Keys to a Creating a Successful Recruiting Plan

The recruiting process is an annual ritual that many music teachers find exciting. Most of us are inspired by watching students discover a new instrument or realize their life-long dream of playing their favorite instrument. Recruiting events are essential because these events are how music teachers introduce potential students to their school music programs. I have seen teachers both thrive and struggle while recruiting, and I found that the best recruiters are those who have developed an effective long-term recruitment plan. Gone are the days of passing out a flier or sending a single email home. Effective recruiters are those who have developed a year-long, if not multi-year, recruitment plan that maximizes time and interactions with students. From my experience and conversations with successful colleagues, effective recruitment plans:

1. Allow us to recruit every potential student
2. Provide meaningful time to interact with potential students
3. Address potential students’ musical and social needs
4. Get potential students excited about joining our classes

Below are common strategies found in effective recruitment plans. I successfully applied these in my recruitment plans for various school districts. I found they worked regardless of location (urban or suburban) or my students’ socioeconomic status. Throughout my years, I learned the personal connections and building positive relationships were the most important characteristics of any successful recruiting plan. Focusing on those aspects when developing my recruitment plan led to an enrollment increase in each of my music programs. I am hopeful that sharing some of these ideas with help you a more successful long-term recruitment plan.

Visit Every School

Our job as music educators is to provide every student with a quality music education. This goal cannot be accomplished if we intentionally or unintentionally neglect potential students during the recruiting process. When designing a recruitment plan, create a blueprint where you visit each of your feeder schools; not just the schools where you typically get your “best” students or a high yield. While this seems obvious, I know some teachers avoid certain schools during the recruiting process due to their preconceived notions or limited time. Failing to recruit at all of your feeder schools limits who can join your program. By skipping certain schools, you are limiting students’ opportunity to receive a quality music education and also losing out on potential students. If you have not had prior recruiting success at a certain feeder school, determine what barriers are stopping students from joining your program from that school and address those. These schools can turn into an untapped resource for new students.

Give Yourself Enough Time

Scheduling adequate time at each school is vital to an effective recruiting visit. It is essential to schedule sufficient time so you and your students, if they help recruit, can significantly engage and connect with all potential students. All too often, teachers fail to connect with all potential students during recruiting events because they do give themselves adequate time. Most effective recruiters would say that spending extra time and connecting with potential students during at recruiting events will lead to increased enrollment. I have never wished I had less time at recruiting visits over the years, but I have wished I had more time on numerous occasions. Trust me and schedule more time than you think is needed.

Recruit for Both Musical and Social Reasons

It is not secret students join music programs for various reasons. Some join because they love music and cannot wait to learn an instrument or to sing. Others join because they like music, but that is not their main motivation. Their main reason for joining is the social aspects of our programs (e.g., friends are joining, an older sibling participates, to attend in field trips, need a safe place). To connect with more students during the recruitment process, it is important to address both musical and social components that students will experience in our programs. Some will be excited about concerts, festivals, or learning a specific type of music. However, others will look forward to field trips, Friday nights with friends, program traditions, or even simple things such as a choir hoodie. Our job during the recruiting process is to make sure potential students know we can feed their music soul while also meeting their social needs. I found that communicating about the musical and social aspects of my program during recruiting events gets more students excited about joining.

Know Your Clientele

Using the same recruiting strategies year after year leads to a stale process with diminishing results. Recruiting events must be current and include music and cultural references that potential students can relate to. This is difficult for those of us who do not keep up with pop culture (hint - me). In 2021, that means losing those Friends (1990s) and MySpace (2000s) references. To connect with today’s potential students, it is important to include current pop culture references, music selections, and social media platforms in our recruitment pitches. That could mean including sea chanties (see the Wellerman on TikTok), Instagram stars, current television/movie references, and viral social media trends. However, music teachers cannot pull a bait and switch. Teachers must organically incorporate these components in our actual classes once students join our programs. Otherwise, new students will lose their excitement and that will come across during future recruitment events. I suggest asking your current students for help on what current trends to include in recruiting events. Involving current students during the design phase of recruiting events will help both you and your program look “cool.” I bet your current students will also enjoy the process.

Be Visible in Your District

As recruiters, we cannot ask colleagues for help only when we or our music programs have something to gain. Administrators and fellow teachers must know we care about more than our music programs. While I know it is easy to have a laser focus on our own program, we must be visible in our feeder schools and community throughout the school year; not just when we want something. If administrators and teachers from across your district know you by sight because you are involved and volunteer at non-music events, I have found they are usually eager to help during the recruiting process. Their assistance can come in the form of providing transportation, showing videos, allowing in-person visits, scheduling assemblies, talking up your program, or by simply collecting forms for you. Over time, I have learned that administrators and fellow teachers are important allies in the recruiting process. They can help immensely or provide roadblocks that hinder recruiting efforts. Trust me when I say it is important to have them on your side.

Students are Your Best Recruiters

Your students are your best recruiters because kids listen to other kids. One of my most successful recruitment strategies was actually removing myself from the recruitment process. I learned to turn over control at recruitment events to my students. While my students and I designed the recruiting events together, they ran, with my distant supervision, most recruiting events on their own. Involving current students in the recruitment process allowed them to connect with the potential students on a personal level that I cannot attain. I discovered potential students were willing to ask my current students questions that they would not normally ask me. Heavily involving my students also removed the focus from me and my obvious intentions of increasing enrollment during recruitment events. It was no longer about what the program could gain. It was about my students sharing what they loved about the program with their younger peers and making those positive experiences available to others. This was a game changer in the recruitment of new students.

Address Their Fears and Concerns

Sometimes what we do not say at recruiting events causes us to lose potential students. As teachers, we take certain aspects of our program for granted and forget to talk about them with potential students. This oversight causes uneasiness for some potential students and is their reason for not joining the music program. To solve this issue, it is important to address common concerns that beginning students may have. These may include: the need for prior playing experience, having the ability to read music, required costs/fees, having access to an instrument, and scheduling conflicts. Even though it seems obvious to us, I also found it was important for potential students to know music classes occur during the regular school day. I stressed that they could still participate in after school activities such as clubs, robotics, drama, and sports. Once I started addressing these common fears during the recruiting process, enrollment in my program began to increase steadily year after year. Students were no longer scared to join as a result of the unknown.