Recruiting volunteers
Recruitment and Retention Overview
People are at the heart of this section, because recruitment is all about people. The values that motivate people to volunteer in sport and recreation are things like generosity, love of sport, social connections and appreciation.
When you’re recruiting volunteers for your club, it’s crucial to make people feel welcome and to find out about the things that motivate them. If your club is going to be successful in keeping volunteers, you need to maintain and build a good connection with them.
It’s important to identify the different types of jobs you have available and match your volunteers to these roles. This will make for happy volunteers, which can only be good for your club.
The basic process for recruiting and retaining volunteers looks like this:
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- Find your club a volunteer co-ordinator.
This should be someone familiar with your club and its systems and requirements. Their task is to ensure your club is volunteer-friendly. They can do this by developing a volunteer management plan, which will make sure that your club (as well as the volunteers themselves) can make the most out of each volunteering relationship. For more information on managing volunteers, see the Managing Volunteers section of ClubKit.
- Ask people to volunteer.
It might sound too simple, but studies have shown that simply asking people to volunteer is a very effective way of recruiting people. People love to be asked for help and are flattered when you do so. You can also try recruiting volunteers through events, advertising or community noticeboards.
- Follow up on expressions of interest immediately.
The sooner you make contact, the more likely it is that they will continue through the process of becoming a volunteer.
- Screen your candidates.
By screening your potential volunteers with interviews and police checks, you make sure they are a good fit and that they are able to make a valuable contribution to your club.
- Welcome your volunteers and provide orientation and training.
Have the volunteer co-ordinator (or someone else as appropriate) welcome the volunteer to the club and provide an orientation so that they feel like they belong as quickly as possible. Provide job-specific training as appropriate.
- Find out what your club can do for the volunteer.
Most volunteers are looking to get something from their experiences with your club. It may be things like friendship, recognition, skills improvement, training, or other motivating reasons. Where possible, try to accommodate these reasons for volunteering. If the volunteer feels like they are getting something back from their experience, they are more likely to stay with your club and offer their services again in future.
- Provide support.
Providing ongoing supervision and support through mentoring or regular debriefs (formal or informal) will give the volunteer feedback so that they know they are doing a good job.
- Respond to issues and improve performance.
Ensure that volunteers know where to get any assistance they feel they may need. Be clear about lines of accountability and management responsibility.
Planning to recruit volunteers
Is your club volunteer friendly? Before recruiting volunteers, it’s important to make sure you make a plan for volunteer requirements. Planning will help you get the right people and keep them.
Getting a volunteer co-ordinator for your club is a good place to start. Find someone friendly, with good communication skills. The volunteer co-ordinator(s) usually manages the recruitment of volunteers. See this example for how to create a volunteer management plan.
When planning, ask these questions:
- Why do we need volunteers?
- What exactly will they be doing?
- How many volunteers will we need?
- When will they start and how long will we need them for?
- What can we offer volunteers? (e.g. training, use of facilities, etc)
- What training and support will we need to provide initially or in the future?
Planning also involves some basic administration set-up. Administration, if it’s kept simple, will help your club communicate clearly with your volunteers and manage them effectively. Well-managed volunteers will feel more at ease when they help out around your club.
Items to include in the administrative planning for volunteers include:
- A written position description or job description.
A job description is important as it helps the volunteer understand what their role entails. It can be fairly simple - if you need ideas on what to include in a job description, download the sample General Volunteer Job Description (Word, 31 KB), For a general volunteer job description template, job descriptions for club positions such as President/Chairperson, Secretary, Treasurer, Team Manager, Marketing and Promotions Officer, Health and Safety Officer, Volunteer Co-ordinator visit the Resources section of Club Kit.
- An application form.
An application form is a good way of collecting relevant information (such as contact details, emergency contacts and relevant experience) from your volunteers. Download the sample Application Form (Word, 36 KB).
- Standardise your interview questions.
If your club intends to interview potential volunteers, having a standard set of interview questions will ensure consistency, even when different people are conducting the interviews. Download the guide on Interview Questions (Word, 30 KB).
- Establish a volunteer’s code of conduct.
A code of conduct for volunteers is helpful in setting down some basics about what is expected of volunteers. Download the Volunteers Code of Conduct (Word, 43 KB).
- Create a welcome pack.
A letter of welcome and a welcome pack including items like the Code of Conduct, contact lists, job description and information about your club is a great way to make your new volunteers feel like they are welcome and part of the team. Where appropriate, you can use different languages (e.g. Maori) to make your volunteer feel even more comfortable.
Once you have completed the pre-recruitment planning, you can now get on with recruiting your volunteers.
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Recruiting volunteers
Not all volunteers are the same. Research has shown that there are a number of different ways to find and recruit volunteers and your club may need to use all these different methods at different times to get the best mix of volunteers for your needs. Find out about what research tells us about Finding and Keeping Volunteers (PDF, 306 KB).
- Look internally – use your club members.
Often the best place to start is by asking the people already involved in the club. Adopt an attitude of continually promoting the benefits of volunteering to all those in regular contact with your activities. Satisfied clients/members/spectators often make the best volunteers.
- Ask people face-to-face.
Asking people for help face-to-face is still the most successful method for recruiting volunteers. An individual approach at a social gathering is effective, as people are often flattered to be asked to help out. By asking someone to volunteer, you are communicating the belief that that person has something of value to offer.
- Advertise.
Advertising for volunteers is also very successful and allows your club to reach a wider audience. Possible places to advertise are on community boards, community radio or in local papers. If you intend to recruit volunteers through advertising, it is important to be appealing. Publicise any rewards and benefits that come from being an organiser, treasurer, coach or referee or whatever the role is.
- Spread the word.
Word of mouth is a simple technique for attracting volunteers, and it will work in your club. Tell your members the types of people you are looking for and ask them to ask their friends and family. This way, you’ll get through to a wide range of people in your local community.
Things to remember when recruiting volunteers:
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- Always follow-up.
Once you have a potential volunteer’s attention, a quick follow-up and response is important. Research shows that you have a narrow window of opportunity to convert your interested recruits into volunteers. Download a report on what research tells us about finding and keeping volunteers (PDF, 305 KB)
- Don’t limit your options – use volunteers of all ages.
There are benefits to be had from recruiting volunteers from all stages of life. Younger people learn a lot and older people often have extensive life experience to call on.
Screening volunteers: self-vetting, police checks and interviews
Screening means making sure you have the right people for the job. This section deals with how you can screen your potential volunteers and ensure that the people who volunteer with your club are the best possible fit.
Why screen?
Your club has a responsibility to meet a duty of care to its members, particularly young and/or vulnerable people. This means making every possible effort to ensure the safety of the club and its community.
Screening begins before a volunteer has even made contact with you. The way your club advertises or attracts volunteers and the types of people you target with your advertising, are all ways of screening volunteers.
Depending on what sort of responsibilities a volunteer will undertake, self-vetting, police checks and interviews are all common ways to screen potential volunteers.
The types of screening you use should fit with the volunteer’s role. If someone is not going to be in a position where they can abuse responsibility, it may not be necessary to screen them. For example, someone volunteering to fix a fence during the off-season probably won’t need a police check.
Screening doesn’t guarantee unsuitable volunteers will be screened out. It is equally vital to make sure other aspects of recruitment, training and supervision of volunteers are effective.
Self-vetting means volunteers may screen themselves out
Screening is a two-way process. There are ways for potential volunteers to screen themselves out if they think they are not right for the job, or the job is not right for them.
For example, if people are made aware that a police check is part of the process before they begin (in advertising or on the application form), and they know that they have a criminal record, they can choose not to apply. This is self-vetting.
By being specific with your advertising of volunteer positions, you enable people to screen themselves out without embarrassment on their part, or unnecessary extra work for you. For example, someone wants to volunteer with your pony club because they are hoping that this volunteering position will give them plenty of opportunities to learn to ride. But when your club advertises for a volunteer position of riding instructor, the potential volunteer decides not to apply because they know they don’t have the right skills.
Police checks
Check with your National Sports Organisation to see if they have a policy regarding police checks. If you decide that police checking is something you need to do, then the following information might be useful.
Reference Checks
If your recruitment process includes checking an applicant’s referees, you can download a sample reference checking form (Word, 30 KB) to help you conduct reference checks. The application form your club uses, is a good place to collect the contact information needed for a reference check. Download the Volunteer Application Form (Word, 36 KB)
Interviewing
Interviewing can be very informal (a chat) or more structured and formal. It‘s a great way to discuss issues relevant to a role and look at different people for the job. Interviewing may therefore be an important part of getting volunteers for your club.
When people enquire about volunteering for your club they may expect to be interviewed in an efficient and polite manner.
Be prepared:
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- Think about the purpose of the interview. Are you interviewing for a specific role?
- Have your list of questions ready. Make your questions open-ended, because this encourages discussion between you and the volunteer. Using open-ended questions means you want to avoid asking questions that can be answered “yes” or “no”. Rather than “do you like…”, try, “tell me about…”. If your person is shy or a bit unsure how to answer your question, you can offer example answers.
- If you have been given a volunteer’s application form in advance of the interview, take a look at it. Think about what things you can ask this person to find out more about them and the potential that they may bring to your club.
- It may be a good idea to bring a list of available positions to show your potential volunteer the types of roles they could take in your club. They may not know that you have several different positions available.
- Another useful tool for conducting a good interview is an interview guide – a list of standard questions and some of the do’s and don’ts. See some example questions and general advice on interviewing volunteers (Word, 30 KB). Once you have made a decision about a volunteer, let them know immediately. Don’t keep them waiting as this could put them off wanting to be involved in the future.
Welcome, orientation and training
Once you have recruited your volunteers, it’s important to make sure they are made welcome, are brought up to speed on your club and their new role, and are provided with ongoing training and support to ensure they can contribute as much as possible through their volunteering.
Welcome
Everyone likes a friendly welcome. A welcome in a volunteer’s own language is a great way to grab the attention of New Zealand’s many different ethnic communities.
Orientation
Research has shown that volunteers like more structure. They need to know how things work and what their role is so they can help out properly. You can do this through an orientation programme.
An orientation programme explains how things work at the club and what their particular role will be. You can include this information in a Welcome Pack. Download a sample Volunteer Welcome Pack, (Word, 29 KB). By using the word “Welcome” warmly, and providing your new volunteers with the useful information contained in your Welcome Pack, you can really help make people feel comfortable volunteering at your club.
Training
- Consider what types of training your volunteers need.
- Note existing links for training.
Supervision and support of volunteers
There are two main reasons for ongoing supervising of volunteers and providing support.
- Supporting volunteers helps ensure they can do their job properly, enjoy themselves, and will want to continue doing it.
- Supervision also allows the club to be sure that volunteers are keeping within the rules and fulfilling the obligations of their role.
Some of the ways to support a volunteer are:
- Regularly planned and supervised individual supervision.
- Casual supervision – a chat.
- Group supervision – formal or informal.
Follow on from the initial welcome and training with more contact, and the option for more structure, which is something that many volunteers want. Volunteers also want a balance between structure and other types of support.
Some of things people get out of volunteering are social connection, appreciation and the enjoyment of being generous. For this reason, ongoing support may just mean keeping in touch, making sure the volunteers are feeling connected (part of the club), appreciated and properly trained to enjoy their work.
Some tips to help your club with providing ongoing support to volunteers include:
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- Have a designated volunteer co-ordinator. See more inforamtion on managing volunteers.
- Be available to volunteers.
- Building relationships with the volunteers – have a volunteers’ BBQ.
- Involve volunteers in planning work if they choose.
- Allow for flexibility of roles – changes in position, role-sharing.
- Attend to conflict quickly.
- Look for a diversity of volunteers.
- If they have been doing the job for a while, show trust in their abilities.
- Tailor the way you manage volunteers to the type of volunteer you are working with. While some volunteers want to be involved in the running of the club policies and processes, others may simply want to contribute some time and want very little responsibility. It is important to make sure that the expectations of the role they are filling, match the kind of involvement they want.
Recognition & saying thank you
People volunteering want to feel appreciated and have their efforts recognised. They also like to be thanked and are more likely to keep up the good work if their work is acknowledged.
Rewarding people can be done in a couple of different ways.
Direct rewards
One style is the “Thank you” and “goodies” type rewards. Examples of these types include: prizes, access to sports gear, Christmas cards, vouchers, a trophy, or a function/party. These are more explicit types of rewards.
An example of a direct reward is a volunteer recognition award, such as the Watties volunteer coach of the year. For more information, see the Wattie’s Volunteer Coach of the Year Awards webpage.
Indirect rewards
The other types of reward are less obvious and are known as implicit rewards. These rewards can be built into the volunteer roles though support and training, valuing their experience and consulting with volunteers. Support and training is a great way of saying – “you are on the radar and your work counts”.
How ever your club chooses to reward volunteers, it sometimes helps to ask volunteers about what they are most comfortable with.
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Responding to issues and performance enhancement
It’s not enough to simply recruit a volunteer and welcome them, then leave them to their own devices for the duration of their role. As part of your ongoing support of your club’s volunteers, you should address any issues that arise and provide encouragement and support to enable your volunteers to be able to do their job better.
Responding to issues
If problems arise, deal with them as soon as possible, so they stay small problems and don’t turn into larger problems.
- It’s usually best to get someone who is not directly involved to help solve a problem.
- An open and supportive approach is important. Begin by getting everyone to agree to solve the problem.
- Bring the key people involved ‘to the table’ in a time, place and space that is the most comfortable for all.
- Agree on a plan going forward, in which everyone agrees to maintain the basics of co-operation and politeness, whilst trying to solve the issues.
Tips on improving volunteer performance
To help them get better at what they are doing, your club needs to talk with its volunteers. This is likely to involve discussing how well they are doing in their role.
Some key things to remember when you are working with volunteers are:
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- Volunteers are not paid employees – they are in it for passion and fun and they give their time up for free.
- Improving performance is a two-way street – it maybe about improving the way the club supports and manages its volunteers.
- If you are giving feedback on an individual’s performance, you should include both positive appraisal and constructive critique – it should never be just criticism alone.
- Giving feedback to volunteers can happen in formal or informal sessions – a chat or a meeting with more structure involved.
Contact your local Volunteer Centre
Volunteer Centres exist to facilitate volunteering effort. They generally operate in a similar way to recruitment agencies, that is they try to match those wishing to volunteer their time with local not-for-profit organisations that have vacancies for volunteer assistance. There are 11 centres operating in New Zealand some of which operate region-wide.
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