|
|
 |
| |
| GETTING THE RIGHT VOLUNTEER |
Getting a suitable volunteer can seem like chasing the gold at the end of the rainbow for many organisations. It is increasingly hard to find the right people, with the right skills, characteristic and time to volunteer. The pace of life, the demands on our time and the list of good causes needing volunteers are ever growing.
|
coMMUni cannot provide an answer to all your volunteering needs but we can be a free service to help you recruit from our pool of staff and students. MMU operate from seven sites across Manchester and Cheshire so we have a wide catchment area. 60% of our 35,000 students are local to the north west so a student volunteer today could become a long term volunteer tomorrow. We also have 4,000 staff employed for their professional skills in teaching, research and support functions (from HR to security).
|
In our experience there are some key points to bear in mind when recruiting for new volunteers:
Be specific. Vagueness and generalisation when describing what you need a volunteer to do does not always attract someone to the role. For example, if your group needs a volunteer to help out in the office you could break down the role into its various duties, i.e.: a volunteer receptionist, a volunteer cleaner, a volunteer book keeper, etc... as attracting someone to one aspect of the opportunity may lead them to doing more.
Treat the role like a job. You do not need loads of paperwork but why not take a few minutes to write down the key duties of the volunteer and the skills / experience the volunteer might need. If you do not know what the volunteer would do how will you know when the ‘right’ volunteer contacts you?
Incentives? Do you offer anything that someone may see as an incentive to volunteer, such as out of pocket expenses? Do you offer specialist training or an accredited course? These are things that someone may need to offer their time so highlight you ‘good points’ and stand out from the crowd.
Volunteers recruit volunteers. The best people to sell the advantages of volunteering to potential volunteers are your current volunteers. If you are a volunteer for your group what made you give your time? If you are a paid member of staff ask your current volunteers why they got involved and how they have benefited from being a part of your group. You can then promote their stories and ask them to ‘sell’ your cause to new volunteers.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| |
.GIF)
