Recruiting. It’s not easy. Whether you’re a college sports coach, a job recruiter, a volunteer recruiter, or a November Project recruiter, it’s hard. Everyone is moving so fast. No one has time for you. No one wants to listen to you.
Wrong. WRong. WRONG!
Without further ado, get to know Thom Mukri, November Project DC’s master recruiter. Don’t worry — all of his tactics are clean. No investigations needed.
Thom Mukri lived in Washington, DC, for 14 years before he found November Project. He credits his friend Ron Buch for fully introducing him to it.
In the early 2000s, Thom and Ron knew each other from being in the same boating community. Over the years, they drifted apart until happenstance brought them back together. At a triathalon in August 2014, they racked their bikes next to each other. While catching up, Ron mentioned to Thom that this fitness group he was a part of, November Project, was attempting to hold a workout with more than 500 people at the Lincoln Memorial.
Thom had seen the runners as a passer-by. He knew that some organized activity happened at Lincoln…
“But i didn’t know how awesome it was. I thought it was just people running the steps.”
At Ron’s urging, he showed up on that historic November day. The leaders started bouncing. Thom met people. Thom was immediately hooked. Sure, he lived in Vienna, but this was too good to be true. The commute was more than worth it.
Thom became a regular at workouts. He even attended when injuries struck, working on his core with others doing “Injury Deck.” Nothing could keep Thom away.
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Fast forward to July 2017, some two and a half years later. It’s an incredibly muggy DC morning. Even at 6:30am. The tribe is in the middle of “McEnroe,” probably the most complicated Wednesday workout at Lincoln. Tennis balls are exchanged. Stairs are run. People contort their bodies in every which way while doing spice on the lower plaza.
Any onlooker could be forgiven for being a little confused. Or at least weirded out.
As Thom jogged up the stairs, he noticed a woman in workout gear admiring the statue of Abe Lincoln in the early morning light. He walked up to her, introduced himself, and asked if she wanted to join the workout.
“I said, ‘You don’t have to, but if you want to hop in now, that’s cool, too’ and she was like, ‘Well, OK!’” Thom recalls two weeks later with a grin. “That was very cool too when she hopped in and joined right on the spot.”
Thom isn’t sure if the woman has been back in the two weeks since, but that’s not the point. She knows, at least on a base level, what November Project is. She experienced it. She got a taste. She probably will see, hear and/or be a part of it again.
That’s Thom’s mindset with anyone he talks to. He jokes that he’s probably had “more at-bats than anyone” when it comes to recruiting, and is maybe hitting .100, but he’s getting the word out.
“What I think is I may have just planted the seed,” Thom says. “Even though someone doesn’t come out as a result of having talked with me, I may have planted a seed. At some point in the future — it may not even be in DC. It may be in Buffalo — they’re going to hear November Project and think, ‘That sounds familiar. I’ve heard that before. Yeah, somebody else was telling me about it.’
“That may be the extra grain on the scale that makes them say, ‘OK, I’ll give it a try.’”
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Recruiting can also take patience. A lot of it. Not every person is going to jump right in when Thom, or anyone, first mentions “November Project,” even people he sees every day like his co-worker at the Office of Personnel Management, Wajid.
“It probably took me about eight months of constantly telling him about it, saying, ‘Dude, you should come out, you absolutely have to give it a try,’” Thom says.
“And finally he did. And as I suspected, he loved it and was like, ‘Dude, I wish I would’ve come out sooner. So I was really happy when he came out.’”
Wajid can now be found at most NP workouts.
Thom has an answer for just about any reservation someone might have about attending November Project DC.
Isn’t it just a bunch of 20-somethings running together?
Thom laughs. That one’s easy.
“I point at myself. I’m 50. And granted, I’m holding down the upper end of the age distribution. But getting back to the part where it doesn’t matter — it seriously does not matter how fit, how fast you are.”
But what about if you live way out in Virginia? Or Maryland?
“I live in Vienna, Virginia,” Thom says. “That’s where I drive in from each time. It’s easier if you’re in DC, but I personally make that sacrifice.”
And so with each workout, after each drive from Virginia, and whether he’s fully able to run or doing injury deck, Thom looks around him. Are people lingering near Lincoln with curious looks on their faces? Is someone jogging through Meridian Hill Park on a Monday morning who might be interested in doing it with hundreds of community-building, fitness-loving people?
Thom notices. And Thom recruits. But never forcefully (“I get it — it’s not for everybody,” he says). And with the knowledge that hey, batting .100 sure as heck beats never stepping to the plate.
“Our social barriers are down at the ground,” Thom says. “We have virtually no social barriers. You meet strangers and make friends with them. And that’s great. I think that should be something that we not only do here but spread out into the community.
“And in a way that’s what recruiting sort of is. You knock down those social barriers, you come up to somebody you don’t know and say, ‘Hey, I want to tell you about something that’s great that I do and I want you to consider doing it with me.’”
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Consider this: what do you enjoy doing most in your daily life? Maybe November Project makes the list. Maybe it doesn’t. Whatever is on the list, do you talk about it often? Do you spread the gospel?
For Thom, recruiting comes so naturally not because he’s a pro at it or a public speaker for a living (he’s not). And not because he’s the loudest, most vocal person at NP (he’s not). But because he loves the workouts and the community, and he wants to — forgive the term we use all too often — spread the love.
Thinking back, what if Ron had never convinced Thom to join that record-setting workout? Would Thom have started coming? Would he have joined that mysterious-looking group of runners at Lincoln? Maybe … or maybe not.
Thom doesn’t want to take the chance that others don’t learn about November Project. And you shouldn’t either!
“If you’re here and you’re a part of the community, you already know what it’s like,” he says. “You know the great things that it does for your life. You know how happy you are to show up in the morning. You know how much easier fitness is if you’re part of a team, part of a group. Share that knowledge. And then share the positivity, share the community with other people, help them to become part of it.
“(November Project) is something that way more people should be doing, and the best way for that to happen is to tell them about it.”
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Need help with your November Project pitch? Below is common language Thom uses when talking with strangers.
“I’d like to tell you about something that I do. Actually, it’s something that I am a part of. It’s called November Project. November – just like the month – but we go year round, rain or shine. It’s a fitness based community. We meet early-ish on Monday, Wednesday, Friday to work out together. It’s free, it’s fun, and everybody is welcome. I can’t stress that last part enough – it really doesn’t matter how fit or not fit you are. We’ve got some really speedy folks, and others who just recently rolled off the couch. It seriously doesn’t matter. You should check us out. If you are on any major social media – Facebook, Instagram, Twitter – look up November Project DC. The DC is important cuz we’re in 43 different cities. DC happens to be the best one.
“Our main workout is on Wednesday at the Lincoln Memorial. Just come to the reflecting pool a little bit before 6:20 and you won’t be able to miss us. We also do most Mondays at Meridian Hill Park (between 15th and 16th, north of U, northeast corner entrance at 15th and Euclid). Last Mondays are Capitol Hill. Every Friday we are someplace different in DC. It’s a great way to see unfamiliar parts of the city. I hope to see you at a workout some time!”
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ANNOUNCEMENTS
FRIDAY: Haydon-Johnson Rec Center, MAP
COAT-CHECK SIGNUP: bit.ly/NP_coatcheck
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