Recruitment Programs

Welcome to the realm of Delta Tau Delta Fraternity's membership recruitment effort. As you might have noticed from the title, the word "rush" has been phased out of use. The reason for this is quite simple. The term "rush" has become more of an inhibitor to recruitment efforts than have been the majority of other factors affecting the recruitment of fraternity membership. The term itself implies many things, but most importantly it refers to the recruitment of membership as a definite, specified period of time. This being the case, the old phrase, "rush is 365 days a year" makes about as much sense as "jumbo shrimp." The first section of this guide is a brief summary of the ideals behind the recruitment vs. rush concepts.

Since the term "rush" implies a limited time period, the Fraternity's Membership Team has proposed that chapters initiate a true year round recruitment process basing the majority of operations on the summer period. Not only will we get the jump on our competition, we will also establish contact with new freshmen at the height of their emotional state; high school graduation. This is a time when graduating seniors move through a period of excitement, exploration, and apprehensive feelings of the future. These men are looking for a new group to ease the transition between high school and college life and will find new friendships and mutual support through the brotherhood of Delta Tau Delta.

The Fraternity is not proposing that your current "rush" period be eliminated, but merely suggesting that you redefine your year round recruitment efforts to incorporate this new material. As you will discover by completing these action items, your additional efforts will produce greater results in both quantity and, most importantly, quality of men that you recruit. Many of the Fraternity's chapters who excel with member recruitment follow a similar recruiting model. From Rush to Recruitment When undergraduates are asked, "Where did the term rush come from?" most students shrug their shoulders and say, "It's tradition, we've always called it rush." Rush is defined for incoming students and prospective members in Interfraternity Council (IFC) publications as "a series of events designed to give both chapter members and prospective members a fair and equal opportunity to become acquainted as friends."

Most of our members don't realize the term rush comes from the 1930s. New students would arrive on campus by train and the fraternity men would rush to the train station to "spike" or "pin" ribbons bearing the fraternity colors on prospective members' lapels. These ribbons designated the fraternity's interest in recruiting them into the chapter. Sure, the members wanted to meet new friends but they were most concerned about filling the bed space in the houses to maintain their finances. This urgency of rushing to the train station and claiming prospectives as our own stayed with us.

Traditional rush worked fine, what happened?

Times change?hat's what happened. Over the years, fraternities have modified their recruitment practices to meet the needs of prospective members.

When membership was constantly growing during the late 70s to 80s, it was a "seller's market" and many chapters became accustomed to sitting back and selecting from the many prospective members looking at fraternities. Rush became a short, high profile time for all of the fraternities on campus. It created a visible period when unaffiliated men knew they could join a fraternity. It allowed them to just "do rush" periodically and then not think about it again.

The current college student has baby boomer parents - parents who went to school during our lowest membership periods. That fact, coupled with increasing time demands, more financial pressures, and a greater number of campus leadership opportunities, has made the fraternity appear less automatic. We need to adjust if we are to recruit the very best possible members.

Fast forward to today. After 20 consecutive years of membership growth in NIC member fraternities, numbers are leveling or declining on many campuses. Fraternities stand at a crossroads. Is it business as usual or has the time come to jump-start the recruitment process? Passive IFC and chapter efforts must be transformed into active, direct practices. Friendship, the principal benefit of joining a Greek organization, has not gone out of style and is still very much in demand on every campus.

Learning from Others Who Recruit

How does an athletic department build winning teams? They recruit!

The coaching staff identifies gaps in the team's talent pool. Scouts are sent to high schools and other college games to examine the potential talent pool. Notes are taken. Subsequent visits are made. Conversations with prospective recruits are initiated. Visits and interaction increase. Recruits are brought to campus and introduced to the team. And after a year-long process, on national letter of intent signing day, new recruits are signed. "Signing" is merely a formality just as accepting the actual bid is merely a formality if the relationship between the chapter and a prospective member has been developed over time.

Public relations are always very important, but personalized recruitment goes beyond public relations. Fraternities can meet the wants and needs of incoming students by providing hands-on service learning, providing a foundation to gain leadership and professional skills, and providing a mentor or role model. A publication or video will raise awareness about fraternities, but fraternity members engaging in everyday dialogue and inviting these "maybe joiners" to typical chapter activities will create friendships, which in turn will produce new members .

People Join People?nd a good fraternity, too.

Words associated with RUSH are: urgent, hurried, hectic, short and compressed.

RUSH is associated almost exclusively with the ALWAYS jointers. The typical Rushee is a freshman. Being new to college life, away from home for the first time, they tend to focus on the more superficial aspects of fraternity membership?arties and drinking. Because of the short, compressed and hectic RUSH period, fraternities tend to inadvertently sell the wrong things?arties and drinking. Because of the artificial atmosphere or RUSH and time pressures, there is little inclination to focus on values, i.e., academic performance, self-development, service learning, etc. As a result a lot of mistakes are made.

Words associated with RECRUITMENT are: planned, friendship-based, process, and ongoing.

RECRUITMENT, as the primary source of new members, focuses on the MAYBE joiners all year long without the pressures of rush. MAYBE joiners are the largest pool of potential new members. Recruitment is the process of finding the MAYBE joiners, making them a friend, introducing them to others in the chapter, introducing them to a fraternity, asking them to join a fraternity. We go to them; they do not come to us.

RECRUITMENT is a process of inviting these new acquaintances to chapter events: to intramural games, to dinner, to participate in the chapter service project, to the chapter's campus hangout, to the library to study?o the many things we do everyday.

Further, rush on many campuses is frequently very expensive. RECRUITMENT of the MAYBE joiners is not. RECRUITMENT is a process of including new acquaintances into daily activities. It takes effort, but it is not overwhelming. It is a basic skill of good leadership.

Within any RECRUITMENT actions, alcohol should and must be avoided. There is no place for this in any RECRUITMENT event or function. Introducing alcohol into the RECRUITMENT process only inhibits our performance, degrades the image of our Fraternity, and in the end produces a chapter with the main focus of alcohol instead of the ideals and principals of Delta Tau Delta.

THE BEST CHAPTERS RECRUIT!

There is NO reason why any chapter should experience manpower problems. Change your vision of how you get new members and you will change your performance.

Points to Remember!

• Recruitment of MAYBE joiners is a different approach to getting new members?t is not rush of ALWAYS joiners.
• Recruitment is a different way of thinking about the process of bringing new members into the chapter.
• All (inter)national fraternities recruit when they expand, they do not rush. They seek out the MAYBE joiners. When a colony is chartered and they give up the recruitment approach by joining the rush culture, they frequently fall upon hard times.
• Once you see, understand, and believe in the recruitment model, you will find all the creative ways your chapter will need to make your new vision come true.

Delt Recruitment

To assist your chapter in the move from a rush to a recruitment model, the Fraternity has prepared this guide to help you construct a recruitment plan. The points on the timeline below correspond with the description of what activities the chapter should be engaged in at that time of year. In order for your chapter to successfully recruit new members, you must take the time to plan your chapter's calendar of events to attract potential members.

Preparation

In the late fall, the new recruitment chair(s) needs to be elected or appointed depending on your chapter's By Laws. At that time he needs to sit down with the Recruitment Team and outline the recruitment plan for the upcoming year.

Items to be accomplished.

1. Select area captains; based on location, target areas, budget, living arrangements, etc.
2. Collect summer addresses of members, alumni, and prospects.
3. Set up prospect mailings; determine timing, frequency, and letter content outlines (i.e. brochures, calendar of events, event adds, event outlines, thank you cards).
4. Set up prospect phone calls; members' assignments, outline of things to cover (i.e. purpose of call, event locations, members in area, etc).
5. Set Dates for Recruitment Events. Events should be set in various locations in relation to the regionalization of members, alumni, and prospects. Determine the time of the event - 3pm until dusk had been recommended, directions to all those involved, rides arranged for all prospects, etc.

Spring

Spring Semester (Winter Quarter ) begins.

Items to be accomplished

1. The list of contacts from the previous fall will serve as a beginning point for our prospect list. The men that are eligible and ready to pledge at this time should be discussed under 'suggestions for membership' in the first regular chapter meeting. All chapters are expected to take at least two pledge classes per year. From the work in the fall, you should now have a solid pledge class.
2. Build a top 10, 20, 30 list of prospects. The ten men represent those that are on the last leg of the Five Step process to recruitment while the last 30 are men whom you have just met or have names and numbers in which to contact.

Here are the Five Steps:

1. MEET HIM - Find out where the prospect is and go there.
2. MAKE HIM A FRIEND - Be interested, not interesting.
3. INTRODUCE HIM TO YOUR FRIENDS - Invite him to lunch.
4. INTRODUCE HIM TO THE FRATERNITY - Tell him about Excellence.
5. ASK HIM TO JOIN - Make your friend, your Brother!

As you prepare to recruit an excellent pledge class, you will need to have many members contacting many prospects quite frequently. Here are some ideas: formal and informal dinners, chapter events, letters, phone calls, student orientation, tours, parents weekend, regular rush week, any one-on-one or group interaction, etc. 2. Building the Prospect list.

Items to be accomplished

1. Continue building your prospect list. You will hear this theme repeated frequently through this manual because no names, means no pledges. Names of quality men can be found almost anywhere: sororities, members (hometowns, class, neighbors, etc.), the university honor society rolls, administration, other campus organizations, the dorms, the gym, alumni,... the list goes on!
2. Pass the prospect list out for all chapter members to see. All members need to notify the Recruitment Team if they recognize any of those individuals. Each member should put his name and comments next to each recognized prospect.
3. You may keep records of all of these names and comments on paper if you like but, creating a database with all the needed information will facilitate organization and allow all members to have a clean copy of the prospects' information.

The new student list.

Items to be accomplished

1. By the middle to latter half of the term, the admissions office or the Greek Advisor should be able to give you the list of all freshman men who will be attending your University/College. All of these men must be added to the prospect list. Be sure to check if there is a concentration of freshman coming from any given area and be sure to give those men due attention. "Package Deals" are always an easy way to meet prospects.
2. Begin collecting names of freshmen whom will be attending your university as they graduate from our members' hometown high schools. This is important. We cannot depend solely on our university to give us our prospects. Encourage your Alumni to do the same.
3. All of these men need to be mailed interest cards with a self addressed, stamped reply card. Use a bulk mailing rate in order to keep postage costs down. (Call your local post office, House Corporation, or your Greek Advisor for more information on how to obtain this permit.)
4. As soon as the interest reply cards come in, contact needs to made with those individuals. Literature and other upcoming event announcements are good ideas.
5. We need to get our members involved in the university's freshman orientation program as orientation leaders. These members will have first contact with the incoming freshman.
6. In reference to all prospects' and members' locations, choose your summer Area Captains

ACCOUNTABILITY

Recruitment Team

1. Headed by the Recruitment Chair(s) and comprised of all Area Captains and any additional logistics support members as directed by the Recruitment Chair(s). The Team's responsibility entails planning and leading a successful recruitment effort. Is to supervise the Area Captains and ensure that all of their needs are met and that they are in constant contact with the area members and all prospects. He is also responsible for meeting with all prospects and parents at the direction of the Area Captains. He ensures the completion of all the preparation work (listed above). Reports to the Executive Committee.

Recruitment Chair(s)

1. This is the elected (appointed) member(s) of the chapter responsible for the outcome of the chapter's recruitment. The main points are covered in the preceding paragraph.

Logistics Support Members

1. This group is comprised of any additional members charged with assisting the Recruitment Chair(s) in the preparation of events, mailings, calendars, phone schedules, etc. Quite simply, these are additional team members who perform various tasks as needed by both the Recruitment Chair(s) and the Area Captains and designed in order to ease the busy work of these other Team Members who are responsible for the actual contact and recruitment of new members. Reports to the Recruitment Team.

Area Captains

1. These positions are filled with members who reside in a particular area from which you plan to recruit. Each captains' responsibility entails coordinating, participating, and following through with the day-to-day communication with all area members and area prospects over the summer period. They are directly responsible for the setup of any area function as determined by the membership committee. All planning of events and the coordination of all contact between area members, the membership committee, and the area captain himself is to be outlined by the area captain. This member is the "eyes and ears" of the chapter's recruitment effort and is to be selected by the membership team based on ability, determination, and independence. This member is to have an "on-hands" approach with the actions taking place in his area and must stay informed on the activities of the prospects. The membership chairmen may also serve as area captains if necessary. Reports to the Recruitment Team.

Area Members

1. This group is comprised of all other members living in the same region as the area captain. They are solely responsible for the contact of assigned prospects and making them friends. This contact can be made at anytime and in any place provided that all Member Responsibility Guidelines are being observed. Group interaction between area members, captains, and prospects will be an ideal event after several one-on-one contact opportunities have been completed. After a few of these informal, but structured events have taken place, a larger event between all of the chapter's area groups will be quite impressive. These men are the workhorses of the fraternity's recruitment efforts and report to the Area Captain.
2. All financial matters are to be handled through the Membership Committee and by direction of the Finance Committee.
3. The Area Captains must set up the contact procedures for each prospect. Phone calls are OK, but home visits and personal meetings are the best contact methods.

Spring Winds Down

Items to be accomplished

1. Attend the spring membership clinic in your area. These will be hosted across North America between March and April. Call the Central Office for details or check the Fraternity's website at www.delts.org.
2. Review the remainder of your events calendar to verify that all needs are met and distribute the summer phone lists to all members. Stress the importance of communication between members, contacting prospects, and event participation. Be sure everyone is aware of their responsibilities. Ask for questions.
3. The remainder of the semester (spring quarter) should be spent contacting prospects, conducting a few invitational events, contacting and coordinating the alumni, and reviewing the overall plan. Be sure to have an informational event for prospects and parents during this time. Including the parents and easing their concerns is one way to pledge the man.
4. Your contact between members and prospects should double at this time.
5. The Executive Committee needs to review the work of the Recruitment Team. If there is anyone (team members or area captains) who is not fulfilling responsibilities in a timely manner, they need to be replaced. (There should not be any negotiating for this action item.)
6. In some cases, high schools and/or IFC might prohibit you from contacting any incoming freshmen until they have graduated from high school. If this is the case, be sure to send a graduation card to these prospects at the appropriate time. Then it is open season and no bag limit!
7. Other than these prospects, you should know by this point in time exactly how many men you have ready to join our Fraternity. The Fraternity's policy on pledging is simple. We follow the guidelines adopted by the National Interfraternity Conference that opposes any restriction on the recruiting process. It is our recommendation that invitations to join DTD become a continuous and unrestricted process. If you are affected by a local ordinance, please notify the Central Office.

Summer

The Summer Begins

Items to be accomplished

1. Through the direction of the Recruitment Chair(s)/Team the Area Captains are now in direct control of the recruitment process. Every prospect needs to be assigned to a member for the responsibility of contact. You may assign more than one prospect for certain members if that member agrees. If you have members who are not good at contacting prospects, assign them logistics duties for recruitment events. They will need to be able to handle all of the advance work for all functions at the direction of the Area Captain and Recruitment Team.
2. Send out another wave of event announcements to all prospects and members.

Contact Continues

Items to be accomplished

1. The Recruitment Chair(s), at the direction of the Area Captains, need to begin making road trips to various areas in order to meet with the prospects and their parents in their home. In these meetings, the intent is to develop friendships, answer questions about fraternity life, to explain what it means to be a Delt and what we have to offer. Be sure to set up these appointments in advance and later call to confirm shortly before the visitation date. During these area trips, the Recruitment Team should be meeting with several different prospects each visit.
2. Make at least two all house functions in any given area during the summer for all members to attend and meet the area prospects. Be sure that all prospects are invited and let them know what other prospects will be attending that they might know. If they know anyone else that they would like to invite, this request should be fulfilled. The Area Captains must coordinate a ride for all prospects!
3. During these events, it may be a good idea to schedule two parts. One, your members will be excited to see each other after a long break, so consider setting up a reunion the first night. Two, have the event the next afternoon. However, this must not interfere with the coordination of our members picking up the prospects to transport them to the function.
4. Be sure that all of our members are aware of how many prospects will be attending and encourage each to meet every prospect.
5. In our conversations with the prospects, our language needs to be unified. All members need to be up to speed on where the Fraternity and chapter is going and what benefits each prospect can bring to the group. Remember, be interested in the prospect by letting him ask the questions, respond to ideas, and talk about himself. Don't drown the conversation with comments about yourself and how cool it is to be a member of your chapter. Let the prospects know that new members help determine the fall semester activities; they really do determine the future of the chapter and fraternity.
6. Do not leave a prospect by himself. Always have someone talking to him. Use the pass-off technique if the conversation dulls. The pass-off technique can be initiated by simply finding another member who has the same interests or something in common with a particular prospect, introducing the two, and then politely excusing yourself form the conversation.
7. Never let the prospects leave an event without a promise for future contact.
8. Attend the Summer Membership Clinic in your area if available. Call the Central Office for details or check the Fraternity's website at www.delts.org.
9. Send a newsletter out to all members and alumni as to the status of the recruitment efforts. There should be several of these during the summer. The frequency of this task is to be set by the Executive Committee.

Continue Making Home Visitations

Items to be accomplished

1. The Area Captains need to follow up on the prospects who attended the latest functions by mail, phone, and face to face contact.
2. If any additional names are gathered through the functions, the Area Captains need to initiate contact with those individuals. Set up a home visitation with these prospects and their parents.
3. Continue to make visitations, phone calls, and take advantage of all interaction opportunities with new and old prospects.
4. Each of our members should be fluent in the five-step process of recruitment. If a prospect inquires about joining, or has other related questions and comments, please bring these to the attention of the Recruitment Team so they can continue the process or extend the invitation to join.

Fall

Pre-Fall Items

Items to be accomplished

1. All members return to school and attend a chapter rush retreat in order to inform them of the chapter's rush status, the plan, any other ideas, and to make assignments.
2. New freshman will move into the dorms this weekend. We must be prepared to assist our prospects and other new freshmen with move-ins.
3. Set up a cookout or some other function that day for those contacts that we make. Be sure to invite all of our previously known prospects as well.
4. Invitations to join go out. After the prospects have accepted their invitations, set the date for your chapter's "opening day." Coordinating move-in will be a good time for all to meet each other. The reason we need to place an emphasis on these items is to ease the pressures of "new home" stress. Make sure that everyone meets each other and that they are having fun and finding everything they need. Parents will most likely assist their sons in this process, so be sure to have some structured process of events during this period. Remember: contact continues until the education process has begun.
5. We need to have an introduction to pledge education as soon as possible. We must reinforce the non-hazing, academic excellence, financial integrity, and life long involvement messages. Being 100% up-front from the start will aid in producing higher retention rates. Ask the parents to sit in on the meeting.

Fall term Begins

Items to be accomplished

1. Classes start. Continue to have rush functions, make additional contacts, and involve all current prospects and new members in the recruitment process. Instruct all new members in the guidelines for recruitment. Some of your new members will be living in the dorm and may have roommates and neighbors who will make good prospects. This will also allow these new men to feel that they are truly an important part of the chapter right off the bat of their Delt career.
2. Begin planning for a new member retreat. This will build unity and allow all to get to know each other. This should be both a fun and work oriented outing.
3. The University's formal rush begins. We need to have our efforts well under way by this time and enter the university's rush with our prospects and new members ready to pledge. Give out invitations to join early if the prospects have completed the five steps to recruitment process.
4. Bid day. Continue to pledge all quality prospects.
5. Somewhere in here have a Mom and Dad's Day and an Alumni Day for all to meet and congregate. This is a great idea!

Middle Fall

Items to be accomplished

1. Make another prospect list. Based on the men that decided they wanted to wait a semester or a year prior to pledging, keep these men on the list for the next term. Contact must continue with these men and all other prospects alike.
2. The Recruitment Team needs to sit down with each new member for individual post recruitment interviews. We must find out from these men what they thought worked well and what did not. Our Commitment to Excellence insists that we continually strive to better ourselves.
3. The same is true with any men that did not pledge or that leave during this school term. We need to ask them why. Better yet, ask them what it would've taken for them to pledge or to remain in the chapter.
4. The Executive Committee needs to review all information and actions made by the Recruitment Team and ask for their final reports. Again, we must continue to re-evaluate ourselves and our operations and programs to be sure they truly reflect our commitment to excellence.
5. Save all paperwork, reports, information, good and bad ideas, etc. for the next group. These materials should be turned over to the Recruitment Chair(s) for safe keeping until the new election (appointment).