We’ve rounded the hump of the middle of the semester and your are either coming off of a big recruitment push or gearing up for next semester’s big push. Either way you might be experiencing a lack of motivation in your chapter when it comes to recruitment. You’re likely frustrated, overwhelmed, and a little burnt out. You might be asking yourself, “Why can’t I get anyone in the chapter to do any recruitment?” There is only one solution to this problem – Do Work!
It starts with you. It starts with one.
You can’t motivate your chapter to do work. You can’t even motivate five people to do work. The only thing you can do is motivate yourself. Do Work! You have the power to recruit and be successful. You may not be able to single-handedly double your chapter in size within the next four to six weeks of the semester, but you DO have the power to bring men or women into your organization – one, two, five or more highly qualified and highly motivated members. However, you aren’t going to get there by complaining or by pushing members of your chapter to do it. The only way it will happen is if you – Do Work!
You have to model the way. You have to – Do Work! If you are in charge of recruitment for your chapter and don’t actually do any recruitment, how can you expect any of your members to do any work? You have to be the role model. You have to set the standard. You have to be the best recruiter in the chapter. You have to be the most motivated member of the group. You have to – Do Work! Stop worrying about what people aren’t doing and get busy. Make friends, attend events, hang out, be visible, and be around. Do the things you wish your members would do. As you start to bring people to the organization or into the organization, others will notice and want to help, but if you aren’t doing the work – who will?
YOU have to meet people. You have to get their contact information. You have to add their name to the Names List. You have to hang out with them doing small activities. You have to talk to them about the sorority/fraternity. You have to – Do Work! Be the model of Social Excellence within your chapter. Be the model of good recruitment. Set the standard. Do Work!
Here are five things you can do in the next seven days:
1. Sit somewhere different in class or next to someone you don’t typically sit near (you may have to show up a little late or a little early to do that) and turn them and introduce yourself and ask them to study with you.
2. Go to a campus event on campus (blood drive, speaker, late-night event, student government meeting) and work the room. Meet the people who are there.
3. Call, email or facebook someone you met earlier in the semester and reconnect. Find a reason to hang out, study, or find something that they are doing for a student group they are in and go.
4. Ask one of your new members to introduce you to the people on their floor. Have them take you into their dorm door-to-door to meet them, say hi, and try to strike up a conversation with them (asking about future plans, classes, etc.)
5. Sign up for a service event on campus and go. Make friends with the other people there.
Recruitment success starts with you. It starts with one. Stop complaining about everyone else. Stop making excuses. Suck it up and – Do Work! You may be the only one, but if you don’t, who will? Do Work!
Jessica Gendron Williams is the Director of Women’s Educatoin for Phired Up Productions and brings a wealth of experience and skill when it comes to organizational recruitment and fraternity/sorority culture. You can see more posts by Jessica at Phired Up’s Recruitment Blog. Jessica has a Bachelor of Art degree in Graphic Design from Eastern Illinois University and a Master of Science in Higher Education and Student Affairs from Indiana University – Bloomington. She is co-author of I Heart Recruitment: The Eight Steps to Limitless Possibility for Sororities. Jessica is a proud member of Alpha Sigma Tau Sorority which she joined at EIU. She now lives in Peoria, Illinois with her husband.
