ON Regional Economic Development

Asking people to volunteer is not an easy task, but by recruiting volunteers it can provide benefits such as: helping spread the work among members of the organization, keep the organization alive, bring in new ideas and get work done.

By following these five steps, recruiting volunteers does not have to be a problem!

Step One: Define the Job

• In order for your organization to find the right person all those involved in the recruitment process must have a clear understanding of what the job entails.

Step Two: Determine Job Qualifications

• After the job has been defined, setting the job qualifications can help you identify potential volunteers. Job qualifications clarify the expectations and requirements of the volunteer position and help the volunteer see what role they will have within the organization.
• Job descriptions commonly include information such as purpose, responsibilities, time-commitment, relationships and benefits.

Step Three: Develop a List of Potential Candidates

• Once you have an idea of what the job is and what type of person you need to do it, the next step is to list the potential candidates who are able to do the job.
• Great places to look for potential candidates include membership lists, schools, or other community organizations.

Step Four: Interview the Volunteer

• Interviewing the volunteer is your chance to meet the candidate face –to-face and ensure that the person is right for the job.
• Some tips to keep in mind are to interview as soon as possible, have all the necessary materials (job-description, by-laws, objectives and purpose of the role), and lastly ensure that up to three members of the recruitment committee are involved in the interview process.

Step Five: Appoint the Volunteer

• At the end of the interview to ensure both parties understand, summarize any decisions and actions that have been agreed upon. After the volunteer has agreed to take on the position, it may be necessary to have a formalized agreement and/or offer additional training.

For more information on how to successfully recruit volunteers, please visit our Recruiting Volunteers fact sheet, which can be accessed here.