Recruiting passively

Passive recruitment: it's this general idea that we're always recruiting through our every day actions. Buzz words in this chapter include "branding", "reputation", and "alignment". It's not about pledging people directly, but rather creating a climate that is conducive to pledging.

When Recruitment Theory became Recruitment Theory (i.e. evolved from "The Spring Dilemma"), this was actually the first chapter I wrote. I think it was done after a few days and I was very happy with it. And for that reason I've pretty much let it be for the past 4 years. But not anymore! On Wednesday I started the process of putting it through a serious review, which means grammar and structural fixes, some content reorganization, and even a few additions.

I have to give credit for the origins of this section to Recruitment Boot Camp. That's when I was first introduced to these general marketing concepts as being fraternity related. But at RBC, the spin was that developing a brand and solving alignment issues were ways to go from Rush to year-round recruitment. In Recruitment Theory I admit that these are things to consider over the entire year, but they are NOT to replace Rush.

I like opening Recruitment Theory with this topic because I don't think it's something MIT students think about often (e.g. "How do we brand ourselves and is it consistent with the image we want to put forth?") Passive recruitment may not be as exciting as Rush, but it's interesting nonetheless.