Chapters Share Recruitment Best Practices
We asked two vice presidents of recruitment from different chapters to share how they succeeded in recruitment this fall. Through a focus on the Balanced Man Scholarship, and setting guidelines on three key areas during their recruitment efforts, these VPRs have found the right recipe for success.
Alexander Winston, Arkansas ‘13
Winning recruitment can be a complicated task for a growing chapter, but we have done so by refining our recruitment process and improving our Balanced Man Scholarship. Through these efforts, we almost doubled the chapter from 70 members to 130 members in the 2012 calendar year. The system we implemented focuses on building a strong member base with high retention, high campus involvement, and competitive intramural teams – all while engaging the chapter in the recruitment process.
Motivate the Chapter. To be successful, the vice president of recruitment must motivate the chapter – the main recruiting force - to take ownership of the next group of new members. It is also his job to make sure each member understands recruitment best practices and the recruitment action plan. This can be accomplished by leading a recruitment workshop, or having your regional director visit and help the chapter gain momentum.
Recruit with the BMS. The BMS helps accomplish these goals in an organized manner. The scholarship application builds a recruitment pipeline with quality candidates faster than any other system allows, which equates to a better new member class. Because of the BMS, Arkansas Alpha extended bids to 45 members with an average GPA .35 points higher than the previous fall. The majority of this class was first introduced to SigEp as we interviewed them for the scholarship over the summer or invited them to a cookout – a great first impression directly correlated with higher numbers and retention.
Use Your Resources. The last part of the recruitment equation is different for each vice president of recruitment at each chapter, and also the hardest to identify—using your resources. Some are apparent, such as using the recruitment resources on sigep.org, the extensive knowledge of your regional director, or your AVC. Others may include using resources of your chapter members, finding business professionals in your network who would make an excellent keynote speaker, or even local businesses who can help hold events and promotions.
Chapters live and die by their recruitment practices, which must be constantly evaluated against the recruitment environment. Without the trust of your chapter and an organized strategy, it will be difficult to compete. Every brother I have come into contact with is excited to talk about the experiences and value this fraternity has to offer – and that’s how you win recruitment.
Michael Brennan, UNC-Charlotte ‘15
This fall, we shifted our efforts into the Balanced Man Scholarship and focused a majority of our energy on our process for recruitment. Through that focus, we were able to more than double the size of our chapter, from 16 men to 37. The BMS drove up the quality of men we were recruiting and brought us honors students, athletes, and scholarship finalists.
Our success was due in part to the structure and focus of our task, but was made completely possible by our ability to inspire the vision that encouraged others to act. This process has helped underline our mentality to be successful for years to come. Simply put, the entire chapter agreed on the same goal and wanted to succeed more than we wanted to breathe.
We had three keys to our success:
Define our process. We identified our recruitment plan and stuck with it. Once the recruitment plan was set, it could be communicated to our members.
Inspire a shared vision. Not only was it important to share our recruitment plan with the entire chapter, but it was essential to get every member to believe in it. To motivate our brothers, we focused on the “Why” behind what we do.
Strive to reach your goal. As a chapter, we agreed that we would not stop until success was fully attained.
Effective recruitment builds the foundation for a strong chapter and can ensure the longevity and growth of both members and membership alike. There is no secret to good recruitment, and through good planning and instilling the right vision in your chapter, you are capable of succeeding at any level.
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