College Panhellenic Spotlight: Washington & Jefferson College

By Kira Baierl, W&J College Panhellenic president 

The Recruitment Counselor Training Online program provided us with an easy and smooth transition for our incoming recruitment counselors last year, in fact, we were able to retain all of our recruitment counselors from the time they were selected through the primary recruitment period which had not always happened in the past. This was our first time using this program and it definitely will be used in our future primary recruitment periods as well. 

This course featured videos that laid out everything nice and neat for everyone, and was stress free to follow along with. Coming into the actual height of recruitment last February, after revising the way we ran recruitment and with a new advisor, we as a recruitment team felt very comfortable and confident with our roles as we engaged in the process.  
We had tried previous online recruitment training programs but were unsuccessful in finding one that we really thought was exceptionable until last year. Each section of the program featured detailed videos or “courses” that were not too long, but straightforward with good, clarifying examples of everything from how to approach potential new members (PNMs) to how to handle different situations. Examples of scenarios included working with introverted PNMs, active listening and counseling skills like restating and paraphrasing to help the recruitment counselor show the PNM that she understood her thoughts and feelings in such a personal and important process. 

Each online course had a short quiz at the end to remind everyone of the main takeaways from the course. They weren’t long or tricky but helped recap the material. We were prepared to handle any situation that came up in the recruitment process and PNMs felt more comfortable approaching us since we felt confident in our roles.

The online training program was very flexible with the course itself. We were able to watch the lessons and take the quizzes when it was convenient for us, on our own time. We had women do the online training program on campus, at home and even on airplanes while traveling across the world. This helped make training stress free and when we reconvened on campus all together it was nice knowing that everyone was on the same page.   We are excited this coming year to use the Recruitment Counselor Training Online program again. We benefited so much last year when recruitment seemed a little hectic and crazy, and we look forward to benefiting from this program again. Primary recruitment really starts with recruitment counselors who can create a positive experience for PNMs which impacts the chapters’ side of recruitment. Having everything run smoothly from the start benefited everyone.