Recruitment is a Lifestyle, Not a Season

by Becca Lahr

Breaking news: Recruitment has been picked up for another season in 2024! Filming begins in January and we are waiting on an updated date for the premiere of Panhellenic’s viral RushTok!

Imagine if recruitment existed like seasons of a show, where we had to wait for renewal dates, for the cast to get chosen and then wait months (or years!) since the previous season premiered to watch the next one. (I am talking about you, Euphoria!)

What if recruitment was ingrained into the very essence of our lives instead? Into our daily habits and the way that we carry ourselves both on and off campus.

When we think about growing our organizations, we have to think about growth every single day. Recruitment is not just a season, but it is a lifestyle. That means we don’t need to wait for a renewal; we don’t need to wait for our cast announcement or press tour; we can begin growing NOW!

Now that we are viewing recruitment as a lifestyle, let’s break it down into smaller pieces to create better habits that turn into lifestyle changes for our growth efforts. The three pieces that we are going to be focusing on are Chapter, Council, and Community.

Chapter

Recruitment as a lifestyle means that we are working towards growth every day, regardless of whether or not we are handing out a bid every day. Here are four habits for 2024 that your chapter can develop to build a recruitment lifestyle in your chapter:

1. Utilize growth technology daily. Whether that is adding a name to your names list, changing a lead’s status in ChapterBuilder, or sharing your chapter’s recruitment form with a new PNM, the chapter uses some kind of growth technology daily to help track and encourage progress!

2. Practice Social Excellence. At least once a day, practice being curious, generous, vulnerable, or authentic. Ask better questions to those around you, hold a door open on campus for someone after you, do something that scares you… or just be YOU!

3. Regularly talk about growth as a chapter. What does growth look like to your chapter? Create goals and ways to track those goals as a chapter. Maybe that goal is how many PNMs you want to talk to in a week, or maybe that goal is how many new members you want to add by the end of the semester/year. Once you create those goals, find ways to measure them as a chapter and talk about them frequently.

4. Practice re-recruitment. Not only does a recruitment lifestyle focus on gaining NEW members, but it also focuses on retaining the members we already have. Plan sisterhood/brotherhood activities, get members involved in leadership, or create a retention committee. The chapter should practice constantly re-recruiting our members to ensure we are growing and sustaining the members we have already asked to join us!

Council

Often, we think about council growth in the same seasonal mindset or maybe your council is not engaged with your chapter’s growth at all – but they should be!! See #3 – community growth for WHY councils should also care about chapter growth!. The council will focus on encouraging growth through one recruitment period. Our councils need to be supporting our chapters throughout the entire year when it comes to growth, so here are four habits to build amongst your council to foster a recruitment lifestyle in 2024:

1.Consistent chapter check-ins/support. As council leaders, we should consistently check in with chapters to ensure they are supported in their growth efforts year-round.

Panhellenic: What support do they need from the council for Formal Recruitment efforts, Informal Recruitment efforts, Marketing, etc?

CBFOs: What marketing efforts or information sessions are you hosting or creating so that the larger community knows your chapters are present and are choices in the fraternity and sorority selection process?

IFC: How are you helping your chapters grow year-round? Are you sharing PNM’s interest? Do you have an IFC registration form? Have you asked your chapters how you can help them 1:1?

All: Create a regularly scheduled meeting year-round to support your council’s growth efforts.

2. Council-wide names driving. Gather your council together for a group effort when it comes to names driving. Create a council-wide form that will send names to all chapters in the council year-round to help support growth instead of relying on individual chapters to drive their own individual names.

3. Council events. How often does your council get together to have fun? How often do you host a council-wide sisterhood/brotherhood event? Do you hold council-wide philanthropy events where the campus community can see you all gathered together? Moments where PNMs can interact with members from every chapter in your council? Build these into your council growth strategy to support your whole council!

4. Build council systems. It is not enough to plan events, check in with chapters, or drive names as a council. We have to build systems and create sustainable, repeatable, and measurable strategies to ensure growth from year to year.

Community

Not only is growth a chapter or council focus, but we should want our community as a whole to grow! To offer the really amazing thing that is fraternity and sorority to more people on your campus. Here are four habits to prioritize as a community in 2024 to build a recruitment lifestyle:

1. Create community connection opportunities. How often does your community truly gather all councils, all chapters, and all members in moments of connection? The more we know each other, the better we can support growth for ALL of the community.

2. Community recruitment events. During summer orientations, let’s set up an FSL table! Throughout the year, let’s plan opportunities for members of campus to meet the community in one central space so that they can meet various members of the community. Recruitment doesn’t have to be limited to our councils or chapters but can be shared throughout the community!

3. Community marketing efforts. Do you follow every chapter on campus on Instagram or TikTok? Do you post pictures showing off the friendships you gain by being a member of the FSL community? Do you repost each other’s content to ensure maximum reach on campus? Marketing does not have to be a solo effort; it should be a community-driven strategy!

4. Prioritize community leadership development. You should meet as leaders of your chapter, council, and communities regularly throughout the year. Plan an all-community leadership retreat, host community round tables where you can talk through current strategies or challenges, or even find moments to build connections to ensure your community is as strong as possible!

BONUS: Connection! 

Prioritize connection in everything that you do as a chapter, as a council, and as a community. Students on campus crave connection; they crave finding a group of people they can relate to and find belonging to. Find moments every day, every week, every month to prioritize connection in your growth strategy!

By building these habits, you can take your campus from simply renewing a recruitment season into creating and living a recruitment lifestyle where growth and connection are prioritized in the everyday moments and things we do as chapters, as councils, and as communities.

 For more information visit: phiredup.com