6 Benefits Of Hiring A Greek Life Student

By Melody Chi on April 11, 2015

While some employers are wary of hiring inexperienced students, a handful of students are actually miles ahead of their peers in personal and professional capabilities.

I’ve found that such people are usually those involved in the Greek life system, which fosters the exact skills many businesses look for in employees.

Read on to find out the advantageous traits Greek life members commonly possess.

Image via csuw3.csuohio.edu

A Greek life student …  

1.) Knows how to communicate.

Everyone who’s ever worked in any type of business knows that communication and negotiation are crucial skills to have to get along and even thrive in the work place.

However, coordinating with co-workers, superiors, and employees can be challenging to those inexperienced in it, but luckily, participating in a Greek fraternity or sorority introduces members early on to interacting with a large group of people.

Those who live in the fraternity/sorority house especially build skills to interact and negotiate with many people over an extended period of time, since they must adjust their actions to live peacefully with 15 or more people in one house. In this way, the fraternity or sorority house can be considered a small business environment.

Thus, those who are part of a fraternity/sorority possess an advantage in communication skills over those who are not.

2.) Is part of a professional and personal network.

It’s undeniable that a fraternity/sorority gives its members access to a significant professional and personal network.

After all, that is one of the greatest advantages to participating in a fraternity or sorority: one always has the support and connections of his/her fellow and former members. This can be very advantageous to a business in many ways.

For instance, if a business is attempting to advertise on social media, having an employee with a presumably large online network of fraternity/sorority colleagues and mentors can be a great benefit.

Not only that, but fraternities and sororities are rigidly structured in strict hierarchies that reflect the arrangement of a business. Members become familiar with operating and flourishing within this hierarchy, which can greatly ease the transition into the working world that demands its employees adhere to a structure of command.

Therefore, an employee who is part of a fraternity/sorority may be better at fitting into a traditional business culture than one who doesn’t have the same experience.

3.) Has leadership capability.

Often, those involved in a fraternity or sorority are called upon to be leaders, even in small roles. For instance, members are elected to fulfill positions such as fraternity/sorority event coordinator, behavior board judge, treasurer, president, etc.

This gives students invaluable experience with responsibilities such as handling issues on their own, delegating tasks, working side by side with others, and accomplishing duties on a timeline.

All of these traits are ones that employees must have to both be successful for their businesses, and so fraternity and sorority members can be said to be ahead of the game with their familiarity with leadership.

4.) Does philanthropic work.

Many fraternities and sororities require members to take part in regular philanthropic work as part of their participation in the organization. However, most members I’ve spoken to are enthusiastic about taking part in such charitable activities, whether they’re mandatory or not.

This is yet another benefit to any company a Greek life student works for, as workers who have interests in tasks that don’t give them financial gain are said to be happier and more dedicated to their actual work.

Furthermore, this also means that Greek life student employees usually have business experience in one way or another that’s more than theoretical. For instance, fundraising for philanthropic Greek life events involves the same knowledge and processes as fundraising for a business.

5.) Has experience mentoring.

Image via Levo.com

In my opinion, one of the greatest characteristics about fraternities and sororities is the “Big Brother”/”Big Sister” aspect, in which a member who’s been a part of the fraternity or sorority longer mentors a recently-accepted member. This experience can also be a boon to any business that employs Greek life students for several reasons.

First, mentoring like this teaches the Big and Little Brother/Sister teamwork, both with each other and when interacting with other Big and Little Siblings. This experience with teamwork translates into working well with coworkers in a professional setting.

In addition, a student employee who already has experience mentoring or being a mentee is naturally both a better learner AND tutor, which obviously helps them more quickly learn their duties in a business and eventually be able to teach others the same.

6.) Is already involved in post-college experiences.

Finally, while fraternities and sororities are undeniably college institutions, they actually encourage post-college pursuits and knowledge. After all, like I mentioned earlier, fraternities/sororities typically encourage their current members to connect with former members who have graduated and are now professionals in the wider business realm.

This means that many fraternity and sorority members are more focused on and knowledgeable about post-college work than many of their non-Greek life peers, so their transition into working during or after college can be smoother and their performance in a business may just exceed expectations.

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