Recruitment Counselor Interviews

PurplAngel · #1 02-03-2004, 12:16 AM

Hi all! I'm on my school's Panhellenic Executive Board and interviews for recruitment counselor positions are coming up soon. For all of you that have been a recruitment counselor (or just have ideas), I need help thinking up good questions to ask girls who are applying. What kind of questions does Panhel ask at your schools?

I would appreciate the help so much!
In Greek Unity,
Jamie

33girl · #2 02-03-2004, 12:29 AM

"If you were a tree, what kind of tree would you be?" LOL just kidding...

-How would you react if a PNM said something negative about your sorority?

-What activities are you involved in other than your sorority?

-Why do you want to be a recruitment counselor?

-Would you have a problem with disaffiliating from your sorority?

those are just a few, I'm sure other posters can come up w/ more.

aephi alum · #3 02-03-2004, 09:59 PM

Those are good...

You may also want to ask if they have any problems with the logistics of being a recruitment counselor: moving out of the house for rush, not wearing letters, not being seen with anyone who remains affiliated, being available to your PNMs, possibly taking time off from your job, etc.

You might want to ask some situation questions: "A PNM you really like comes up to you and says, 'I've figured out you're an XYZ and I want to be an XYZ too so we can be sisters.' What do you do?" (Yep, I was asked that.)

AOIIBrandi · #4 02-04-2004, 10:32 AM

How do you respond towards a woman who has just been cut very heavily?

What do you say to a girl who wants to suicide one particular house?

-p.s. I would be looking for to first ask if she is sure she would not accept a bid from any other house and then explain what the ramifications are at your school if any...ultimately it is her decision though.

How do you handle stress, and or deal with emotionally fragile people. - Remember that this can be a VERY stressfull time for both PNMs and Sisters

CardinalSM · #5 02-04-2004, 03:23 PM

Ok so here's a predicament:

I am interviewing next week to be a recruitment counselor. . . and I bet you the question about what would you do if a girl wants to suicide a house will come up. So here's the problem, I suicided Chi O. I have never regretted doing that. There is absolutely no way I would have been happy or comfortable in the other house i preffed and would have depledged. I don't know how to answer this question, because I am glad I suicided. I need advice!

ShaedyKD · #6 02-04-2004, 09:59 PM

Cardinal - This past recruitment I was Exec VP on Panhellenic at my school. The new politically correct term for "suiciding" is "Single Intentional Preference (SIP)." I believe that is an NPC change. Anyways, I was a recruitment counselor the year before, and was told to not even mention SIP to the PNMs. If one asked, we were to tell them that they would be dropped from recruitment. Our computer system requires a certain amount of choices from each PNM on certain days. After Preferentials, PNMs must put down 3 choices. Panhellenic exec scanned each PNMs card to make sure 3 choices were bubbled in.
I understand why you chose to do that, because I truly only wanted one sorority after I went to prefs. But I was afraid to be dropped from recruitment altogether. I'm not sure if your school has this policy or not.
My advice for your interview, (as someone who has been through it!), is to say that you would do your best to discourage a PMN from SIP. I know it worked out in your situation, and that is awesome that you felt so strongly about XO from the very beginning, but one of the key aspects of being a recruitment counselor is being unbiased and equal regarding every sorority on your campus. PNMs should learn that every sorority is great, and they would be lucky to get a bid from any of them. We all know that everything happens for a reason when it comes to recruitment. PNMs need to realize that their second, third, even tenth choice is just as special as their first, they just may have different things to offer.

Sorry so long!

P.S. Purpl - I think you should ask them if they will go out to clubs where all their sisters go 2 weeks before recruitment and pretend not to know them!

CardinalSM · #7 02-05-2004, 02:02 AM

I understand what you are saying. My school does not have the policy that you are dropped if you SIP. My Pi Chi knew that I was going to do that and she never discouraged me from doing it. And please understand that the other sorority I preffed is a wonderful organization, and I am very good friends with many of their sisters, however I know that I was an extremely poor fit for that org. But what I am asking is what if there is a girl in my situation who knows she is NOT an XYZ? If my Pi Chi had said they have a lot too offer me, I would have agreed, they are a great org, however, what they had to offer me was not what I needed in a sorority. I am just going to have a difficult time answering a question like this, and I don't know what to do! I think I would discourage them from doing it, because it severely limits their options, I just got lucky. Thanks for your advice ShaedyKD, I will definitely keep it in mind. Anybody else have any words of wisdom?

AOIIBrandi · #8 02-05-2004, 12:32 PM

I can just tell you that my sister was strongly discouraged from SIP by her RG and didn't (without consulting me!!!).

She was a legacy to one house, but was NOT a good fit with them and knew she would decline the bid. She really wanted the other house. In her case it didn't work for her because she was preffing as a legacy and placed on their first bid list. Had she SIP'd she would have had a better chance of getting the ONLY house she wanted or at least cross-cutting so she would have been eligible for COB to that or another house (that had dropped her due to class standing) later on. As a result she got a bid from her legacy house went there on bid day to try it and ended up declining the bid that afternoon.

So, while you should discourage SIP you should understand that there are very many circumstances and sometimes it really is the best option for the PNM.

ShaedyKD · #9 02-05-2004, 02:24 PM

I agree with what you are saying, Brandi, because we all know that once you put a sorority down on your bid card, there is a chance you could get it and then you would be bound for 1 year to that group. If I had known that when I was a PNM, I probably would have done SIP and only put down my first choice. But as a recruitment counselor, trying to promote respect and Greek unity, the best thing to do is to not mention this unless a PNM does first. If a PNM has special circumstances, like the legacy issue you were talking about, I think a Pi Chi should take the girl aside and speak with her about it, rather than give 20 other girls the idea that they should just put down their number 1 choice and nothing else.

PNMs will do what they want to do, no matter how much advice you give them anways, you can't fill the bid card out for them!

FSUZeta · #10 02-05-2004, 03:24 PM

cardinalsm, please be truthful when you answer ALL the questions that your interviewer poses to you. if you are asked about suiciding, truthfully tell them how you think you would answer. but i just throught of that question from a different angle-what would you do if one of the pnm's in your group wanted to suicide a chapter that you knew she would not get in. would you still encourage her to suicide? before you answer any of the interviewers questions, think of all the angles and possible answers and good luck.

AOIIBrandi · #11 02-05-2004, 03:31 PM

ShaedyKD, you're right. I think I just thought that the conversation would naturally take place in private.

PsychTau · #12 02-05-2004, 04:03 PM

Another angle on the SIP question...

In therapy, if a client asks us "What should I do?" we are not to suggest or tell them what to do (Don't panic...I'm not talking hurting self or others...middle of the road kind of stuff like "Should I break up with him?" etc.). What we are to do is talk with them about all of their options andmake sure they understand the possible consequences of each option. In SIP, I would make sure the PNM knew about the chances of her not getting a bid, getting a bid, not fitting in, fitting in with another group, the whole "waiting for a year" thing, etc. I think I'd also ask her what draws her to that one particular group, and what drew her to her other pref groups. Ask her lots of questions to get some answers out of her and try to get her to see the pros and cons of each choice. Sometimes a PNM HAS to SIP....there's no other way they would be happy, they've thought about it, and they know that's the answer for them. Other PNMs see it as "Well, if I put two choices, they'll think I want each of them half as much. If I only put one choice, they will know that I want that one 100% and they'll give me a bid because they are all 100% XYZ and I want them to know that I'm 100% XYZ too."

We all promote our orgs soooooo much during recruitment to every PNM that some who aren't savvy to the ways of recruitment (as well as victims of Greek systems who don't educate their PNMs) will see it as "Wow. The best house on campus is soooo nice to me. They must want me. I'm in." and they never think about what they want for themselves.

/ramble

PsychTau