If you have never gone through sorority recruitment – this is usually what the first day is like. There’s excitement in the air while everyone anxiously waits for their party lists. Girls hear every bit of gossip about all the chapters. They most likely hear phrases like, “biggest house on the row,” “winners of all the competitions,” or “top tier.” Most girls are already favoring a chapter based on the superficial descriptions of each chapter. But these young women usually will never hear phrases mentioning a chapter’s values, sisterhood, or the genuine characteristics the women of a sorority possess.
And I believe that values based recruitment is the best way to change the recruitment process for the better.
Values based recruitment is a new style of recruitment that went into effect recently. The goal of this style of recruitment is to show the young women going through recruitment the real reasons sorority women chose their chapter and why they thrive in their chapter. These reasons are meaningful and highlight the true values a young woman should search for when choosing a sorority to affiliate herself with. On my campus our values include sincerity, community, individuality, involvement, diversity, academics, faith, and service. As you can see, none of these values include tier system ranking of a chapter or what chapter sounds most impressive to others on campus. For years and years many young women have based their chapter selection on these superficial values.
But with values based recruitment all of this will change.
There will be no more women running home on bid day and then never truly finding their place in their chapter because they realized they picked their sorority for all the wrong reasons. There will be no more women feeling the need to change their personality or appearance just so their favorite chapter will approve of them. There will be no more women who end up dropping their sorority a year later because they never truly felt at home or felt welcomed by their own sisters.
In the past, sororities could easily fake their way through recruitment. They could tell a young woman anything she wanted to hear and make the chapter sound attractive to her. But with values based recruitment, the sorority woman and young woman are both forced to be their genuine selves and talk about the values that they each cherish most. Young women will be able to know if a chapter is a fit for her right off the bat.
For the first time ever, girls will be choosing a chapter based off of what values mean the most to them. With values based recruitment, young women will be able to see themselves in a chapter based off of the right reasons. As cliché as it sounds, girls will start to follow their hearts when choosing a chapter rather than choosing a chapter based on the opinions and judgements of the other girls around them.
For the first time ever, we will be able to see every member of a chapter thrive and flourish in her own way because she will choose her home based off of what matters most.
This recruitment is real. This recruitment is genuine. And this recruitment is everything sorority life needed in every way possible.
