How to find the best volunteers online

Transcription

1 How to find the best volunteers online An introductory guide to online recruitment for the voluntary sector Creating a successful volunteering programme is a huge task and it s very easy to become buried in paperwork. This guide describes how to streamline your recruitment by doing it online.

2 SECTIONS 1. Things to think about before you start the recruitment process 2. Writing a compelling advert 3. A selection of websites for posting different roles 4. Sharing your advert with the right people & organisations online 5. People are interested in your opportunity - now what? 6. A few top tips 7. Finding what works for you

3 1. THINGS TO THINK ABOUT BEFORE YOU START Before you start putting your opportunities online, use the following checklist to ensure your organisation has everything in place before starting the recruitment process: 1. Do you have a clear and explicit volunteer role description? NCVO provide a full guide to writing a volunteer role description. 2. Have you written a list of questions you wish to ask applicants? 3. Have you drafted a reference request letter or template? You ll save yourself lots of time if you prepare a word document in advance, so when it comes to following up references you can just out the template en masse. 4. Do you have some kind of induction pack? 5. What is your expenses policy? Volunteers should be paid reasonable travel expenses. It s best to sort this in advance so you can include it in your advert. 6. Have you completed all the necessary risk assessments? 7. Do you have a safeguarding policy in place that accounts for the 2015 safeguarding changes? 8. Do you have a Health & Safety policy (including fire safety) sorted? Once you have these in place, you re ready to get started on your adverts.

4 2. WRITING A COMPELLING ADVERT Before you start to create an advert for volunteers, ask yourself the following questions: What specific role am I recruiting for? How many volunteers do I need? What type of person am I looking for? What qualities am I looking for? Why would somebody want to volunteer for my organisation? Writing an advert for a volunteer role starts with two basic principles: firstly tell them exactly what they need to know and secondly be honest. Telling volunteers what they need to know Telling people what they need to know involves answering all the key questions before they need to be asked. This doesn t mean writing a 20-page advertisement detailing your entire constitution, but all the basics should be covered. If you don t answer the questions of your potential volunteer, they may not reach out to you to find out, they could just move on to the next advert. Potential questions a volunteer might want the answers to are: What do you do? What exactly do you want me to do? How often do you want me to do it? (and when?) Are you going to pay my bus fare? (because I m skint but I don t really want to ask) Am I going to learn any new skills or develop my existing ones? Am I working on my own or in a group? Do you have sufficient training or will you just throw me in at the deep end?

5 How long do I have to commit for? Who will be looking after me and how often will I see them? There may be other questions you want to address, so a short list of FAQs is generally useful as long as it is succinct and clear. Be honest The second basic principle of writing adverts is honesty. If the opportunity is only going to be available for three months, make that clear. If the charity is needing help in a crisis and things could be a little hectic, tell them. If they are going to get muddy, advise them to bring wellies! Generally speaking, people who give their time are doing so for altruistic purposes and want to help - all you need to do is spell out what to expect. Someone will want to help you. Types of volunteering An extra thing to mention here is the type of volunteering you are looking for. The growth of micro-volunteering and virtual volunteering is undeniable. Some volunteers are willing to give short bursts of time to do small jobs, but they don t want a long-term commitment. Some volunteers may want to fulfil their role from their own homes, using the internet. Consider whether your organisation could benefit from micro or virtual volunteers. Their roles may vary slightly from traditional volunteers, but they can add real value to your organisation in a way that suits them.

6 3. WEBSITES FOR POSTING DIFFERENT ROLES There are loads of websites out there, so deciding where you post your advert depends on what you are looking for. If you are recruiting for a wide variety of roles, try: do-it.org volunteermatch.org volunteering.thirdsector.co.uk Your local volunteer centre! Search for your local organisation as most publish their opportunities online. If you are specifically recruiting young people, try: vinspired.com stepforward.org.uk If you are looking for professionals, try: reachskills.org.uk If you think virtual volunteers could help your organisation, try: idealist.org onlinevolunteering.org globalgiving.sparked.com If you are specifically looking for volunteers in sport, try: joininuk.org If you have the tough job of recruiting trustees, try: do-it.org/channels/trustee-finder charityjob.co.uk/volunteer-jobs

7 4. SHARING YOUR ADVERT WITH THE RIGHT PEOPLE & ORGANISATIONS ONLINE Once your advert has been published on one of the sites listed above, you can boost the amount of people who see it by sharing it with the right people. Using Facebook or Twitter, try sharing your adverts with the following people and organisations: Your local volunteer centre Local councils Local businesses that have lots of followers Local Facebook groups (put your postcode or town in the search bar) Other local charities that are likely to support you University or colleges (if you are looking for younger people) Local press or radio stations If you re using Facebook, you can post a link your advert on some of the above pages or walls, post to groups or even your own profile. On Twitter, you only have limited characters, but always ask people to share it for you by using Please RT or Pls RT. People are more likely to share if you ask them!

8 5. PEOPLE ARE INTERESTED IN YOUR OPPORTUNITY - NOW WHAT? When you receive interest in your opportunity, you may want them to fill in an application form. You can do this online quickly and easily in a number of ways. You can simply a word document to the people who are interested and ask them to fill it out, or you can use an online form builder. Online form builders will take the data and put it in a spreadsheet for you, which minimises admin later on. Create an application form using SurveyMonkey, TypeForm or Google Forms. Use the questions outlined earlier as the basis for your form. Try to get the information you need in the most succinct way possible. You could ask for all the basics (name, age, occupation, address, telephone number etc.) and then perhaps a couple of key questions. Key questions could include why do you want to volunteer for us?, why should we choose you? or tell us what you could bring to this role in five words. Once you have all your responses, you can use your very organised spreadsheet to log volunteer information for the future.

9 6. A FEW TOP TIPS 1. Create templates as often as possible: the more you can do in advance, the quicker the process will be each time. 2. Make a folder of all the documents you might need when recruiting volunteers so everything is always to hand. 3. If you use Google Docs and Google Sheets instead of Microsoft Word and Excel, you can access your documents from anywhere with an internet connection and share them with other members of your team. 4. Don t try to use every social network. It takes a lot of time to build a great profile for your organisation, so don t stretch your resources too thin. Facebook is the biggest & twitter is great for networking, so if you don t have much time, focus on these two. 5. Try to respond to volunteer s as quickly as possible, even if their application is unsuccessful. There is nothing worse than waiting for a response that never comes. Most people would prefer to know the outcome of their application either way. 6. Use Technology Trust! There is plenty of guidance available to help you use digital to streamline your processes.

10 7. FINDING WHAT WORKS FOR YOU The web is full of tools to help you out with volunteer recruitment - you don t need to buy any fancy software or pay for adverts. Everything you need is there if you re willing to do a little bit of digging. Find technology that works for you and your organisation and keep it simple. Please share this guide with your fellow charity workers and leave a comment if any of these tips have been helpful for you. Good luck in your search! ABOUT THE AUTHOR Emma Bennett is a Charity Blogger, Volunteer Coordinator and Management Trustee for a local supplementary school. She s extremely passionate about volunteering and has worked extensively on a wide variety of third sector projects. She writes and works in digital for High Speed Training, who provide online safeguarding