Volunteer Management - Recruiting The Right Volunteers

In this lecture you'll identify what your organisation does and why it does it. This is important because we want to make sure all of your volunteers are working effectively to help you achieve your mission.

In this lecture we'll consider why having volunteers for the sake of having volunteers (that is, volunteers without purpose or direction) is a bad strategy. I'll also talk about the lasting impact of a bad experience.

In this lecture we'll consider what difference volunteers might make to your organisation and your mission. This is a vital step. You need to be able to explain to employees and leadership why volunteers are needed. You need to explain to volunteers why their support is valuable and vital to the mission.

In this section we will clarify why role descriptions are a useful tool and what the benefits of writing one are.

In this lecture we'll understand what a role description is and what information it often includes.

We'll talk about why role descriptions are commonly considered best practise within the voluntary sector.

In this lecture we'll identify the various parties that might benefit from your Role Descriptions, including: you, your volunteers, employees, leadership and recruiters.

In this section we're going to figure out how volunteers can help your organisation deliver more of it's mission. Working your way through this section will help you design a role description that helps volunteers find their perfect role, and helps you find the perfect volunteer.

Think Big! Imagine all the possible things volunteers could do for your organisation.

Now take the tasks from your Wish List and break them down into manageable pieces. Ideally we want them to be as small as possible.

Now let's put together the person we're looking for and the tasks they might carry out.

What might be the best name to describe this role?

In this section we'll consider whether there is a limit to how many volunteer roles you can have in your organisation.

Let's consider all the things that might make it challenging for people to volunteer with you. This will help us understand what kinds of requirements and support your volunteers may need and what information we need to give them in advance.

Let's think about what sorts of skills, demographics, knowledge, qualifications and commitments your organisation needs from it's volunteers. Remember, these might be different for each volunteer role.

In this section we'll talk about how you can use the resources to build your role description. We'll also think about how you can write your role description to make it attractive.

Your Role Description is a complete document. However, it doesn't have to stay in the same format all the time. You can use different parts for different scenarios.

Direct Recruitment means recruiting volunteers directly from the group of people who already support you. It is one of the most effective recruitment tools and will bring you some of your most committed and passionate volunteers.

Put your role descriptions on your recruitment section of your website.

Connecting and creating opportunities for people who are already connected, involved and passionate about your organisation.

Use your volunteer roles and actively recruit volunteers across your social media.

Share photos, success stories and accomplishments of your volunteers on your social media and your website to raise awareness of their efforts. Always include a recruitment pitch so potential volunteers know they can join you.

In this lecture I'll talk you through how to make the most of your Volunteer Centre and recruitment events at universities, libraries and community centres.

In this lecture we'll talk about using local paid for and free newsletters and newspapers to share your success stories, increase awareness about your organisation and recruiting volunteers.

We'll talk about using directed ads and careful marketing to build awareness, gain followers and ultimately recruit volunteers from social media channels.

In this section I'll discuss some ideas for what you can do if you don't have a big organisation with a social media team or a fundraising team.
Thank you for taking part in this training. I hope it was helpful.