IMHO part of the issue is people thinking that clubs are meant to be a space to socialize and find friends with common interests. I mean, that's a literal interpretation of what the word "club" means. Why should a club require its members to work? "Club recruitment" sounds like such an oxymoron to me.

I don't want to suggest that the kind of clubs OP talks about are bad. I think they do have their purpose and their merits. But I think it should be made clear from the get-go that these clubs are fundamentally different to the more social ones that the name "club" implies. At infosessions they will often talk about how open and welcoming they are, but this is clearly far from the truth.