Recruitment - Step 4 (Welcome!!)
Now that you have successfully recruited prospective members into your club/organization, the next step is to make them all feel welcome. One of the very first things that you should do is to host some kind of new member meeting. Make it some form of initiation process with the entire group involved to make them feel appreciated, needed and wanted. By doing so it will create a memorable bond between the old and new members in the organization. The new member meeting needs to be all about the new members. You need to capture their attention still and keep with wanting to get involved.
Don't get to know your members just to get them involved with your club/organization to do work for you. Spend time with them to get to know them and let them do the same to you. Don't turn your backs on the old members either because they were the members that kept the group going. You should know their skills, interests, and any other previous experiences. Once all of this information is out in the open then it should be very easy getting the new members involved. Once the new members are comfortable and have had time to get involved, have them participate in setting new goals and objectives as well as asking them for feedback and suggestions.
One mistake that a lot of clubs/organizations do all the time that I notice and something that happens a lot in our Campus Activities Board is getting the new members thrown immediately into group projects(BAD!! - Slap on the hand!). You first must get the new members oriented into your groups goals, objectives, structure, rules, etc.. It makes everything more clear and the group isn't a mystery anymore, helping the members feel more comfortable with the group and it's processes. By doing this it creates more commitment and less frustration.
Last but not least....
HAVE FUN TOGETHER!
Make time to socialize and celebrate everyone's achievements. Remember member's don't always join just to volunteer, they want to meet new people, have fun, etc..
In four simple steps you can successfully recruit new members into your club/organization. It's all about identifying why people join, what they are looking to get out of it, how to draw them in and then welcoming them with open arms.
** next week I am going to be talking about summing up recruiting new members and where our own organization on campus has messed up and what needs to be addressed**
-b
(extensive research has been done looking at other college recruitment ideas and some of my suggestions mixed in)
Filed under: board, activities, involvement, college, students, success, programming, boards, organizations, clubs, campus, campus activities board, recruiting, student blog, student, blogs, NACA blogs