Clubs get information about recruitment

UNC student organizations had the opportunity to learn techniques to recruit new students to their clubs Sunday on the upper level of the University Center. Matt Mattson, co-founder and president of Phired Up Productions, and Jessica Gendron Williams, vice president of the Phired Up women's division, presented their methods to students. 

According to the group's Web site, www.phiredup.com, the service it provides is a free  presentation and helps the recruitment efforts of college organizations. Phired Up Productions started offering its services to fraternities in 2002. In 2009, the company introduced its Dynamic Recruitment Program, which utilizes the latest technology to help build organizations.

Heather James, the coordinator for Greek Life, was instrumental in bringing the Phired Up team to the University of Northern Colorado.

"I think getting involved, in general, while they are in college is so important, and I think we definitely take it for granted that organizations will function themselves and retain their members," James said. "I think it is important for the university to support those organizations, so they can pass information on about recruitment and retention."

The goal of the presentations was to teach students how to recruit students to join their groups. According to the organization's Web site, there are two secrets to successfully recruiting students to join organizations. The first is that you can't reach who you don't know. The second is people don't join organizations —  people join people. The result to following these steps is typically an increase in student contacts.

Kate Werner, a sophomore geography major and an officer in the Powell Geography Club, was one of the students who attended the first workshop. Warner said she looked forward to the techniques that would help build up the membership in her organization.

"Just getting out there, meeting people and letting them know you're there to help them — not just to recruit them — and act as a support system is really helpful," Werner said.

There were two separate workshops people could attend. The first was a meeting for students who are members of campus organizations and were interested in finding ways to recruit more people to join their clubs. The second workshop focused mainly on aiding sororities and fraternities.

Joe Camacho, a freshman criminal justice major, said he attended the workshop for the fraternity portion of the presentations. 
 

"I found it really useful; and a lot of these methods are actually really simple, but we don't usually think of them every day," Camacho said. "They are really good methods to recruit people, especially if your chapter needs people. It is a good way to influence quantity and quality together."