Handing off recruitment to next year's e-board

Why recruitment is the hardest job to hand off

Recruitment is the hardest club job to hand off because it happens once or twice a year, in a rush, across many files. By the time next year's chair needs it, the person who ran it has graduated or moved on.

Most other officer jobs repeat every week, so a new treasurer or events chair learns by doing. A new recruitment chair gets one chance a semester, with candidates waiting.

The usual result is a new chair rebuilding the application, the rubric and the timeline from memory. Phi Gamma Nu's VP of Recruitment described what changes when it is all in one place:

Everything I needed was in one place. It will make it so much easier to pass on to our recruitment chair next semester.

What general transition guides cover, and what they miss

Campus officer transition guides are a good start for any handoff. Ohio University's guide tells outgoing and new officers to hold a transition meeting, organize files "in an accessible place," and document login information. Ohio State's guide says to meet with successors "multiple times if possible" and to keep documents digital "so people can build year to year." Southern Illinois University's guide recommends a transition binder and letting incoming officers shadow outgoing ones.

What they don't cover is recruitment itself. That means the rubric and why it is weighted the way it is, the voting rules, last season's numbers, and the candidate data that shouldn't be passed on. The rest of this guide covers those.

The recruitment handoff checklist

Hand over these ten things. Most take a few minutes if the season ran in one place, and an evening if it ran across personal files.

Recruitment handoff checklist

Item	What to hand over	Where it should live
Timeline	Last season's calendar with real dates, and what ran late	Club-owned drive or your recruitment tool
Criteria and class size	The written criteria, class size, offers sent and offers accepted	Club-owned drive
Application	Every question, and one line on why each one exists	Your recruitment tool or a club-owned form
Interview rubric	Rooms, criteria, weights, score levels and calibration notes	Your recruitment tool or a club-owned sheet
Voting rules	Who votes, quorum, threshold, abstentions, recusal	Club-owned drive
Numbers	Applicants, chats completed, interviews, offers, acceptances	Club-owned drive
Retro	What to keep and what to change first, in writing	Club-owned drive
Contacts	Room booking, the student activities office, a national contact	Club-owned drive
Access	New chair added as admin; graduating members removed	Every tool and shared folder
Accounts	Club email, social accounts and forms owned by a club account	Club accounts

The downloadable version adds a "Done" column to tick off.

The timeline, with real dates

Pass on the calendar you actually ran, with dates, not the one you planned. Mark what ran late and why. Next year's chair can then copy it and move each date by a year. The recruitment timeline template is a good format for it.

The application, and why each question exists

Pass on the application with one line next to each question explaining what it is for. Without that line, the next chair either keeps a question nobody needs or drops one that mattered.

The interview rubric and calibration notes

Pass on the rooms, criteria, weights and written score levels, plus notes from interviewer training: where interviewers disagreed and how you settled it. Keeping the same rubric makes one class comparable with the next. The interview rubric template shows the format.

Numbers and a written retro

Pass on the season's numbers: applicants, coffee chats completed, interviews held, offers sent and offers accepted. Add a one-page retro from the e-board: what to keep, and the one thing to change first. The guide to recruitment metrics covers which numbers to track.

A one-page note to the next chair

The most useful single document is a one-page note from you to the next chair, written the week decisions go out. Keep it short enough that they will read it the night they start planning.

Write it in plain sentences, not bullet fragments only you understand, and save it next to the timeline. A year from now you won't remember what "fix the case room" meant.

Move files to club-owned accounts

Recruitment files that live in one officer's personal Google Drive leave with that officer. Before you hand off, move every form, sheet and folder into an account the club owns.

Use a club email account, owned by the club and passed from president to president, as the owner of every form and shared folder. Ohio State's guide also says to collect the usernames for every relevant account and update access at the transition meeting. Change shared passwords after a handoff rather than passing your personal ones on.

What not to hand over

Not everything from a recruiting season should be passed on. Individual comments about candidates, especially ones who weren't admitted, should stay with the season they belong to.

Pass on the process and the numbers. Keep candidate-level notes only where the club has a reason, such as a candidate who may reapply, and only in a place where access ends when a member leaves. The guide to who should see applicant data covers access in more detail.

The 60-minute handoff meeting

Hold one handoff meeting between the outgoing and incoming chair, with the president if possible. An hour is enough if the checklist is done first.

1. Minutes 0 to 10: walk the timeline. Go through last season's calendar and mark the dates that must change.

2. Minutes 10 to 25: the application and rubric. Explain why each question and criterion exists, and what you'd change.

3. Minutes 25 to 35: the numbers and the retro. Read the retro aloud and agree on the first change.

4. Minutes 35 to 45: rules and contacts. Voting rules, school rules, room booking and the student activities office.

5. Minutes 45 to 55: access. Add the new chair as an admin everywhere and remove graduating members, during the meeting.

6. Minutes 55 to 60: questions and a check-in date. Agree on a date a month before the next season to talk again.

Let the incoming chair shadow this season

The best handoff starts before the season ends. If the next chair is already chosen, let them shadow this season: sit in on interviewer training, watch a round of interviews, and observe delibs.

Southern Illinois University's guide recommends shadowing "if time permits," and Ohio State's suggests planning shadowing time. If you're picking the next chair after recruitment, shadowing still works next year: the outgoing chair can sit in on the new chair's first planning meeting.

Handing off recruitment in Delibity

In Delibity, recruitment stays with the club, not with a person. Past seasons, applications, rubrics and candidate transcripts remain in the club's account when the board changes.

At the handoff, add the new board as admins and mark graduating members inactive; their access ends right away. The new chair copies last season's interview sessions, which brings the rooms, weights, subscores and rubric text, and duplicates the application. The candidate pool doesn't carry over, because each season starts with new candidates.

Duplicate a Past Session

Fall 2026

Final Round 3 sub-roomsDuplicate

Round 2 5 sub-roomsDuplicate

Spring 2026

Final Round 3 sub-roomsDuplicate

Copies rooms, weights, subscores and rubric text

Example data

How Delibity does this

Next year's chair starts from your rubric

Duplicate a Past Session copies an earlier round's rooms, weights, subscores and rubric text into a new session. Past applications and candidates stay in the club's account.

When the board changes, add the new officers as admins and mark graduating members inactive.

How handover works →

For everything the chair owns across a season, see the recruitment chair's season checklist.

Questions chairs ask

When should the recruitment handoff happen?

Right after the last recruiting season of the outgoing chair's term, while the details are fresh. If your e-board turns over in December and spring recruitment starts in late January, hold the handoff meeting before winter break.

What should a recruitment chair pass on?

Pass on the timeline with real dates, the application with the purpose of each question, and the interview rubric with calibration notes. Add the voting rules, last season's numbers, a written retro, key contacts, and admin access to every tool. Hand over the process, not candidates' personal notes.

How do we stop losing files every year?

Keep every recruitment file in accounts the club owns, such as a club email account that owns all forms and folders, and pass that account from president to president. Personal drives leave with the person.

Should the new chair shadow the current one?

Yes, if the next chair is chosen before or during the season. Sitting in on interviewer training, interviews and delibs teaches more than any document. Campus transition guides at Ohio State and Southern Illinois University recommend shadowing.

Sources

1. Officer Transition Guide, Ohio University Center for Student Engagement and Leadership: transition meeting, organized files, logins, calendar (checked 2026-11-09) ohio.edu
2. Leadership Transitions, Ohio State University Student Activities: meet successors, keep documents digital, collect account access, shadowing (checked 2026-11-09) activities.osu.edu
3. Student Organization Officer Transition Guide, Southern Illinois University Carbondale: transition binder, shadowing (checked 2026-11-09) rec.siu.edu
4. Phi Gamma Nu story, Delibity: Leila Boesch-Powers's quote on passing recruitment on (checked 2026-11-09) delibity.com