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Best Practices Library

Recruitment and Manpower

Legacies and Referrals Master Prospect Lists Recruitment Events Recruitment Planning
Summer Recruitment  Training Values Based Recruitment General Fraternity Resources

Legacies and Referrals

RM27 - Sample Alumni Recruitment Solicitation

Master Prospect Lists

RM4 - Chapter recruits from all athletic teams by talking to the coaches to discuss any athletes that would make a good member for Sigma Nu.

RM12 - Chapter uses www.chapterbuilder.com to improve management of its Master Prospect List and the execution of related tasks.

RM25 - Sample Master Prospect List Template

RM30 - The chapter has multiple brothers as a part of the campus ambassadors’ program. They use this to meet PNMs and add names to their Master Prospect List. 

RM31 - Chapter takes a whiteboard to recruitment tabling events and writes a lighthearted controversial debate question on it (e.g., Coke vs Pepsi) and uses it as a conversation starter with passing students.

Recruitment Events

RM3 - The chapter uses its service events and activities as a recruiting opportunity/tool to make sure prospective members are aligned with the chapter's values.

RM11 - Chapter hosts a Thanksgiving dinner event the week prior to the Thanksgiving Break. The chapter invites all potential new members to come and enjoy the dinner as well. This is a jumpstart to the chapter's winter and spring recruitment efforts.

RM13 - The chapter uses an RSVP system during recruitment. They send mass text messages, emails, and make phone calls to potential new members. This process brings close to 200 members to the events where this is utilized.

RM22 - Sample Recruitment Presentation Handout 1

RM23 - Sample Recruitment Presentation Handout 2

Recruitment Planning

RM5 - Before the chapter holds its rush week, they create a 'Wall of Why'. On this wall, each Brother writes 'why' they joined the chapter and what means the most to them. This sparks more in-depth conversations with potential recruits as they are selling the part of the chapter that means the most to them specifically, instead of focusing solely on awards and accolades.

RM7 - The chapter divides itself into 5 main groups of mixed members, and then assigns a certain number of potential members to each group. Then the Recruitment Chairman simply oversees the process of those members meeting with the potential members and updates the Master Prospect List on a weekly basis.

RM8 - The chapter elects Co-Recruitment Chairmen on staggered cycles (one in the fall and one in the spring) for full year terms. This allows for at least one of the chairmen to have a full semester's worth of experience managing the chapter's recruitment efforts.

RM9 - The chapter uses social media accounts to publicize their efforts and to give a good daily view of chapter life as a recruitment tool.

RM14 - The Recruitment Chairman prepares a FAQ document, which is distributed to brothers prior to recruitment. FAQ includes things such as local chapter history/founding, a refresher on Sigma Nu information, statistics, semester/quarter calendar of candidate and chapter events, etc.

RM16 - The chapter employs three recruitment officers which provides the chapter with some flexibility. The chapter can delegate all duties for the position to be split among the three men and therefore the chapter can cover more ground and operate in a much more efficient manner.

RM17 - The recruitment committee creates a nicely designed brochure that is passed out on campus and during formal recruitment.

RM32 - Chapter builds a lunch schedule around rush week for brothers to sign up for times to take PNMs out to lunch in a more organized fashion and make sure every PNM has a 1-on-1 and is invited to future events.

RM33 - The chapter uses an internal and external recruitment chairman. The external oversees all outreach and communications to PNMs for events and sororities for referrals, while the internal oversees planning all recruitment events and tracking attendance amongst brothers.

RM34 - The chapter has created a Parents Connect Program. A program where parents of potential members can connect with the parents of an initiated member and learn how the organization has benefited their student and enhanced their collegiate experience. 

RM19 - Sample Recruitment Video 

RM20 - Sample Freshmen Recruitment Letter

RM21 - Sample Parent Flyer

RM24 - Sample Recruitment Team Structure

Summer Recruitment

RM1 - The chapter's dual Recruitment Chairmen work for part of the summer traveling to nearby cities to contact prospective members interested in the Fraternity. After meeting with potential members, the Recruitment Chairmen assign the prospects to current brothers in the area for the summer. The brothers are then expected to develop those prospects and to find more potential members through these new relationships.

RM2 - The chapter pays for two members to live in a major geographical area of the state to find and recruit potential members the summer before their first year.

RM10 - The chapter's Recruitment Committee utilizes "region captains" to coordinate regional summer recruitment events.

RM15 - The chapter utilizes an alumni recruitment board which features help from alumni from the biggest cities in the state where freshman come from. The alumni on the board are from the first, second, and third largest cities and they help set up summer recruitment events for the chapter.

RM18 - The chapter recruits their potential members when they are still seniors in high school. They invite them and their parents to an event where they provide appetizers. Alumni come and speak about their chapter and what makes them unique at the university. As a result, they tend to have all their candidates in place before the end of summertime.

Recruitment Training and Workshops

RM26 - Sample Recruitment Handout

Values Based Recruitment

RM6 - A major step for the chapter when determining the potential of new recruits are the 'Nine Words', which are Commitment, Poise, Self-Motivation, Contribution, Communication, Love, Humility, X Factor, and Intellectual Capacity. After every rush event, the chapter thoroughly discusses every attendee and highlights any of these words that they display. This helps with streamlining the discussion and providing more tangible evidence of what they would bring to the chapter. The Nine Words are the traits the chapter has identified will be possessed by the ideal new member and thus the conversation after each event is on how well each man fits what the chapter is looking for. This idea could be adapted to fit whatever the chapter's vision of a new member might be.

RM28 - The chapter leaves flip chart paper hung up around the common areas during rush for members to come write down the qualities they feel the chapter is looking for in the next candidate class.

RM29 - Sample Chapter Statement on Values

General Fraternity Resources

GFRM1 - The Recruitment Bluebook

GFRM2 - The Recruitment Bluebook for Alumni

GFRM3 - Year-Round Recruitment Plan Template

GFRM4 - Weekly Recruitment Committee Meeting Agenda and Chapter Report

GFRM5 - Sample Master Prospect List (MPL)

GFRM6 - Example Recruitment Budget

GFRM7 - Sample Email Messages

GFRM8 - Chapter Recruitment Meeting Agenda

GFRM9 - Recruitment Skills Workshop

GFRM10 - Chapter Recruitment Self-Evaluation

GFRM11 - Sorority Referral Procedure

GFRM12 - Barriers to Commitment

GFRM13 - Recruitment and Manpower Action Plan

GFRM14 - Guidance for Virtual House Tours


Call for Practices

If you have a great example or resource that you think should be included in the Best Practices Library, we want to know about it. Send your examples and resources to Austin Lloyd, Director of Chapter Services, at austin.lloyd@sigmanu.org.

Additional Officer Resources

The perfect complement to the Best Practices Library is the specific chapter officer resources page. Here you can access additional resources and the chapter officer manual for each officer. Also be sure to check out the following pages on the Fraternity's service and philanthropy related resources: 

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9 North Lewis Street, P.O. Box 1869, Lexington, Virginia 24450
Phone: (540) 463-1869 | Fax: (540) 463-1669 | Email: headquarters@sigmanu.org

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