You finish your last final, pack up the room, pack the car, say goodbye to the boys, and head home for the summer. You’re happy because you don’t have to think about school or tests until August. You start thinking about how great the last year was in the fraternity and now you don’t have to worry about recruitment until August….. FALSE! Welcome to the first entry of the Triangle Recruitment, “Beginning Summer Recruitment”.
So what’s the point of summer recruitment? If were not on campus how can we recruit? Well.. it turns out that summer is one of the best times to start recruiting and building your names list. We are going to talk about the different ways that your chapter can begin to build the names list in the summer.
1. Summer Scholarship
Probably the easiest way to start building your names list is by offering a summer scholarship sponsored by your chapter. Many of our groups are already taking advantage of this tool but imagine if ALL of our groups did it! The reason a scholarship is a great tool is because it’s an easy way to gather information about potential new members. Here are some things to think about when starting a scholarship.
- We suggest the scholarship be at least $1,000
- Challenge your alumni to match a certain amount for the scholarship
- Utilize faculty on campus for doing interviews with applicants
- Have a set plan on how you will contact applicants when starting recruitment
- Hold a nice brunch or banquet to award the scholarship. Invite local alumni, and parents.
- Partner with the engineering school to help publicize the scholarship
2. Summer Orientation
Think back to your orientation. Were there organizations or other campus groups at orientation tabling? You probably got some type of flyer, sticker, button, water bottle, etc. from those groups. Now think of how your chapter could do the same thing to promote yourself.
Summer orientations are great opportunities to get to PNMs early. Here are some examples of ways you can engage PNMs attending orientation.
- Provide literature for students AND parents explaining what Triangle is
- Provide something useful with a Triangle logo. (Water bottle, fan, sunscreen, hand sanitizer, etc.)
- Provide literature promoting your scholarship……(SEE ABOVE!)
- Invite them to take a tour of your housing
- Offer contact information for the chapter and have them contact you when moving in to get assistance.
There are many ways to engage PNMs during orientation. These are just a few examples. Whatever you do, make sure you have a purpose for tabling. Don’t just stand behind the table and hope people come to you! Go out and make friends! ALSO: Don’t forget about Transfer student orientations. This is often a market that many fraternities miss out on.
3. High School Visits
This one might seem a little off to a lot of you but bare with me here…
Every person in your chapter graduated from a high school. Every person in your chapter probably still knows faculty, and maybe even students at that high school. So.. why aren’t we utilizing this? One of the best ways to get to students early in the summer is contacting high schools and providing opportunities for their students. Here are some examples of what you can provide:
- Tutoring
- Mentoring
- Scholarship
- FIRST Robotics Coach
Take advantage of people you know back in your hometowns. I’m sure that most of your high schools will have seniors attending your campus in the fall so try and make contact with them early.
Closing
Too many groups around the country miss out on opportunities because they don’t think about recruitment in the summer. I, and I know many other people that teach recruitment, would argue that summer is the most important time for fraternity recruitment. We understand that a lot of you are busy with internships, co-ops, summer jobs, summer classes etc. however, if you structure your recruitment team effectively you should be able to tackle the summer. Tune in next week where we will talk about that very subject.
Don’t forget.. if you send an email Augie (augie@triangle.org) with a few takeaways you will be entered into an amazon gift card raffle. Happy recruiting and see you next week!