Let’s hit “re-start” on the way fraternities do recruitment. I’d like you to smile politely at your alumni advisor’s recruitment advice, and I’d like you throw away that old a** binder that the previous rush chair gave you. Here’s what I’d recommend. Do these five easy things.
Uh, share this whole thing with your recruitment team by the way. First, check to see if there’s an app for that. There is. Literally, it’s called ChapterBuilder. Go to chapterbuilder.com. Um, this isn’t a sales pitch by the way. This thing is completely free (or at least there’s a free version).
And 100% of fraternity chapters should be using this tool. Over half are already there. Just start with the technology that has been built for fraternity recruitment. Catch up brother. Second, not everybody in the chapter’s gonna help. Get over it.
You can spend all your time trying to get your guys all together to help… get 100% participation… or you can spend your time gathering the workhorses in your chapter to get together replicating more men like them. Third. Figure out what you want. High quality chapters are made out of high quality people.
There is no magic. You want a great chapter find great men. You need to define “quality” and “great men.” Saying “he seems like a good guy to me” is kind of stupid and you know you’re better than that. Fourth. There are only four real actions you need to take to recruit people.
Meet people. Build a relationship with them until they’re ready to join. Decide if they’re high quality. And close the deal. Fifth. Cut the fat. Dont’ waste your time, money, or energy on crap that doesn’t get results. Recruitment only happens in face-to-face conversations. There is no other scenario that gets results.
So if you’re spending your time planning events, designing posters, or t-shirts. Or carving giant plywood letters so you can display them all over campus… um, knock it off. You can’t recruit people with any of those things. Don’t be afraid to really talk with these guys. Build real relationships with them.
That’s the only way it’s done.
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