Tactful Ways to Bring up Recruitment

chideltjen · #1 08-01-2002, 09:17 PM

I am going to be an orientation leader before school starts. This is a way for new students, mainly freshman, to get to know the school a little bit and take a tour of the campus with someone that has had experience. The benefits for all GLOs on campus is that they can promote recruitment to all of these new students. My question is how can someone do this tactfully. Most likely I won't be wearing letters or standing behind a booth which is usually how girls ask me question if they are interested in joining a sorority. We don't participate in formal recruitment, so unlike the nationals that have to advertise "formal recruitment only", chi delta can advertise ourselves and our recruitment process. But I don't want to talk to my orientation group and say "this is the library... is anyone interested in joining a sorority?" Should I wait until someone brings up greek life? Should I be fair and advertise all the other sororities too? Help Me!

KappaKittyCat · #2 08-01-2002, 09:28 PM

Please do be fair and mention the other sororities. Your job is to make these students as prepared as possible to jump right in and be involved on campus, so please be sure that you explain both NPC and non-NPC options to your orientation groups. As for doing so tactfully, I imagine that you'll likely be asked what you do for fun and how you socialize, which is a great way to bring up the Greek system. You can talk about how involved it's made you on campus, mention the different types of organizations and recruitment processes, and segue that nicely into a "here's how to sign up" type pitch. That's my best advice.

If I were leading an orientation or touring group around my campus, I might say, "Here's the Library. Students gather here to study both alone and in groups. The first floor is generally a little more crowded and geared toward group study than the other floors, but my sorority usually manages to find a quieter spot in the corner to have our study table."

Get it? These new students are looking for examples of what life is like on campus, and they've got you: a real, live, example of what life is like on campus. When you show them around, offer a personal touch, such as what friends of yours or you personally do there, and mention your GLO as much as you can (without sounding like a scary brainwashed cult person, y'know what I mean).

Best of luck to you. I'm sure you'll put in some great plugs for the Greek system.

AGDthetaup · #3 08-01-2002, 09:39 PM

i'm actually in charge of the orientation program at my school and as a rule we usually don't bring specific organization names into the orientation scene. freshman are already overwhelmed enough already by the whole "college experience" that bringing up specific names for them to remember just makes for a mess.
one way to bring up the fact that there is greek life on campus is just to mention all the different kinds of activities students can get involved in. for example, "we have this club and this club...we also have a strong greek system, be sure to consider rush whether or not you want to join a greek organization because it's a great way to meet people"

SLOTheta · #4 08-01-2002, 09:43 PM

If someone asks, or sees a sign, you can bring up your involvement in the house, or maybe the day before last, just say, my sorority is having rush, if you'd like to know more, ask.

Just be nice and polite and don't push it. We get many of our pledges from our orientation week!

NatalieCD · #5 08-01-2002, 10:30 PM

No I dissagree about that.

I don't think you should mention your sorority name when showing these prospective students around. Tell them that there is in fact a greek life, but don't tell them what organization you are from. It's not fair to the other organizations that are at that school.

Post signs around campus, to get freshmen interested with greek life, or let them learn by word of mouth. Just not your mouth at orientation. It wouldn't be polite to other organizations who can't get their name out there at the same time.

That's my opinion and what I would do if it were my school.

OnePlus69Is70 · #6 08-01-2002, 11:40 PM

I think it's fair to talk about your own house. We have brothers who are RAs, and they put a good face on us. Just talk about other houses too, to be fair. Just mentioning Greek Life will make it seem like you're not enthusiastic, and that's no way to recruit.

chideltjen · #7 08-02-2002, 02:51 AM

thanks all,
Actually, the person in charge of orientation even suggested wearing letters. I thought that was a lil extreme. But the option is there and in our little letter about "Hornet Fest" as it's called, we have this option of promoting our own organization out there. The dude in charge is a Kappa Sigma and he said that they got 10 guys from orientation alone, which is pretty decent.
In fact, most of the leaders are greek so new students are going to be "overwhelmed" by different greek letters anyway.
I was personally thinking of getting to know the people first before even mentioning i joined a sorority. And it's not like i am the only chi delt out there... we have about 6 other girls. The only thing i could really do about promoting other sororities is by suggesting formal rush... but i am not allowed to mention names. So in that way, i might be at some advantage because other national girls may not be able to reveal what organization they are from due to "silencing" but yet new students might remember Chi delta because they could put a face to a name. but thank you for the suggestions. kappakittycat had some good ideas so kudos!

SapphireSphinx9 · #8 08-02-2002, 03:28 AM

I say do it...

Wear your letters, and let them know what organization you're from.

I've helped with numerous on-campus tours, because of my job... And I've also worked at NSO's which is the New Student Orientations.

I'll casually bring up my sorority in my introduction. "Hi my name is Beth. I have business administration and psychology as my majors. I'm a founding sister of Phi Sigma Sigma on this campus..." blah, blah, blah... you get the picture.

Anyways, I do tell them about the different GLO's on campus, but I'll promote mine a little more. I feel that if I work the tour, then it's my privilege to promote Phi Sig more than any other GLO. The other greeks all have the same chance to work the tours, so they have the same chance to promote their GLO... It's just that they don't.

Go for it, you have permission to wear your letters... So wear them proudly!!!

Fraternally,
Beth

justamom · #9 08-02-2002, 09:41 AM

I don't see why you can't just say- has anyone thought about Greek Life (or however you would phrase it) you may be surprised at the response. Some may not know where to go for information or HOW or WHO to ask a question. Some may not want to bring attention to themselves so giving them contact information seems logical, maybe an e-mail they can use to ask specific questions.

Seek and ye shall find!

sairose · #10 08-02-2002, 09:51 AM

I think it's fine to promote your own group, but promote all the others as well. And by promote I mean not only GLOs but clubs, organizations, etc etc as well! Because, let's face it, if there are girls at orientation interested in rushing, they probably know all about it. So promote your GLO, and promote everything else as well.

shadokat · #11 08-02-2002, 10:31 AM

I say go for it and promote your group! When women see your letters, they'll definitely ask what it's about. You can tell them about your organization, as well as offer up the other options. Also, as an orientation leader, you'll meet tons of new women, and you'll get to know a bunch well enough to know if you'd want them as sisters or not. Keep your eyes and ears open for quality women, and go for them!

I hate to say it, but you do what is best for your organization, since you aren't going to participate in formal recruitment.

FAURecruitment · #12 08-04-2002, 10:37 PM

I am an Orientation Leader as well as the Vice President of Recruitment for Panhellenic on my campus. We are not allowed to disclose our organization at all during orientations, but we can promote Greek Life as a whole. I found out that the best way to promote Greek Life is to talk about it along with the other different activites on campus. Also, if you are not comfortable with wearing your organizations letters during orientation, then you can always wear your badge. I feel that if you wear your badge that some of the women will ask about it. During the year, our Panhellenic hosts a Badge Day. This is when all women wear their organizations badge. In the past couple of years, I have gotten a lot of questions about it. I find it to be very classy. Well, I hope this helps you out. If you have any other questions, don't hestiate to ask.

Cara

chideltjen · #13 08-04-2002, 11:01 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by KDatUTC
On our campus, if a Summer Orientation Counselor says what organization they're in.....They get fired on the spot. Of course the freshmen can find out on their own by the SOC's pics at their Sorority/Fraternity table at our Organizational Fair, but the SOCs can't even mention their letters.

I am pretty sure that happens during summer orientation, but summer orientation and Hornet Fest are run by two different people. Even tho we are local and not participating in formal recruitment, we couldn't have girls be summer leaders and mention our names. This orientation is a lil more relaxed i think because all the fraternities have their boothes out, we have our lil booth, and then PHC has their table where they advertise every national sorority in PHC. But i remember my lil working as a SOC and she couldn't say ANYTHING about the sorority and visitors that wanted to volunteer also couldn't display letters. We just had to hope that people would recognize us in the fall.

Peaches-n-Cream · #14 08-05-2002, 01:05 AM

My freshman tour guide wore letters. Guess what? Three months later, I was wearing the same letters.

chioangel83 · #15 08-05-2002, 05:01 AM

I think you definitely should take advantage of the opportunity and wear your letters. Or else your badge. I am sure students will definitely ask questions so it will be a good jumping off point. Since your house will not be participating in formal recruitment, it will be your chance to help gather new pledges. But, do make sure to mention and discuss other houses on campus to be fair. I was in an orientation group that asked questions about greek life and our leader was a member of a sorority. I appreciated that she discussed other houses even though she was trying to sell hers the most. After all, first impressions count sooo much during rush and it will be beneficial to you if the girls remember you in a positive way during rush. Perhaps a tactful way to bring up the subject would be to simply ask what type of activities the students want to participate in during college.