Sorority Recruitment

As I said before, I am a member of a sorority, Gamma Phi Beta to be exact. It has been such an amazing and life changing experience. I am such an advocate for student involvement, and I think that Greek life can provide you with a chance to get involved with something more than yourself. Gamma Phi Beta has provided with so many networking and leadership opportunities that I may not have had otherwise. But this wasn't supposed to be the point of this post, so I digress.

I am the Membership Vice President (MVP for short) for my sorority; when most people hear this, they think "Oh, she's in charge of recruitment" which is one of my duties, but I think the most important part of being MVP is just in the title, Membership. It's about getting new members, making sure the current members stay happy (happy and excited members make for a motivated and growing chapter), and keeping our lifelong sisterhood alive and connecting with our amazing alumna. A membership in Gamma Phi Beta is for a lifetime, so I find it quite silly to focus all of my efforts on one aspect that.

If you know anything about me, you know I strive to be the best at everything that I do, and part of that journey to be the best is realizing that I don't have to figure everything out on my own. So on my search on how to improve the membership experience for my chapter, I bought a book: I Heart Recruitment by Colleen Coffey and Jessica Gendron. I think this book is a MUST for any sorority woman who is passionate about leadership, recruitment, public relations, and/or membership; it is a fresh look at what has always been.

I don't want to give away too much about it, but this book really takes a new perspective on recruitment and challenges you to look at why you do things and what your efforts are spent on. Recruitment isn't one or two events throughout the year, recruitment is a process that you do 365 (and sometimes 366) days a year. What you do outside of recruitment is just as much a part of your actual formal/informal recruitment activities. More importantly, "You can't recruit who you don't know", so being Greek is great, but if that's all you aspire to be, then you can't advance your chapter all too much. Just some things to think about! Another thing to constantly remember is that "people join people"; meaning, those women going through recruitment don't join because of your sweet matching outfits, nor do they join because of your food and beverages you serve, they join because of you and your members. So maybe it's time to start thinking more about your conversations and less about your decorations. Just pick up the book, read it for yourself, and I'm sure you'll have an even more positive outlook on membership and recruitment!

Honestly, I recommend this to any sorority leader, because it pushes you to be better and gives you the tools you need to advance your chapter! Want to learn more? Check out Phired Up Productions - they have so many amazing tools and resources for Greeks.

There will be more book reviews to come throughout my blogging career, because I am quite the book nerd. Up next will be Trust Agents by Chris Brogan and Julien Smith. Until next time loves!

- Lauren