[ASTalumna06]

I understand what he's saying and his want for people to have more time to get to know each other, especially when offering a lifelong membership into an organization. However,

1) Alcohol. Yes, adults dress up and go to dinner parties, and workplace happy hours, and weddings, and other formal functions where they stand around and converse and get to know each other with a drink in their hands. Do you really picture that happening at a fraternity house? And I'm sure I don't have to mention that at a rush/recruitment event, most of the potential members would be underage, even in Canada.

2) Formal Recruitment. Yes, it's unnatural. Yes, it's unlike other ways that people make friends. But it's necessary (for reasons that I don't need to explain here).

3) Pledge period. I will agree that 6-8 weeks is not that long of a time to see if someone is truly committed to the organization. However, what exactly is being done to confirm in that time that members are committed? I think new members should be given way more responsibility than they are. Instead of showering them with gifts and treating them like they're royalty (and on the flip side, hazing them heavily), they should be required to do the same things that active members do. Because I've seen on way too many occasions people who are initiated and wonder one of two things (and sometimes both): a) hey, where is the love? or b) why am I suddenly required to show up to all of these meetings and events?

4) Plus everything that has already been mentioned above by 33girl and ColdInCanada.

When I went through recruitment back in 2004, my school only used COB at the time. We struggled to build a decent sized pledge class. All the sororities did. And the only reason I attended a recruitment event was because one of the sisters offered to pick me up at my dorm and walk with me to the party, which made me much less nervous than walking into the party by myself. Some people would prefer this option, but many don't. However, holding parties isn't the only way that chapters should be recruiting informally, but I could write a book about that.

And as 33girl mentioned, the bigger problem is that it didn't force potential members to look at all of their options. When I became the chapter's Recruitment Advisor many years later, there was a PNM that attended our recruitment events for three semesters. Fortunately, that last semester she also got the hint, went to some events for Theta Phi Alpha, and they gave her a bid. Unfortunately for her, she lost out on a full year of sorority membership because she put all of her eggs in one basket. And there was another chapter out there that clearly wanted her to be a sister.

There are pros and cons to both systems, but I think organizations could use a little of both in order to fill their chapters. In the article, he mentions Phired Up, and they do teach you how to make real connections with people. But what they teach can be applied to chapters that use either formal or informal recruitment structures. People join people. That's true regardless of how you bring in new members.