Vice Archon Recruitment Guide

T H E V I C E A R C H O N RECRUITMENT GUIDE

TABLE OF CONTENTS

The Ideal Chapter Recruitment Model .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2

Values-Based ..................................................................................................................................................3 Three Pillars of Recruitment ....................................................................................................................5 People (Part 1) ...............................................................................................................................................6

People (Part 2) ...............................................................................................................................................9 Message......................................................................................................................................................... 11 Venue .............................................................................................................................................................. 13 Chapter-Shared........................................................................................................................................... 14

PI KAPPA PHI VICE ARCHON RECRUITMENT GUIDE |! 2!

THE IDEAL CHAPTER RECRUITMENT MODEL In this manual, we will examine what it takes to create a truly effective recruitment strategy, one that will help you recruit year-round as well as during formal recruitment periods. For Vice Archons and their recruitment committees, its important to understand what goes into a good recruitment strategy, the steps to take to plan it, and how to include everyone in your recruitment efforts. In order to help you better understand everything involved, we’ll look at recruitment through the Ideal Chapter Recruitment Model – a recruitment strategy that is values-based, people-centered, and chapter shared. While this model may seem complex at first glance, this manual will break down each level of the model and show you how to use to plan effective recruitment. Let’s examine the basics of what go into this model.! Values-Based Why does Pi Kappa Phi exist? What makes us different from other fraternities? What do we believe in? What is the Fraternity’s purpose? How has it changed you? When it comes to bringing new men into life as a Pi Kappa Phi, our identity is very important. Men often join fraternities out of a need to belong, a sense of purpose; when we can articulate who we are and what we believe, we can connect with people who share the same values and beliefs. When we can discuss these things, we can better know the type of men that we are looking for and know how to find them.

People-Centered When recruitment is people centered, it means that the chapters focus is on building your network: establishing relationships not only with PNMs – potential new members but also with the larger community, the people through whom you will often find some of your best referrals – suggestions for potential new members. With people-centered recruitment, we pay more attention to the relationships we develop then the events we host or what our rush shirt looks like. This not only makes recruitment more effective, it can create a stronger sense of brotherhood before a bid even goes out. While the logistics of recruitment break down into 3 pi l lars – people, message and venue, the focus should always be on the personal relationships in order to be successful.

Chapter-Shared One of the easiest ways for recruitment to fail is by placing all the responsibility of the chapter’s recruitment efforts on one person – the vice archon. When recruitment is chapter shared, there is a system in place that helps balance the responsibility of recruitment and gives everyone in the chapter a voice. The vice archon oversees the vision, goals, and strategy involved with recruitment. He works with a committee in which each member is charged with the planning of the logistical aspects of the 3 pillars of recruitment, and makes sure that the chapter can learn the process and help in the recruiting of individual PNMs.

Throughout the rest of this manual, we’ll get into these levels more thoroughly and help you apply it all to your chapter’s recruitment plan.


VALUES BASED !Why Pi Kappa Phi? If someone were to ask you this question, how would you answer? People join for different reasons, but those who stay tend to do so for many of the same reasons. They often seem to tie back to our identity – how we see ourselves and our organization; reflective of our values, our mission, and our personal experiences. Our identity tells ourselves and those around us who we are and what we believe. Most members can easily discuss what we do - ritual, social events, intramurals, study groups; often times though, we have trouble discussing why we do what we do – we believe in leadership, service, we share a common loyalty that transcends personal selfishness. The reason why this is so crucial to recruitment is that in order to find and recruit the best people for your chapter, you must be able to share this identity and make sure that those that you are recruiting believe the same things. As Simon Sinek says “People don’t buy what you do, they buy why you do it… If you hire people just because they can do a job they will work for your money, but if you hire people because they believe what you believe, they’ll work for your blood, sweat and tears”. What Makes Our Identity – Values, Mission and Personal Experience

Values

We can find our values in many places, but they all say many of the same things about who we are.

Mission

The mission / vision of Pi Kappa Phi and Push America puts action to our values, providing us with a purpose and space to fulfill them.

• We will lead. • Pi Kappa Phi will redefine fraternity as a

lifelong brotherhood of leaders. • Building leaders of tomorrow by serving people

with disabilities today. • Changing the way society views people with

disabilities and fraternities.

Personal Experience

What is the most powerful experience you’ve gotten out of Pi Kappa Phi?

How has your fraternity experience changed you as a person?

What would life be like if you hadn’t joined Pi Kappa Phi?

The answers to these questions solicit emotions that cant often be put to words, but it’s a powerful force we must use to drive us in recruitment. !Using Values in Recruitment By articulating our identity, we not only express what we are about, we can also better target men who share the same values and make a more powerful connection with them. Doing this can help ensure that recruitment is more successful, fulfilling and adds men to the chapter who make good, contributing, lifelong brothers. !!


INFLUENCES ON CHOOSING TO BE GREEK

According to a recent study…

Reasons For Joining Their Fraternity

99% liked the members felt like they fit in felt members were sincere and friendly

Wanted more opportunities for community service 94%-90% Expected a good social life

Believed the fraternity had the most to offer

84% Expected fraternity to provide leadership training 83% thought alcohol was not a chapter focus

70% wanted an alumni network after graduation 62% believed that fraternity could help their grades

47% had a friend who was a member

Reasons For NOT Joining Their Fraternity

51% said fraternity didn’t offer what they wanted. 34% Thought it would cost too much

30% Worried it would harm their grades 30% Did not want to be hazed

The Take Away People join because they see the positives, they see how it will benefit them. We have to be able to communicate these things to the people we want to recruit. People often decide not to join because they are worried about the stereotypes associated with Greek life. The only way to break down this barrier in people is to get to know them and show them how we live our values.


THREE PILLARS OF RECRUITMENT The next layer of the Ideal Chapter Recruitment Model is the Three Pillars, or people-centered level. While its important to use our values and identity as the core of our efforts, the Three Pi l lars – people, message and venue comprise the three components of the logistics involve with recruitment.

People People-centered recruitment means that the majority of the time, money and effort dealing with recruitment are focused on expanding your network and building relationships above all else. This pillar is broken down into two segments. First and foremost is one-on-one – the interpersonal relationships that develop when recruiting. This means the focus is on finding and meeting new people, establishing a friendship, slowly introducing them into the fraternity and, if they share our values and accept the responsibilities, inviting them to become a part of the fraternity. Without a doubt this recruitment cycle is the most important part of your chapter’s recruitment effort; no cookout or rush shirt will ever replace the ability to make real connections with people. The second part of this pillar is large-scale – the management of names generation and tracking of all potential new members using an organized system. The main components of this section deal with using your network to actively seek referrals and tracking these potential new members as they progress through the recruitment cycle.

Message Message deals with everything that your chapter communicates about itself. How does your chapter choose to express its values and identity? How to people outside of the chapter see you? Being strategic about your message year-round is crucial to maintaining respect and a good reputation with your network and finding the ideal recruits your chapter seeks. The main components of message are tel l ing the story – being able to articulate your identity, especially how your personal experiences help illustrate our values; branding – having consistency in both the symbols and the messages we use to make others aware of us; the sales pitch – how you explain the tangible benefits of membership, or tailor a conversation towards the PNM’s interests; and broadcasting – how you leverage your network and forms of media to help tell your story for you. Venue Different from just events, venue is people-centered in that it is less about what is going on and much more about who it is going on with. When we plan events, they can often be rush-style, large group events at the house or regular chapter location involving much of the chapter. While these events can be great, they only address the later stages of the recruitment cycle, and can be intimidating to people you are just meeting for the first time. They can often scare away people who wouldn’t normally join fraternities out of fear of the stereotypes. The two components of venue are cycle awareness – planning meetings, interviews or events that meet the PNM where they are on the recruitment cycle; and venue 365 – fitting the recruitment cycle into your calendar all year by creating a schedule that is flexible and can utilize large-scale events your chapter already does.


PEOPLE (PART 1)

One-on-One Recruitment In its simplest form, recruitment is all about relationships. If the fraternity is a lifelong brotherhood, then recruitment should gradually bring men into that relationship. Think about it this way: if you wanted to seriously date someone, what are the things that you would do? It starts with an introduction, then the two of you get to know each other, if you decide that you might want things to be serious, you make sure that you agree to what the relationship ought to look like and make sure you have the same core values. Once you’ve gone through all of this, if you really feel like you belong together than you ask them to commit to the relationship long-term. While dating and join a fraternity are different, they are both serious, long-term relationships. Both rely on a common bond, loyalty, some level of secrecy and intimacy, and a common set of beliefs, without these elements, there is no real guarantee that any relationship will last. Therefore, your recruitment efforts must center around building relationships, cultivating a brotherhood before PNM’s even join.

The Recruitment Cycle If the Ideal Chapter Recruitment Model is the ‘macro’-level recruitment, then the Recruitment Cycle is the ‘micro’-level - the process of establishing a relationship with brothers, then the brotherhood, then eventually the fraternity before he can be fully ready to become a member. As stated before, this is the most important part of your recruitment efforts. Everything that the chapter does for recruitment should center around it. Being successful with the recruitment cycle means being able to be bold and outgoing, reaching out to your network to get referrals for men that fit what your chapter is seeking, being able to talk to strangers and develop a repore, and most importantly, not being afraid to develop new friendships and share your values. Every member of your chapter should understand how this works, and those that are most successful at it will make your most useful recruiters.

Names Generation

The first step is names generation – actively and strategically seeking out referrals for potential new members. We will discuss a number of ways to do this later, the important thing to remember is that many of the best people who could join your chapter will often not seek you out, but would be willing to meet you and here what the organization is all about. In order to find these men, you need to turn to your network to get their information.

Step 1: Make the Call


Once you generate PNM referrals from your network, the chapter must reach out to those interested to arrange a meeting and establish a relationship. This often means cold-calling someone you don’t know. While it can be strange to call someone you’ve never met and ask them to meet with you, there are ways to make this easier. Get some information about them. When you seek referrals, try to get some of the following information. All of this can help build the connection and ‘warm the cold call’.

a. Who referred them – when you can tell them who suggested them, it establishes a common bond between you and them.

b. Why they were referred – If you can get the referral source to tell you what makes them a good fit, it will often be something that reflects the values that they share with our organization.

c. Interests, hobbies, etc – depending on where you get your referrals from, you can find out additional information about them, sometimes, you can simply looking them up on social media will tell you what their interests are or what other friends to have in common.

1. Establish the connection. Use what you know to help establish a commonality. a. “Hey this is _________, do you know ________? I was talking to her sorority the other day and she told

me that I should get a hold of you… 2. Explain their value – what important feature made you want to contact them?

a. “When I was talking to _______, she described you as a leader and a quality guy…” 3. Present an opportunity – what can you do for them?

a. When I was talking to ________, he said that you were looking to get involved in the community. I actually work with a group that serves people with disabilities, maybe it’d be a good placed for you to get involved.

b. “__________ said he played football with you in high school, do you play intramurals? We have an open spot on our team and we were looking for someone who could fill it.”

c. “I belong to a group that is leadership oriented and it sounds like you would be a good fit.” 4. Get a meeting – be flexible, but get a face to face in the next few days.

a. “Do you think you’d want to meet up in the next few days for ten minutes or so to talk more about this?” b. “Are to going to be at the union this week? Maybe we could be up for a cup of coffee on Tuesday.”

By following these steps, you can go from being complete strangers to having a connection and having a meeting. Keep in mind that many times when you make these calls, you’ll meet rejection, but just like anything else, the more you do the better you’ll get.

Step 2: Meet the Brothers If you can make a connection during a cold call, the next step is to meet in person. This can be just the two of you, or in a small group (come with another brother, have him bring other people that might be interested, or arrange for the person who referred him to come with him); the point is to meet in a neutral location where you can get to know eachother. Avoid having your first meeting at the house or a ‘Greek-heavy’ locations as it may be intimidating for those who aren’t used to Greek life. Use the following techniques to get to know new people.

Open-Ended Questions

Once you have a conversation started the key is to keep it going. You do this by asking open-ended questions, which are questions that cannot be answered with a “yes” or “no.” • “What sort of things are you interested in doing

after college?” is better than “What is your major?” • “What do you like about living in ________?” is

better than “Where are you from?” • “Tell me what you like about (our college)?” is

better than “So, do you like it here?” • “What other activities are you interested in on

campus?” • “I hear you’re on the swim team. How did you get

into swimming?” • “Why did you pick ___________ University?” If you just have to use an “old standby” question, make it a two-part question.

• “Where are you from?”… “What was it like growing up there?

“What’s your major?” … “That’s interesting, what do you like about that?

The 5 F-In’ Topics To Start a Conversation

Each of the following topics are typically good ways to get someone to open up and talk about themselves. Asking questions about these topics and showing true interest in what the person has to saw is a great way to get to know them.

! Family

! Friends

! Favorites

! Where They’re From

! What They Do for Fun


Step 3: Meet the Brotherhood Building off of this friendship, PNMs are gradually introduced into more of the fraternity, from meeting one or a few brothers the first time to meeting more of the group. Think about the settings or activities that your chapter is already involved in. Using study groups, intramurals, or Push events not only helps introduce potential new members to the larger brotherhood, but also helps them gain insight as to what its like to be a member. This will also allow you to see how they acclimate to the members of the fraternity.

Step 4: Meet the Fraternity Once a PNM becomes acquainted with the men, the next step is to introduce them to the fraternity. This means telling about our identity, our history and the opportunities available to them if they become a member. At this point it is important that the PNM agrees with the values of the organization and understands the obligations required for membership.

The ‘Pi Kapp Conversation’ Questions

Remember to ask open-ended questions to have a real conversation. If done right it should be a heart-to-heart, not an interview. “So what makes you interested in fraternity?” “What do you think makes Pi Kappa Phi stand out to you?” “What would you hope to gain from being a part of a fraternity?” “Is there anything that you think would make it hard for you to join a fraternity?”

Explaining the Tangible Benefits of Pi Kappa Phi

Tangible Benefit – a feature of fraternity life in with Pi Kappa Phi that directly benefits someone in a measurable way. A tangible benefit should explain both why, how and what we do in ways that actually benefit the individual.

Example: (What we do): Each year our chapter attends national leadership conferences.

(Tangible Benefit): We believe helping you become a leader on campus and beyond. Our fraternity offers programming at the local and national level to achieve this. Each year our chapter attend national leadership conferences to develop better leadership skills.

By explaining how fraternity life can directly benefit them as an individual and helping them understand the intent behind it, you give them direct by-in to fraternity life.

What Every Potential New Member Needs to Know

When looking at retention issues with men going through the new member process, much of it can be drawn back to a lack of understand of expectations prior to signing a bid. When potential new members get to this stage of the recruitment cycle, it is your job to make sure they understand the following obligations:

• Financial Responsibility – How much is required each semester. • Academic Achievement - The minimum GPA for a bid, initiation and to be in good standing. • Time Requirements – The amount of time required each week, the length of the pledging period. • Other Obligations – Rules about living in the house, mandatory events, and any other obligations for

membership.

Step 5: Seal the Deal – Confirming Values and Obligations Before giving a bid, it is important to make sure that you are bringing in people that share the same values that you have as an organization. There are ways to have a conversation about this as well. One way is a discussion about the creed. Have the new member look at our student creed and have a conversation where he can discuss how he feels about it. Below are some questions to ask:

“One of main parts of our creed talks about financial responsibility. Part of being in a fraternity is contributing to a budget. How do you feel about this? Do you consider yourself financially responsible?”

“Can you read this part of the creed that talks about citizenship for me? What do you think being in a fraternity has to do with citizenship? How do you feel about taking on a leadership role in the chapter?”

By discussing our values openly with the individual and asking for feedback, he can give you indication of his feeling as well as whether or not he agrees with our beliefs.


PEOPLE (PART 2) Large Scale Recruitment Its one thing to take a potential new member through the recruitment cycle, but its something entirely different to oversee the recruitment cycle for hundreds of potential new members. It requires good strategy in order to generate names and track potential new members, but with a good plan, the right tools and a skilled committee, you can put a system in place to recruit great members year-round. The Steps of Large-Scale People-Centered Recruitment

1. Set Your Goals – Look at not only the men you want to add to the chapter, but be realistic in how many men you’ll have to reach out to in order to reach that goal.

2. Target Your Audience – Once you’ve figured out how many men you need to recruit, think about where you go to reach out to them.

3. Names Generation – The driving force behind recruitment is names generation, meaning that you need to plan a strategy to get new referrals throughout the year.

4. Manage Your List – Using your names list, you can track all the men you are recruiting as they go through the stages of the recruitment cycle. By using it the right way, you can actively monitor your progress with the recruitment goals you set.

Set Your Goals - The Recruitment Cycle by the Numbers Its important to understand that when figuring out how many men you’ll need to recruit in a year that the number you’ll need to reach out to is something much larger. When you break down the numbers related to your recruitment goals, its noticeable the difference in the size of the prospect pool from the end number of men who end up signing a bid. How do you think these numbers effect your recruitment efforts?

PI KAPPA PHI VICE ARCHON RECRUITMENT GUIDE |!10!

Names Generation Getting Referrals The main objective of names generation is gaining as many referrals as you can. These can come from a variety of sources, such as your own chapter members, Fraternity / Sorority Life Office, alumni, sororities or simply meeting new people on campus. Keep in mind the sources that you listed on page 13 as well. The ways that you solicit names can vary depending on the group that your soliciting to. For sororities and student organizations, you’ll likely want to do a presentation. As for alumni, you’ll likely want to do a mass mailing or email asking for referrals. If your Fraternity / Sorority Life Office can usually provide you a list of non-Greek students, if not than you can either try to work with your IFC to make this happen or reach out to the national headquarters for assistance. The chapter can also do things to get potential new member to come to them. One of the best ways to do this is to establish a scholarship for non-Greek students. By doing this, applicants willing provide information about themselves that can help you in the recruitment process later on. Tabling is also a good way to get names if done correctly.

Tips for Getting Referrals Presentations • Dress professionally – showing up in a suit will go a long way. • Command the room – show confidence, set a good tone, make them laugh. • Connect with your audience - show that you know about their organization, highlight your similarities • Tell the story – Tell them your identity, describe your ideal recruit • Ask for names – give them something to write down referrals, ask them to pull out their phones and look people up • Collect the names – DON’T WALK AWAY without getting some referrals in hand • Follow up – send thank you notes, reward individuals that give you a lot of names. Tabling • Lose the chairs – sitting behind the table is passive, don’t just expect people to come to you • Be seen by what you do – not how you decorate your table; simply have a sign or banner, some info to hand out and a sheet to

collect names. • Have fun – use contests, games to collect more names • Walk away – don’t expect people to come to your table, walk around and meet people to bring over. • Manage your expectations – Tabling can be effective when its done on a regular basis, don’t expect big returns when done once in

a while. Scholarships • Market – work with the university and the national organization to help advertise it to non-Greeks. • Tailor your application – ask questions that help you seek out your ‘ideal recruits’ • Hold interviews – Setting up a day or two of interviews allows you to meet with dozens for PNMs and ask them upfront about their

values, hobbies interests. • Get them to other events – be sure to follow up and get them to meet the guys in another setting. • *It may be difficult to get the names upfront, but it is a great way to meet ‘ideal recruits’ on your own terms. Names List Using a names list provides an organized way of collecting names and updating information about people you are trying to recruit. Using this list will make it easy for anyone in the chapter to contact potential new members or add new ones to the list. When you track all the information for PNMs on one document, it makes it much easier to track large number numbers of men as they progress through the recruitment cycle. When you use a grading scale that correlates to the recruitment cycle, you can actively track where individual PNMs are on in the cycle as well as how close you are in reaching your recruitment goals. Check out the example below that includes the information that you want to have on your names list.


MESSAGE Just like anything else you do for the fraternity, you are often forced to work against the misconceptions that other have of us. People may simply confuse us with other fraternities, or simply make assumptions about us based on stereotypes, or you may even be combating a negative image from the chapter’s past incidents. In any case, careful attention to the message the chapter chooses to put out can make a big difference in what type of members we bring in. Unlike marketing a single event, your message is the way in which you want the outside world to see you. There are a few ways that you can do this:

Step 1: Build Your Message Think back to the values-based portion of this manual. It mentions how the identity is formed from your values, mission and personal experiences. Each of these things take an important role in your message. If these are the core reasons why your group exists, then they should be the main elements of your message. In everything from what’s on your tshirt to what you day about the fraternity during presentations, to the selling points for potential new members, your message should reflect the identity of your group.

What’s the tagline?

In the values-based section, you were asked to come up with a mission statement for your chapter. This is usually something simple that reflects the values of the organization and the direction it wants to take. Pi Kappa Phi for example uses ‘we will lead’ or ‘leaders by choice’ as not only a reflection of our belief in leadership, but also as a call to action. What is a good tag line for your chapter?

Tell Your Story

If a mission statement is a call to action reflecting our values, then your story is a collection of experiences that reinforce how our values our lived. This is important to be able to give context and personal testimonials to what the organization says it does in order for people to make the human connection to the identity. For example, when we discuss leadership, we can look to the story of the Nu Phi.

“Over a century ago at the College of Charleston, a small group of men decided that they wanted to be leaders on their campus. In order to be a part of the Chresthomatic Society – their student government – you needed to be in fraternity. The men were not happy with the fraternities that existed there, so instead of joining one, they created their own. Ever since that faithful moment, our fraternity firmly believes in the abilities of men to be leaders and impact their communities.”

Think about the questions you answered on page 3. How do these things help form your story? How do they tie back to the values?

“I belong to a group that believes in being a lifelong brotherhood of leaders and serving people with disabilities. Last year, I had the chance to hold a leadership position that taught me a lot about myself. At the same time, I also raised $5000 to ride across the country on a ride called Journey of Hope for Push America. These experiences have truly helped me be a better person. “

Step 2: Create Your Brand You are likely to have a number of Greek organizations on your campus, and as such, it can be difficult for non-Greeks to tell some organizations apart. One way to help make your chapter more recognizable is by having consistent messaging. This means that you used the same tagline, the same stories and the same imaging to identify your group in all of your marketing, This also means being consistent over time, not just choosing a new theme every time your chapter goes through formal recruitment. Think about this: on your campus, you can very likely have Pi Kappa Alpha, Phi Kappa Tau, Phi Kappa Theta, Pi Beta Phi, and any number of other groups, to someone who is non-Greek, trying to differentiate can be like learning a foreign language. When marketing the fraternity consider the following things.

• Pi Kappa Phi and !"# look a lot like other organizations, but when you attach a tagline like “Leaders by Choice”, it becomes easier to differential you from everyone else.

• Just like every fraternity has letters, they also have a crest, chances are, you couldn’t look at all the ones on your campus and match them to their fraternity.

This stands out from these:


Step 3: Broadcast Your Message If your tagline and your story are the message you put out, then marketing is how you get that message to people. Once you are able to figure out what you want your message to be, you can then consider how to leverage your network and forms of media to help tell your story for you. There are some basic forms of marketing that are simple and can yield good returns.

Direct Marketing

Direct marketing is focused on the audience you would like to recruit. This can be done by giving marketing pieces like brochures, buttons or pens to PNM’s after you have one-on-ones, or giving similar materials as ‘rewards’ to the groups or individuals that provide you with the most referrals. You can also use your social media for direct marketing. For instance, Facebook will allow you to run ads for fanpages that can market specifically to people who list specific information about themselves. This could allow you to send ads to men on your campus that list volunteering or leadership, etc in their profile, rather than the entire population. While these materials may cost more individually then things like flyers, the amount you need is less and each item can be more effective because it is targeted.

Mass Marketing

Mass marketing allows you to market to the entire campus population. This usually involves things like flyers or handouts, banners or videos. This allows you to cast a wide net and see what you can pull in from it. What can make mass marketing successful is having a good, simple portrayal of the message, and providing information about how to easily find out more information or get in touch with a recruiter. While mass marketing may be good for formal recruitment periods, it may not have the same kinds of returns the rest of the year. Consider getting your mass marketing into platforms like campus television for recruitment videos or using mass marketing that moves around things like handouts or beachballs or Frisbees will move between people, extending the amount of people it gets out to. While this kind of marketing tends to be highly visible, it is passive and doesn’t prove to be effective at drawing people in, simply giving the chapter some brand recognition.

Human Marketing

Mass marketing can be made more effective when people are physically marketing it. When people form opinions about things they tend to way the opinions of those closest to them heavily. Therefore by having people wear or carry Pi Kappa Phi items, it makes marketing more effective. For instance, when you bid new members, consider giving them a Pi Kappa Phi tshirt, have designated days where everyone would wear these tshirts. When people see a group wearing the same item, they have the tendancy to exaggerate the figure in their head. This can be a force multiplier – causing people to think that the group is larger than it really is. The same can go for giving tshirts, buttons, etc to friends of the fraternity and incentivizing them to wear them on certain days, or even having small handouts to provide people they know that would make good potential new members.

Social Media

Social media can be a great tool in spreading your message. It allows you to project your message on a platform that many people are already tuned into with great frequency. If you leverage your social media outlets correctly, you can attract a large following that can help spread your message for you. This is a great way to give non-members a window into what life is like as a member, showcasing achievements and activities. Having a large following on sites like Facebook and Twitter can be done in part by doing the following:

• Consolidate – Don’t use too many pages, you don’t need separate ones for Push and Alumni, etc. One page or profile for your chapter should suffice.

• Don’t date it – When you name your profiles or pages as “Rush 2012” then, you’re forcing yourself to make a new page (and re-recruit followers) the next year. Keep consistent profile from year to year to accumulate followers.

• Include a variety of media – use videos, articles, blogs and links in addition to basic posts. This gives people something to interact with rather than just a post.

• Post regularly (1 to 2 times each week) – people have short attention spans, meaning that if you go weeks without posting things, people will not pay as much attention the next time you post.

• Includes info other than just Pi Kappa Phi – Post items related to topics other than the fraternity. Use what your audience is attracted to, like campus or community sports, local news, campus events, etc, that apply to broader areas of their life.

• Tag other people and organizations – most forms of social media have the ability to tag others, which shows up on their page as well. When posting about events with other groups, or sending congratulations, tag others in the post to give them some recognition and buy-in.


VENUE Just as the Message of Three Pillars is meant to be broader than just marketing, venue is somewhat different from events. Venue implies that the focus is on building relationships in the right setting, making it more people-centered. When you simply focus on the event itself, it becomes less about the relationships that you are trying to cultivate and more about the tangible things that won’t make a great deal of difference in the relationships. It is important to apply the recruitment cycle when mapping out your schedule. The time and money that needs to go into each stage can differ, so its important to plan the right timing and number of events for each appropriately.

1. Fit The Cycle – Build a schedule that accommodates PNMs on every level of the recruitment cycle. 2. Use What You Already Do – Build recruitment into things your chapter already does. 3. Adapt Year Round – Create a twelve-month schedule that is adaptive to what is going on.

Planning Your Schedule Each stage of the cycle has a certain level of interaction, and therefore each have a different amount of time, timing and capital required. When building the schedule and budget, consider each of these stages.

Gett ing Referrals: • When collecting names and adding them to your names list, you

should account for about 1 minute per name. • Consider if / how much you will offer rewards for recommendations. • Most of your referrals will need to be collected at the beginning of

semesters / summers, but it should be done regularly. • Sample events for getting referrals: presentations, tabling, dinners for

referral sources. Contacting Prospects:

• Contacting prospects costs little or no money, but you should account for about 2-3 minutes per name on the list.

• Sample events for contacting prospects: cold call parties (get the chapter or committee to go through the list at the same time)

Establ ishing Relationships: • These are much smaller and easier to plan, generally a public meeting

with a recruiter. • Anticipate a first meeting to take about 20 – 30 minutes per person. Consider if you wan to budget for a cup of

coffee, etc for each of these meetings. • Sample events for establishing relationships: 1 on 1s or 2 on 1s, meeting for coffee or going to lunch, going to

the gym, attending a study group. Chapter Functions

• These tend to take more time or planning, but include a large number of PNMs, so they don’t need to occur nearly as often as 1 on 1s.

• Sample events for chapter events: Cook-outs, movie nights, sporting events, the more you can use events your chapter already does (intramurals, push events, brotherhoods, study groups), the less money you will need to spend.

Interviews, Votes and Bids • For the most part these require virtual money, and if your chapter is doing enough to get to know PNMs, it

shouldn’t require a great deal of time. • Sample events for interviews, votes and bids: formal interviews with officers, group interviews with multiple

PNMs, keep in mind that it does not have to be too formal or ritualistic; interviewing or bidding in public, even while tabling can be a great way to market the fraternity.

Suggested Frequency for Each Stage • Getting Referrals – take the average number of referrals you get from one effort and divide that number by the

new of your total referrals goal. Then, take that number and divide it by twelve months. Typically, you should be doing names-generating events one to five times per month, heavier in the beginning of semesters and the middle of summer.

• Contacting Prospects – This should be done weekly, for those further along the recruitment cycle, cold calls, should happen every other week so that your referral don’t go ‘stale’ .

• Establishing Relationship – You should be having at least a few one-on-one style meetings each week, more during heavier times corresponding with names generation and cold calls.

• Chapter Events – between what your chapter is already doing and independently planned recruitment events, you should plan on at least one chapter event to invite PNMs to.

Interviews, Votes and Bids – The frequency of these events depends on whether you choose to them individually or in groups, but you should be doing them frequently enough to bring in 10% - 15% each month of your total goal of men who sign bids.


CHAPTER - SHARED One of the easiest ways for recruitment to fail is by placing all the responsibility of the chapter’s recruitment efforts on one person – the vice archon. When recruitment is chapter shared, there is a system in place that helps balance the responsibility of recruitment and gives everyone in the chapter a voice. The vice archon oversees the vision, goals, and strategy involved with recruitment. He works with a committee in which each member is charged with the planning of the logistical aspects of the 3 pillars of recruitment, and makes sure that the chapter can learn the process and help in the recruiting of individual PNMs.

Manage, Plan, Do The Vice Archon of the chapter is elected to head all recruitment efforts, but in order to do everything involved in the role, he must rely on his committee and the chapter. In order to be successful at this, you must have a sense of where responsibilities lie. As you can see from the final level of the Ideal Chapter Recruitment Model, responsibilities are broken into three levels.

Manage

The manage level entails overseeing the vision, setting goals, training the chapter and ensuring the job gets done the right way. Things that are included on this level include deciding strategy for names generation and setting up presentations, giving final approval for marketing related to the message, creating the recruitment schedule and setting a budget that can support it all. Being able to manage requires that you can lead the group, but also make the tough decisions required while holding yourself accountable. This level likely takes several hours a week depending on how organized your planning can be.

Plan

The planning level is focused on the logistical execution of the recruitment plan. The tangible things like updating the names list, maintaining social media, scheduling rooms for events. This level takes the guidance of a manager and helps make sure things can get done. This level takes more time than managing, but is split by more people.

Do

This level is the execution stage of responsibilities. This means being present, knowing how to further the recruitment cycle by building relationships with potential new members and knowing what to say. This level is aware of the big picture, but for the most part takes direction from the top two levels and recruits individuals as opposed to leading the strategy. List level is about interacting with every single PNM, meaning that it takes quite a bit of time but is shared with all or most of the chapter.

Fluid Responsibilities

If you look at the official roles in this model, you’ll notice that they are fluid, meaning that they do not stick to one level, but have varying impact on the whole process. For example while the Vice Archon should focus mainly on the big picture, he of course will be meeting with PNMs and attending events. At the same time, regular chapter members will be the main ones building relationships, but at the same time, they should have a voice in the overall vision of the process.


Doing Your Part Below, we’ve broken down the Chapter-Shared level of the Ideal Chapter Recruitment Model to give you an idea of where some important responsibilities fall. Keep in mind that this is meant to give you an idea of what to do, but may look different in your chapter.

Who’s On Your Team?

Now that you’ve seen the level of responsibility involved in a full recruitment process, you can hopefully understand the need to have a good committee supporting the Vice Archon. Having a skilled team in place can make the difference between any number of men that your chapter could potentially recruit. When creating a recruitment committee, it is the Vice Archon’s job to be clear about what to expect of himself and of each member including duties of each role, how often the team will meet etc. The Vice Archon can structure the committee however he sees fit; the sample below is one that fits the ICRM. Keep in mind that you can customize as needed. For example, you may add a Formal Recruitment chair base on how important it may be on your campus.

Strategic Planning – Who’s On Your Team?

Position People Chair Message Chair Venue Chair Possible Chair Positions (Already in your chapter) Secretary, member education,

PR, Sorority Relations, Media or Technology

Brotherhood, Intramural, Scholarship, Social

Possible Majors Business, Communications PR, Communications Event Planning, Hospitality Services

Skills Organization, good communicator.

Good communicator, artistic, sense of visual design

Organized, good strategic thinking

People in my chapter that May be a good fit:


Motivating the Chapter – Empowered, Informed, Appreciated One of the most difficult parts of the recruitment process can be getting enough of the chapter involved. When recruitment efforts lack the support of the general chapter, it puts far too much responsibility on the Vice Archon and his team, limiting the end result of your efforts. Rather than seeing the chapter’s involvement as how they must contribute, the Vice Archon needs to focus on how to get them to want to contribute. There are some key actions that can make a difference in your chapter’s willingness volunteer their time to be good recruiters.

Empower Them

While the Vice Archon will have the final say over what the recruitment process looks like, it was the chapter that voted for him to be in that position. Its important to make them feel like they have a spot in the drivers seat on bigger items. Allowing the people to have input is proven to be a more powerful motivator than external rewards. When people feel as though they’ve contributed to something, they are naturally more supportive. As Vice Archon, you can choose a number of options that fit and let the chapter decide which of these they like best. For instance:

• The Vice Archon can find multiple options on items related to the message, like the tagline used for marketing, but let the chapter vote on the final decision, allowing you to control the quality while giving the chapter a voice.

• The Vice Archon seeks the advise of other chapter leaders; have the Push America, intramural, scholarship or other chairmen select events from their schedule that would work for recruitment. This way when you present the calendar, these other leaders are in support of it as well.

Set Expectations

Just as some of the items in this manual may be new to you, they are likely new to your members as well. You cannot assume that everyone knows what is needed to be done or how to do it. At the beginning of each semester, it is your job to make it clear to the chapter what they can expect from you as well as what they are expected to do. This tells members that you respect them and that you are accountable. Allow them to have some say in what this relationship looks like, but spell it out for them. For Instance:

• Break down the responsibilities of who does what – Vice Archon, committee members or the chapter – in a duties list that everyone agree upon that is available for anyone to access.

• Work with other officers to reinforce expectations. One example would be setting standards for minimum involvement with recruitment for those who wish to be big brothers of those being recruited.

Inform Them

Once they know what they are expected to do, make sure they know how to do it. For instance: • Host a recruitment workshop at the beginning of each semester. • Do an activity with them on the basics of meeting new people and having a good conversation. • During the Vice Archon’s report, give a 15-minute rundown on how to use the names list. • Have them come up describe their personal experiences similar to the questions from page 3 and explain how

they can tie these back to the identity of the chapter and share with others.

Its important to keep training fun, light and active. Keep it simple: teach them only what they need to learn and give more to those who want to know about it, like future Vice Archon candidates. The other component to informing the chapter is making sure they know how far they are to their goals. Each week, breakdown how many people are on each stage of the recruitment cycle and how close they are to the chapter goal. Give them a benchmark to hit the following week.

Get Them Involved Early

When a chapter lacks enthusiasm or a sense of duty to recruit, it can be an issue with the culture of the chapter. In this kind of situation, its especially important to involve the new members as soon as possible. Chances are, these men are looking for ways to be involved with the chapter and therefore more willing to help. And by setting the expectation of involvement from the beginning, these new members will have more of an on-going sense of obligation. Work with your Warden to include one or two training sessions in new member education.

Use Competition

One of the greatest motivators of men is competition. It taps into many key facets of masculinity and therefore can have big results with small effort. For example break the chapter into teams and keep score based on number of people they help find, recruit and see through to a bid. At the end of the semester, provide a good reward for the winning team.

Encourage Them

Rewards are a powerful tool in motivation. Use a good portion of your budget to provide rewards to those who help recruit for the chapter. You can use anything from $5 gift cards to a home cooked meal to a free round of golf. It does not have to be incredibly structured or spelled out, it just has to be something that excites the chapter and shows them that you appreciate what they are doing to help out. Make sure to allow the chapter to decide what these rewards might be.

Vice Archon Recruitment Guide

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Transcript of Vice Archon Recruitment Guide