Virtual Recruitment Webinar 1: The Facts, the Reality
Face the Facts
- Fraternity Life will be seriously impacted by COVID-19 in many ways. The diversity of our organization means different impacts will occur with every chapter – personal/family finances, members being infected, members not coming back to school, and members losing family members from this pandemic. Not only is that affecting your current members, but it is affecting your potential new members.
- There is an expected significant drop in student enrollment at our schools, which will inevitably create a drop in interest to join our organization.
The Reality we will face
- Situation 1: School is 100% Online. No one comes back to campus, or there is another major spread that halts classes and the economy again. Therefore, we continue operations as we did at the end of Spring 2020 semester, but adding recruiting into the mix
- Situation 2: Gradual return to campus. Perhaps those who are medically cleared can return to class, but institutions encourage students into virtual classes for the semester if they feel more comfortable that way. Therefore, some of your members will be on campus, some won't. The physical divide continues and sheds more complexity on potential members who are physically on campus and those who are not. Both situations will still cause hesitancy in joining.
- Situation 3: Social distancing continues on campus. Students are allowed to come to campus, but no large gatherings, i.e. recruitment events, LEAD programming, chapter/colony meetings, etc. You are a student, yes, but you are an organization still operating virtually. In this scenario, you still rely on virtual recruiting.
- Situation 4: A new “normal”. Yes, we are back to campus, and yes, we can interact with each other and new members, but things feel different. Student choices will change such as time, money, priorities, values, and relationships. The way we see the world will change. The way we interact with strangers will change. The way our parents will be protective of their children and their decisions will change. So maybe on paper, it is “back to same ole’” but those affected by the old ways have changed. Think about your incoming freshmen – no prom, no graduation, no senior send-offs, no last basketball/soccer/swimming events, no closure from ending high school. This situation will create new and difficult barriers we have never seen.
We need to prepare for the worst. We must prepare for Situation 1. Then, we can better guarantee or succeed in situations 2,3, or 4. The facts we must face is that your current recruitment plan does not prepare you for any of these potential situations…TIME TO CREATE YOUR SOCIAL DISTANCING RECRUITMENT PLAN!
We must Recruit NOW!
- We are expecting fewer men to sign up for formal recruitment, and it is up to us to reel them back in. Reeling them back in means we must do it sooner than later, resolve the barriers to joining earlier than later to ensure that we are a.) showing our credibility to why Sigma Nu matters at times like this and b.) ensuring that is the case going into fall
- Your formal recruitment might be online, and you might have to pursue your potential new members (PNMs) through a list that IFC gives you from those who are interested. You might not even receive a list and you have to find new members yourselves through your own resources. Your formal recruitment might even be canceled. In any way, you can get a head start, and get ahead of the game in comparison to your neighbor chapters and BEAT COVID-19’s effect on recruitment.
Additional Resources