News

"Perfect Match - Recruiting Volunteers"
By Jane Sandilands
National Bank CommunityLink Magazine

They're regarded as the most precious resource of an organisation, but finding the right volunteers requires creativity and thinking outside the square.

When Curtin University's Dr Judy Esmond was giving a workshop for volunteer managers, a workshop participant raised her hand and said: "Can you tell us how to find the volunteers?"

It's a question that Esmond has faced countless times and which lead her to write Count Me In! 501 Ideas on Recruiting Volunteers, to be released in January to celebrate the International Year of Volunteers 2001.

"Let's face it," Esmond says briskly, "you need very good ideas to recruit volunteers and to keep them coming back when there's no monetary reward. I've gathered 501 of the very best ideas from around the world.

The ideas recorded in the book come from all kinds of sources, including the experience of marketing and business people. "There are different areas of knowledge to draw on which can make the job of the volunteer manager easier and the work of volunteers with particular expertise more fulfilling," Esmond says.

"Volunteer managers can see themselves as having the sole responsibility for every aspect of volunteer management - and it's just not possible. As well, sometimes managers are limiting themselves in the way they think of volunteers and some organisations become caught in attracting the same type of volunteer. They may want them for the visitor program, for research, for computing skills and for answering the telephone but it stops there."

In two years of research for her book, Esmond has come up with the six Rs approach which can act as a checklist for those serious about recruiting volunteers.

Her first R is 'Research'. "Research everything!" she says. While many people think of research as statistics and therefore boring, Esmond says this is not the case. To organisations who feel they have no research skills and even less data, she says there is "a world of research knowledge at your fingertips". By answering the when, where, who and why about existing volunteers, the organisation gains useful information. "Find out when they heard your volunteer message, where they heard it, what attracted them, who they contacted and why they volunteered." This approach, she says, tells an organisation a great deal about its current volunteer base.

The second of the 6 Rs is 'Reveal' and this explores the way volunteer agencies get their recruitment message to the world. "Use newsletters, flyers, the internet, faxes, telephone, newspapers, radio and television. And don't forget that the most read sections in a newspaper are letters to the editor and the classifieds. Think about getting your recruitment message in those."

One common approach organisations take when recruiting volunteers, Esmond says, is to write about the tasks the volunteer will perform. A more effective recruitment message, she says, will include information about the advantages and benefits of becoming a volunteer.

The third R is 'Relate'. "Relate and network with everyone," Esmond says. "The most effective recruitment method of all time is 'word of mouth' where enthusiastic happy volunteers are your greatest publicity". Esmond suggests giving all volunteers business cards containing a recruitment message so they can give them to people who ask about their volunteer work. "Not only does this get the message across, but volunteers are proud to offer a business card about them and their organisation." And don't be daunted by the cost of printing business cards. Esmond urges organisations to think creatively and perhaps ask a printer to donate the cards or design handwritten ones.

In 'Reach', the fourth R, Esmond examines how to find the volunteers you need through target marketing. She gives the example of an organisation needing a volunteer to help write media releases. "What about targeting a prospective volunteer studying journalism at university. You can offer valuable work experience and the volunteer has the skills you need." Volunteers, she says, have many different kinds of skills useful to organisations and they don't necessarily want to take on the same role for the whole of their volunteering life. "Take public speaking," Esmond says. "A volunteer manager might not particularly enjoy public speaking. Why not actively recruit a volunteer who is an expert in that field - perhaps by attending the local chapter of Toastmasters or the National Speakers Association of Australia - and train that person to deliver the message of the volunteer agency?"

'Respond' is the fifth on Esmond's list of six Rs. She says it is important for organisations to respond to changing trends in society. "Many traditional organisations are experiencing a rapid decline in membership and volunteer numbers," she says. The good news is that the changes don't occur overnight and organisations aware of trends can respond so they don't lose volunteer numbers. "One increasingly obvious trend is that people are time poor," Esmond says. "This might mean that volunteer organisations need to adapt their programs so they can offer shorter bursts of volunteer activity, rather than asking for a lengthy commitment."

The sixth R is 'Recruit' - which should be the role of the entire organisation, not simply the volunteer manager. "Everyone in the organisation: volunteers, paid staff and board members can and should be active in the recruitment plan," Esmond says.

And there's no need for organisations to totally change their recruitment practices at once, Esmond says. "There can be a mini-plan, doing one thing at a time. For instance you might decide there's a recruitment message on everything that leaves your office - brochures, letters, business cards - and then go on to the next recruitment idea."