Re: Recruitment

That title has fortunately been flooding my inbox all week.

Admittedly, it was and is a bit of a gamble to try and put our alumni on the the task of recruitment for the seminar.  It has traditionally been a task handled by a recruitment director, and doled out to a team of volunteers.  However, the reality was that with no director, we couldn't just ignore the large task of recruitment, and we needed to find a way to make it possible.

At the same time, this seminar off season we have done a very positive job of engaging our alumni.  Between a successful summer reunion, and a big opportunity to be on the radio at NPR, our alumni were wanting to be engaged, and have stayed involved as they truly want to return to the seminar to be on Team Alumni. Throw these factors together, and we are currently looking at potentially our largest ever class of applicants to Team Alumni with more than 40 applications.

The direct result of that is that if these individuals wanted a place on Team Alumni, we were going to ask them to work for it.  They were going to have to distinguish themselves.  We only have 25 spots on TA, and that means some are going to have to stay home disappointed.  Being on TA is not just a free pass.

What we have done is I have taken on the task of breaking down the recruitment list.  At 364 schools and programs in the state of Maryland, that's an awfully big challenge.  But, I asked for help from those alumni, and they have responded in force.  Each is taking on at least 5 schools to recruit, and even some alumni who are to old to be on TA still volunteered to help.  Then, throw in a few adult volunteers who have longer lists, and we have put together quite the effort.

It is now a week from when I initially created and began to implement this challenge and we are off to a wonderful start.  But, now the truly hard work of recruitment begins.  Calling and emailing schools is not easy: people at the schools often have no idea what HOBY is, or how magnificent an opportunity it can be.  They don't know if it's worth the $150 it costs them, or if they have the money even if they believe in the program.  They become increasingly difficult to get a hold of, not returning messages, and even flat out ignoring your calls and requests.  Yet, all we want to do is making the lives of their young people better.  You would think it would be an easier sell.

Now all those volunteers must put in countless hours, phone calls, and emails to try and get just a few students to sign up.  And every day, all I can do is give them assistance and wait, as I watch the recruitment tally sheet, watching as each school comes in, one by one.