How your role description can attract a volunteer.

A basic role description is comprised of several elements, expressed clearly:

 Role title
 Hours
 Tasks
 Location
 Skills needed
 Reimbursement of expenses
 Information about the organisation
 Who to report to

The role title should grab people’s attention immediately.  Try all the advertisers’ tricks of language: humour, alliteration, glamour and status.  Be positive and realistic.  Try these on for size: Website Wizard, Debt Buster, Personal Stylist, Money Stretcher, Facebook Fan, Digital Display Artist, Obstacle Course Overseer.

If you want a Co-ordinator, try advertising for a Branch Manager or a Regional Facilitator. A club volunteer could become a Social Assistant or a Hospitality Assistant.  An Administrative Assistant could become a P.A., or a Project Assistant or even an Administration Angel.

Flexible role possibilities will extend the appeal of your organisation.  You might like to consider offering flexibility of time, so that volunteers can choose their own hours. 

Other possibilities are shared roles where one or two people may complete the task, either by working together or working individually.  Short-term roles (episodic volunteering) are what many people are looking for.  If they enjoy their first ‘assignment’ they may well sign up for another.
Give details that will allow volunteers to relate to the organisation, and to feel that they can contribute something worthwhile. Many people will want to pay back help they have been given in the past.

Others will regard volunteering as a great way to meet new people. They will appreciate the social opportunities created by the organisation.

Offer flexibility and freedom to volunteers, and make volunteering a good experience.  Give the volunteers support and ensure that they benefit too.  There should be rewards and recognition built into the experience.  If you offer training, work experience and references these will help volunteers who are seeking paid employment.

Organisations must make it clear that they value volunteers and have processes in place to support them.

Saying ‘no’ to a Volunteer

One of the hardest things to say to a volunteer is “No, you can’t work for us.”  At the February 2008 meeting of the Volunteer Co-ordinators’ Network  in Christchurch Mary Woods facilitated a discussion on this subject.

There are three main occasions when we may need to say “no”.

*At selection time – provided we have good processes in place this will usually be the easiest occasion.
*When a volunteer has started behaving out of character due to illness or a life crisis, and where such behaviour is likely to be temporary.
*Where a volunteer is losing some of their ability and there is reason to believe this is not reversible.

Before we say “no” we need to be very clear about the reasons and these must be specific and valid.  Fundamentally the reason for saying “no” is because the volunteer can no longer fulfill their role adequately. This becomes obvious when the volunteer:
 Makes mistakes (perhaps for physical, medical, or emotional reasons)
 Is unreliable – doesn’t turn up at the agreed time
 Risks the safety of clients or self (perhaps because they forget)
 Presents badly, causing a negative experience for public or clients
 Acts outside guidelines/their authority
 Is rigidly resistant to change
 Has a different personal agenda to that of the organisation

Volunteers ask for role descriptions

In late 2005 I started a new job as archivist for an organisation which has its head office in Christchurch and branch office in Auckland. I found that the volunteers had no agreements or role descriptions.

Writing these became one of my top priorities, especially when the volunteers told me that they had no idea why they were doing the work they had been assigned, or what the end purpose was. The attitude had been that they were just there to “help”.

The Christchurch volunteers (most of them in their 80s) and I, met and discussed what they liked doing, what knowledge and skills they had, and what they thought needed doing.

From this meeting, with the help of Volunteering Canterbury, I put together volunteer agreements, and broke down the list of tasks we had come up with into a number of projects. With their agreement, these projects were matched to the volunteer with the requisite skills or knowledge.

Writing role descriptions also gave me a number of documented projects which I could then use to go on and recruit more volunteers. The important thing for me was that the projects had a beginning and an end, and their outcome was measurable, whether it was the number of archives put in boxes, or index cards written out.

In the meantime, I had met with the Auckland branch volunteers, and discussed with them what was happening in Christchurch. I was pleasantly surprised on my last trip up there, to have them ask me to provide role descriptions for them.

Underlying this request, was the fear that because of personnel changes, they would be asked to do work which they felt was not appropriate for them to do as volunteers. Written role descriptions will protect them against this.

Jo Smith

Volunteer Contracts

Does your organisation have written contracts for volunteers?

Contracts can be a useful part of your risk management system, and can take different forms.

Every position needs to have a written role description, and once this has been agreed to by both parties it forms a contract, even though such agreement may be only verbal.

A written contract is often seen to be more important, and may therefore be taken more seriously, than a verbal one.

If essential policies, e.g. privacy, health and safety, are explained to each new volunteer, and they sign to confirm that this has been done, this will help to cover the organisation should problems occur.

No contract, written or verbal, can replace thorough training and thoughtful supervision.

What are your thoughts about Volunteer contracts?     Ruth G

Hours to Suit

Increasingly we meet volunteers looking for positions where the work can be done in the evening or at weekends.  It’s worth considering carefully whether any of the opportunities you offer could be moved outside ‘business’ hours.

Perhaps some of your voluntary positions could be broken down into shorter terms.  We often hear that “it’s not worthwhile training Volunteers for short term work”, but maybe some of the longer term volunteers could be the trainers?  Or maybe there’s a task no-one’s got round to doing that could make an interesting short assignment.  We all need to think creatively in these changing times.  Ruth Gardner

Writing a Role Description that attracts the right Volunteer

• Have a catchy title that describes the position
• Keep It Simple – don’t overload the volunteer, and be honest
• Offer inducements, e.g. morning tea, friendly group, training in new skills
• Be clear about skills or experience required
• If you require references or proof of a clear criminal record, say so
        Ruth Gardner