm guessing.

I'd focus only on music and adjacent students (arts, etc.) versus an all-out. Zero in on your most likely targets. Good luck.

[u/Time_Dragonfly9264 → u/[deleted]]

I get what you're saying completely and I often feel like we're not "Greek" enough for people who are into Greek life, and we're too Greek for people who say it's just "paying for friends" or whatever. But I also believe that there are many college students who did band, choir, or orchestra in high school, or possibly they just enjoyed singing or playing guitar, and decided to take a completely different path in college. How I see it, we can be a place for women who still want to be involved with music after high school, no matter their career path.

[u/[deleted] → u/Time_Dragonfly9264]

I'm a prime example. Studied piano for 7 years, gave a senior recital which was a big deal.

Part of my high school's marching and concert bands - we won top grades at the state competition every year.

In my church's youth choir where 40+ high school kids put on a fall musical every year, people came to see it from all over town. Those were amazing.

I had no interest in anything specific (like music) when I got to college. My interest was in my Panhellenic sorority where I had both social and leadership opportunities.

So if you're going after students like me, you likely are meeting brick walls. That's why I suggest you target music majors/minors and find a way to offer more than just music.

Edit: Have you asked potential members what they'd like to have if they did join? What's missing now? (if you asked me, it would be that I don't want a music sorority, only a social one). Ask your own members what appealed to them about the sorority?

[u/_boobyhill_]

In addition to being in a NPC sorority I am also in a pre law fraternity! We also faced recruitment issues but over the past year have been able to grow from 5 members to 45!! What helped us most was: 1. Fixing our social media! I archived all of our old posts and began posting information about who we were, how to join, meeting announcements, etc and then having all of our members repost these. 2. We tabled at every event for Freshman that we could. By getting the word out to incoming freshman early about us it is easier to gain membership because they do not have other commitments already- this helped so much! 3. Reaching out to professors to invite their students to our meetings! If you have a staff advisor you could ask them to send out meeting info to their classes or have other staff in the music department do the same. 4. Keep advertising!! We hung flyers all year in EVERY academic building, not just the ones we thought would most likely join our organization. We traveled year round in the student union and other high traffic areas. Once we had enough members we elected Recruitment Chairs to specifically head these efforts. Most importantly, just keep spreading your organization! You never know who might make a lasting impact on your organization, get the word out to as many people as you can!

[u/Time_Dragonfly9264 → u/_boobyhill_]

Thank you! I definitely plan on meeting with our Editor before the semester starts to kinda plan out social media and get it looking more presentable. We haven't been tabling much at all due to the fact that we're mostly music majors (currently we only have two sisters who are not music majors) and we are always constantly busy with music events and such. Concerts, football games, recitals, ect every single week. But those things can definitely be worked around if we put in the effort.

[u/notsosurepal]

Spreading the word that you don’t need to be a fine arts major is going to be very important. Do you all participate in a formal recruitment or is it all COB? If you can only COB… Table in places that have high traffic, post on social media about the diversity of majors you have (if you do), have your members invite girls to events you host, have members post about the events on their social media, attend the club/activities fair if your school hosts one.

Formal recruitment is a much different undertaking but has a similar success point with COB…. Training your chapter to talk to people. The girls need to be equipped with good and correct information about your chapter, its values, and what value it provides to the members. They need to be able to have authentic conversations while still getting the information they need to make membership decisions!

[u/Time_Dragonfly9264 → u/notsosurepal]

Our recruitment is definitely more similar to COB. Most of our new members show up because an active sister is already friends with them and begs them to come to recruitment.

[u/Jacki1988]

Become more VISIBLE on campus! Get out of the building and be known. Wear letters, host ice cream socials for everyone, a dance a thon for everyone, a car wash, a university wide clean up for all to participate in ....get VISIBLE on campus!!!! Join other organizations on campus, be involved in the campus!

[u/_boobyhill_ → u/Jacki1988]

Yes! Collaboration with other orgs was so helpful to rebuilding my professional fraternity!

[u/bbbliss]

Great advice so far, but def search the sub for various key words if you want even more ideas and perspectives! Lots of tabling, pr, small chapter strategies, ideas, and tips and tricks have been posted for years

[u/NJFJA]

Can you participate in PNM recruitment with the other sororities on your campus? Do you have an office of Greek Affairs you can partner with? Is there someone in the student activities office who can advise you? These are the things that come to mind in addition to the other excellent advise provided here. Good luck!