This article is Day 19 of the series: 31 Days to Better Fraternity Recruitment.
You joined a fraternity to make friends, find connections, and help prepare you for life after graduation. Don’t let recruitment be one of the places where you lose focus. You need to give people
I’ve heard “recruit yourself” and that is the wrong thing to do.
Instead of recruiting someone just like you, recruit someone better.
Most colleges and universities have some form of Honors Program. Seek out those guys, and find the ones that fit your fraternity’s principles and values. Next, look at the departments and classes that are most challenging. Avoid hanging around the Basket Weaving class. Be sure to meet one or two guys coming out of the Advanced Anatomy class.
Find folks involved in other organizations or athletics. Take a couple brothers with you, and go watch a rugby, golf, or tennis game. Talk to a few of the players after, get to know them, and invite them to hang out. Students playing minor sports sometimes tend to have a stronger academic focus than those playing the major sports.
If you’re not already, get involved in a couple of student groups on campus. It’s a great way to network while recruiting for your fraternity.
Don’t lose focus of your fraternity’s principles and values! It’s the foundation your brotherhood is built on. Not everyone is going to be able to check off each one, but they should be able to count for the majority.
If your fraternity has 7 values, identify 3 that you feel are most important that every new member should embody. Of the remaining four, new members should be able to be categorized into at least half (or two) of the remaining. You might also want to add an extra point for Legacies or folks who have done outstanding things. That gives you a total of 8 points to score.
Consider giving bids to those who match at least five of your eight points (or half plus one, minimum). If you have someone who only matches 2 or 3, they likely aren’t going to be a productive brother.
Recruit the guys that you know you can’t pass up, and pass the guys that don’t impress you. If you have doubts or hesitations, and think “maybe he would be okay” then just say no. You don’t want to be surrounded by maybe.
Quality is always better than quantity.
This answer was written by Jonathan Sutton, a Faculty/Staff advisor for Sigma Tau Gamma at Marshall University and contributor for the thefraternityadvisor.com. If you are interested in writing for thefraternityadvisor.com – let us know (CLICK HERE)!
To learn more, check out our most in-depth article on fraternity recruitment: The Complete Guide to Fraternity Recruitment.