This weekend, thousands of Potential New Members (PNMs) ran to their “forever homes” as many hopeful individuals excitedly opened and accepted their bids. With the conclusion of Season 2 of #RushTok this past weekend, it’s evident that joining a sorority can be a great way to make new friends with common interests, all while influencing and making a positive change both on campus and within your college’s or university’s larger community.
However, one benefit that’s talked about less often is how joining a sorority may present job and networking opportunities to you. Here’s how a sorority can help you get a job, or even be a catalyst in helping you to achieve your dream career.
Simply joining Greek life can have a major impact on your career prospects.
Your sisters — both current ones and alumni of your chapter or your sorority as a whole — can help you job hunt, revise and update both your resume and cover letter, and meet people who work in the field that you are interested in. Even simply going through rush may help you when you look for a job, even if you don’t end up staying in a chapter. Sorority recruitment prepares an individual for the social skills and emotional intelligence that future employers will look for, and enduring sorority rush will help you learn to “work a room.”
A 2014 Gallup survey concluded that you are more likely to be happy in your career if you join Greek life on campus. The survey found that the 16% of college graduates who were a part of either a fraternity or sorority on their campus were more engaged and happier at their jobs. Furthermore, engagement among fraternity and sorority members suggests that they are more likely to be “intellectually and emotionally connected” to their companies and “enthusiastic” about their work. 43% of fraternity and sorority members who were full-time employees were engaged in their workplace, compared to 38% of other graduates.
It is worth noting here that Panhellenic sororities are overwhelmingly white, meaning that a lot of these opportunities and engagements are going to quite a specific pool of students. However, as Gen Z works to change Greek life and the demographic makeup of sororities becomes more diverse, students of marginalized identities can also find opportunities for career growth in Greek life — plus, multicultural sororities also provide a sense of sisterhood where members may connect with one another.
Connecting with alumni can help you get your foot in the door.
If you do join a sorority, you can grow your connections within your chapter and the larger Greek life community of your school. Many chapters will have an alumni connection group where you can connect to alumni of your chapter to gain advice about what your potential career looks like. These alumni may provide you advice to nail your first interview or an informational interview, or they may even connect you to a job interview opportunity.
Connecting with these alumni can greatly benefit you as they will most likely be more experienced than you, and you all share something in common and creates a greater sense of belonging and connection. If your chapter has an Alumni Relations Chair, try reaching out to them: They may have connections to alumni that they can put on events with to introduce sisters to them, like career panels.
Many sororities also have alumni or job boards where you may connect to other members who are not a part of your chapter — try checking your sorority’s website for more information.
Try taking yourself out of your comfort zone — the risk will pay off.
The most difficult part of this is taking the first step and putting yourself out there. This may include attending alumni networking events, cold-emailing people in your network, or asking other members with experience for an informational interview. You may find it difficult, especially if you consider yourself more introverted, to foster connections and take advantage of networking opportunities. However, this can present you with countless opportunities that you may have never encountered unless you had used your resources to your advantage.
Sororities promote sisterhood, which is why most people join a sorority in the first place: to find a sense of belonging with individuals with similar interests, goals, and values. This community may help you not only find your first job, but land the dream career that will stick with you for a long time.