Your Greek Experience and Education

My last post talked about how to apply your Greek experience to the real world. After attending a program called "Professional Greeks," I started thinking about applying your Greek experience in a different way-using your education during your collegiate years to your sorority/fraternity experience. There are so many opportunities to get involved within your chapter. While it is always a good idea to branch out and try different things to learn a variety of skills, there are also many ways to apply your education to your chapter experience.

An important thing to consider is that when you are working within a chapter, you are working within teams and a variety of people. There will be obstacles while working with other people, but having to work in team settings will definitely be beneficial towards your future career and even in other classes. You can't avoid working with others. Your Greek experience has you working together towards a common goal, something you should care about; otherwise you wouldn't be interested in Greek life, right? 

Let's look at some of the different roles in a chapter that you can utilize you're education in. First, I think it is important to note that management is obviously very important for the president/vice presidents/board/leadership team or whatever else you may call it. But management plays a role in just about everything else. It is not just about managing others. It is about managing yourself and holding yourself accountable. Involvement in Greek life is great because it does test you-you have to balance classes, jobs, and other commitments. Your chapter should provide you support if you struggle with this often delicate balance. However, you might not have that luxury once you get a "real" job, or even during an internship. Personal accountability is very significant to your professional career, and Greek life can help with that.

So you have you to manage yourself and possibly others. Personally, I don't entirely understand why management isn't a required core class. I think at the majority of jobs, there is some type of management requirement by the employee, and they most definitely are being managed by someone, somewhere. But within your chapter, there is some type of leadership in place, and, essentially your president, vice presidents, chairs and coordinators are managers of something. 

You can look at a Greek chapter like a business. Yes, there is a lot of fun that goes into place with joining a sorority or fraternity. But when it comes to philanthropy and programming, it is very business-esque. You need to look at finances, promotions, communications, and many other aspects. It's like a company. There are many pieces to the puzzle that are needed to make it run. 

Look at your operations part of your chapter. Obviously, for finance or math majors, they can get a lot of experience here because it is dealing with the money end of things. Interested in social work? This area could be good for you, too. Risk management would be a great position for someone who was studying sociology. If you plan to found your own company or work in nonprofits, this would be good for you as well because you have to budget items, and you can get a first hand look at how that system works. I think this would be good for engineers too because they are numbers focused and detail orientated. Operations helps keep everything else running; it is helpful to have multiple minds look over the numbers!

Recruitment is good for a variety of people. On the business end, if you are interested in human resources, this is definitely a good place for you to apply your major into Greek life. You can use practical skills from your class, even when your chapter is establishing your standards for memberships. Communications, marketing and public relations majors also could use practical skills here-you have to advertise/"sell" your chapter to others. Personally, I am an English major, and I have found advantages in that for real-world situations that others might not think of. Public speaking is definitely one of them. Analyzing situations is another. Liberal arts majors would be good for recruitment because reading all of those pieces of literature? It allows you to view a situation from different perspectives-something that can prove to be critical in business situations, which I learned to be valuable while interning in a corporate setting. Recruitment is selling, which is a process in itself. You need people to get the design/look of your selling points, you need people able to sell it, and you need people to plan the operations and logistics of the event. Also, recruitment is good for majors that lead into people-orientated careers. For example, teachers and nurses obviously have to be able to talk to a variety of people. You never know who you are going to meet during recruitment! 

Programming/philanthropy is good for those in communications, graphic design or journalism. Of course, if you want to work in non-profits, this would definitely be a good way for you to see how non-profits actually operate and possibly even find work/internships with your chapter's philanthropy. I specifically point out journalism because many local news stations and newspapers cover philanthropy events or some journalists/anchors become involved with the philanthropies, especially as their "local celebrity" status grows. This could provide good opportunities for networking.

These are just some examples of how you can apply your education to getting the most out of your Greek life experience and how you can contribute to your chapter. It could be beneficial to have some practical experience in some areas to realize how much you will enjoy your chosen career. For some majors like nursing, it is just helpful to have the variety of social interactions with different people.

I am not telling people to just stick with what they know. Rather, I think it is important that they brand out as well. When you go into the work force, it is important that you are able to be well-rounded with a variety of skills. But, if at some point during your Greek experience you find the opportunity to utilize your education and chosen major for your chapter, do it.

Like I said before, a sorority or fraternity chapter is like a business. It takes all kinds of personalities and minds to make it successful. You need people to crunch the numbers, you need people who can make the words work. Some people need to be front and center talking to others, others will keep everything running smoothly behind the scenes.  Because Greek organizations often have a multitude of events and variety of numbers, it is a great opportunity to try different roles and wear different hats. Make the most of it. My Greek experience has afforded me opportunities I would not have had otherwise. The leadership opportunities and just working as part of a team in different situations has been worthwhile.

Unfortunately, these aren't the things that the media and society choose to highlight about Greek life. However, it is something that we can highlight as individuals when we interview with prospective employers or even during networking events. Your chapter offers you many opportunities. Make the most of it, and be proud of your experience.