Recruitment & Retention
How We Can Help:
We, in the Student Activities Office, understand the difficulties that go along with organization recruitment and retention. You are not alone. Many organizations on campus experience issues with retaining members and recruiting new members each year. We are here to assist you throughout the school year in brainstroming fun and interesting ways to recruit new members and keep the members you already have.
- Know and understand your organization’s purpose and history
- Focus on quality, not quantity when recruiting members for your organization
- Get Everyone Involve
- Have current members personally invite individuals they want to get involved to meetings or activities
- Develop a plan
- Set recruitment goals
- When will recruitment start?
- Where will you recruit? Is this a campus-wide recruitment or are you trying to target a certain group?
- Potential WKU events to recruit at:
- DiscoverFest (RSO Fair)
- M.A.S.T.E.R. Plan
- Campus and Community Involvement Fair
- Toppers Orientation Program
- How will you stand out amongst other RSOs to new recruits?
- Be Intentional
- Hold an orientation for new member
- Target Audience and why?
- Be as transparent as possible to potential members as you describe who the organization is and what you do. The best information to give them:
- Organization’s purpose/mission statement
- Previous successes and achievements
- Traditional and annual activities/events
- Plans for the future
- Membership expectations/requirements (based off your organizations constitution)
- Membership benefits
- Design a visual element- use members’ artistic talents to create a memorable public relation plan
- Suggested Recruitment Strategies:
- Word-of-mouth is the best and least expensive type of publicity you can use
- Be excited about the organization
- Develop personal connections with potential new members.
- Send interest e-mails prior to beginning of each semester
- Ask key people to give recommendations of possible members and leaders
- Sign up tables in Downing Student Union (DSU) throughout the academic year
- Reservation link: https://www.wku.edu/dsu/newform.php
- Highlight perks in advertising materials
- Use your events and meetings as recruitment opportunities
- Get the new members involved immediately
- Strive for a diverse and inclusive organization
- Be genuine in your conversations and interactions
- Hold an orientation-like first meeting or an informational meeting early in the semester/year
- Make it a fun environment. Being a part of an RSO should not be a burden
- Take steps to keep members involved and invested in the RSO
- Recognize members for their hard work and accomplishments as it relates the organization
- Help members build friendships within the organization
- Be creative. Stand out from other organizations
- Know your members’ needs
- We live in the age of digital communications—email, text, messenger apps, etc., but when it comes to retaining your people, they need to know you care. The best way to establish this is through personal contact.
Note: The beginning of each semester is a great time to think about recruitment and retention
activities. Prospective members are looking for ways to get more involved in their
community, and your organization could be a great outlet for them. At this time, it
is also good to reconnect with current members through social events or retreats.
If recruitment coincides with such events, this just allows new members to also get
in on the fun and communicate with current members in a stress-free environment.
Some of the links on this page may require additional software to view.