It’s 6:25 in the morning on Preview Day and the Bruin Recruiters gather in the Vince Gill Room, donned in matching T-shirts and smiles waxing. They’re ready for a day of shaking hands and making connections.
The organization is comprised of about 100 students and is one of the most well-known on campus for its efforts to reach out to prospective freshmen and their families on Preview Days with information and hospitality. But the organization goes much further than the initial recruitment event most students experience.
Before a student can become a part of the Bruin Recruiters, he or she must first meet the specific academic and personal requirements set forth by the organization’s leadership. This ensures only the most dedicated members are chosen for the semester’s duties. Typically, around 200 students apply for open positions each semester.
“Everybody always wants to know what the GPA is. It’s 2.0. But we do also take students who are passionate about the university and passionate about helping families find their fit, whether that’s here at Belmont or at another university,” said senior Bruin Recruiter President Makenzie Albracht. “They have to be good communicators, able to think on their feet, good with hard questions, to know how to respond in a way that’s appropriate at that time.”
Applicants who meet the criteria are contacted by senior Bruin Recruiters for an interview to further determine if they are suited for a role in the organization, and, if chosen, how they will perform in their new position.
“We just sit down and want to get to know the person that’s applying. So we ask questions about their Belmont knowledge and how they got to Belmont. We like to know what their Belmont story is because we want to know how they’ll relay that to prospective families. We also kind of ask them how they’ve been involved in high school and in college and if they’ll be committed to the organization,” said Albracht.
After training, admitted Bruin Recruiters not only help orient families during Preview Day but perform other recruitment duties as well, including visits to surrounding cities, meals with visiting families and phone-a-thons to answer prospective students’ questions.
Recruiters are also offered paid on-campus opportunities that are closed to the rest of the student body, including the positions of tour guide and welcome desk worker. These positions have separate application and interview processes and can open new doors for both Recruiters and prospective students.
“Tour guides are a huge part of a prospective student’s visit to campus. It is the tour guides’ responsibility to have the facts and the inside student information of what it looks like to live life at Belmont. The success of a person’s visit can largely depend on the enthusiasm and authenticity of a tour guide – so it is no light task,” said junior Kate McMordie, the tour guide captain.
Junior Kelly Brickey has been a tour guide for two years, taking on 10 pages of campus information so that she could better serve prospective students and their families.
“It’s more or less a great experience to get more personal statuses with students who are looking. You get to ask them where they’re from, what sports they like to play. It’s more in-depth than Preview Day, which is like, ‘Hey, welcome! Hope you like it here,’” said Brickey.
Meanwhile, welcome desk workers are in charge of orienting prospective students and their families for regular campus visits. The visits run from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m on weekdays.
“We have to have a welcome desk worker sitting out there to welcome families as they come in, give them the schedule for the day, orient them to campus, mark out where they need to go on their map, make sure all their questions are answered, sometimes setting up meetings with counselors,” said Albracht.
Applications for new Bruin Recruiters will open Thursday, Oct. 9, and can be acquired by emailing bruinrecruiters@pop.belmont.edu.
This article was written by Riley Wallace.