Corporation Start Up Series - Part 1: Into to Recruitment

If ever there was a game where a player could strive to be whatever they want to be, EVE Online is it.  You can pretty much cover yourself in this sandbox, dig yourself out and dig yourself another hole.  Due to the CCP's descision to make the EVE universe a single shard one, there is no shortage of people to fly and work with.  NPC corps hold a good deal of capsuleers (mostly new players), but the real depth and beauty of EVE is the player-run corporation.  Anyone is unrestricted in creating a corp (other than basic skills), so needless-to-say, there are a bunch.  Many people are content to remain in NPC corps or just hang around player corps.  At one point or another, you may find that you want to take on the challenge of running your own corp.  Maybe you were the director of a corp or maybe you just want to do things your way.  That is fine, EVE will let you do that.  There is one caviat.  There is no safety net.  You are in control of the helm (no pun intended).  You are free to soar high or crash and burn.  

Running you own corp might no be as glorious or romantic (adj. of, characterized by, or suggestive of an idealized view of reality) as you might think.  You will become an instant micro-manager.  Your choices and your indescision will be scrutinized and you will be faced with a whole slew of less-than-optomistic situations.  I don't mean to scare you off, but I do mean to warn you.  Take heed.  The road is rough of fraught with danger.

One of the first things you will need to do (whether or not you take people with you when you leave) is to start a recruitment campaign.  Actually, you are always recruiting.  People come and go.  It is a game of numbers.  For every ten people you recruit, I would guesstimate that you will only keep one or two active members under the best of circumstances.  The rest will leave you or just stop playing EVE altogether.  EVE is a tough place, especially for people new to the game.  Some have trouble with it's ambiguous rule structure.  You don't really understand non-consensual PVP unless you play EVE. The more you recruit, the better your corp will get as long as they are active.  You can expect an increase in tax revenue from PVE activities.  You can run large mining ops if you are an industrial-centric corp.  You can also do PVP roams if you so choose.  The more people there are, the more people you can get.  Just don't forget to train your corp-specific skills so that you can keep adding people to your roster.  I will talk about roles at a later point, but you should really start cultivating a leadership structure.  DO NOT under any circumstances make just anyone a director.  If you give roles to the wrong person, you can just stare in awe at the loss of everything you have worked towards.  A well-placed griefer with director roles will kill your corp.  They can take all your assets, kick any and everyone from your corp and basically dismantle it while you are sleeping.  Make sure you know who you are going to give leadership roles to.

On top of recruiting, your next concern is security.  YOU MUST check every recruit out, to the best of your ability.  Get a full API key.  Just ask, most people will give it and if they won't, that is a huge red flag.  Also, check BattleClinic.com for their killboards and known associates.  Do a search for their name on the EVE forums.  The more diligent you are before you bring them in, the better off your chances are to get a straight-up active member than a spy.  You will get a spy at least once.  Probably more.  They can give info, locations and asset lists to their pirate corp or a competitor and that can lead to war decs, losses and general ass-hattery.  Just do the best you can to filter recruits.  If things go wrong, you will have to deal with them.  

Recruitment is a hands-on process.  You should be outgoing and friendly.  You should be able to provide a list of things that your corp can offer and possibly what you are looking for in a member.  You can get all your talking points together in a PDF and just link it to a site like Bitly or even DropBox.  

Here is a link to one of our old pamphlets.  Feel free to shamelessly copy and modify.

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You should really come up with a good basis of activity to showcase your corp as a premier place to join.  I will continue this series as time allows, so check back and as always, fly safe-ish