Photo by Olivia Burton.
0714 Rushbiddies
Pat Grant holds a binder full of information she uses for her Rush Biddies workshops.
If you’re going to go through sorority recruitment, you will need to perfect your resume.
You will also need a week’s worth of fashionable and appropriate flats, sandals, heels, sundresses, cute shorts, cocktail dresses, purses and sunglasses. Recommendations need to be secured as soon as possible, and don’t forget the thank-you notes. Be sure to practice your small talk, try to remember people’s names, and if all else fails, keep smiling.
Rush week can be a little overwhelming.
“It has become a lot more competitive,” said Pat Grant of Rushbiddies, a sorority recruitment consulting team based in Mountain Brook.
As a consultant, Grant advises clients on every aspect of recruitment that they can control to help her clients develop the best way to present themselves on an individual level, from simply getting on the radar in the spring and summer before recruitment begins to how to dress and act during rush week itself.
“You can’t really control [recruitment], what you can control is what you bring to the table,” she says.
Small talk and walking the walk
One of the most difficult skills for her clients to master, Grant said, is the lost art of small talk. Grant helps her clients think of conversation starters and encourages them to practice by going through scholarship, pageant or job interviews.
Regarding wardrobe, Grant’s go-to advice is, “When in doubt, be more conservative.”
While brands such as Lilly Pulitzer are traditionally associated with sororities in the South, Grant said, she encourages her clients to wear clothes that are not only appropriate for the party, but appropriate for their personalities as well.
“You do not want to be a cookie cutter,” she said. “There’s a fine line there.”
Pat Grant and her daughter, Paige, will often visit clients’ homes to work on perfecting recruitment week outfits.
Although most Rushbiddies clients attend southern schools such as Auburn, Alabama, Ole Miss, Texas, Tennessee and SMU, Grant has worked with clients going to schools as far away as California. She has taken advantage of available communication technology, often using apps like Skype or FaceTime to work with her clients.
Teaching “chicks” to fly
The idea for Rushbiddies emerged in 2009 after Paige went through sorority rush at Auburn. While Grant said that Paige had a “wonderful time” in rush and thought that her sorority was a good fit, several of Paige’s friends at other schools did not fare as well.
Grant named her business “Rushbiddies” because “it is like the old chicks helping the new chicks.” The name also refers to the ultimate goal of any Potential New Member (PNM): getting the bid.
“You want all those young women to find their spot and feel good about where they end up being,” said Grant.
Paige currently works with her mother, who said Paige brings a fresh perspective to Rushbiddies. Their mother-daughter model works well in an environment where, according to Grant, “Moms are their daughters’ biggest advocates.”
Grant’s background with Panhellenic and alumni activities as well as in education, marketing and simply being a mom, has helped her assist clients.
She said she is not above calling college campuses to ask questions, especially when parents do not want to because they worry about seeming overly anxious.
“In most cases, there’s someone in the Panhellenic offices on college campuses that I can call for information,” she said. “A lot of it is available, you just have to know where to look.”
Joining the flock
Rushbiddies has two spring workshops as well as an “early bird” fall workshop targeted toward high school juniors and seniors. Grant is considering starting a workshop for high school freshmen and sophomores to allow them to begin thinking about resumes and networking in advance.
The next organized Rushbiddies group workshop will be their “Early Bird” workshop in October. Pre-registration is available at rushbiddies.com.
