Get out there

Recruiting is crucial to the volunteer organization. Any organization that thinks that it is so important that volunteers will flock to it, is doomed to eventual failure. There may be some incident or news story that may make it the "flavor of the week", but there will be new stories next week and the fickle public will move on and the steady stream of new volunteers will move on too.

To avoid this, a well-thought out, well-executed recruiting plan should be developed. It should be an on-going process in the life of the organization. In fact, a recruiter, should be one of the job descriptions that was developed and filled.

Some things to consider when doing a recruiting drive:

1) Those involved in the recruiting drive should always be professional in appearance and demeanor. Regardless of the organization and/or the location of the drive, if people are poorly dressed, fooling around, foul-mouthed, etc not only will potential recruits be turned off, the organization runs the risk of damaging its reputation with the general public.

2) Recruiting materials should be professional quality. Hand drawn signs with miles of invisible tape pasted on a rickety table also make an impression. Take the time, in this day of personal computers with color printers, to make decent posters and flyers to use to make your case. Remember, you are trying to "sell" someone on joining your group. You have about 15 seconds to make enough of a positive impression that they will stop and talk with you.

3) Location of a recruiting drive is important. You need a high-traffic area, but you don't want to impede the flow of traffic. You need to be visible without being obnoxious. You also want to be aware of the type of people you are recruiting for. To put an animal rights recruiting station in front of the local fur salon is merely asking for trouble, not recruits. That same station, however, may work in front of the local pet store as long as you have a buy-in from the owner and you are careful not to imply that you are implying poor treatment by the store owner.

4) Most importantly, it must be active. Hanging a banner from the side of a building does not qualify as a recruiting drive. It may get one or two highly motivated people, but it will not fill your ranks. You need to be out and available to answer questions and talk one-on-one with potential recruits. You need to be able to show people your job needs (using your job descriptions) and the commitment they are undertaking. This way, you'll also be able to broaden your recruiting to include some of the people who wouldn't immediately think of your organization as being for them (ie financial people, fund-raisers, and even recruiters).

Just as companies are always hiring, volunteer organizations should always be recruiting. It should be an on-going plan, not a desperation move of a failing organization.

But I can't do that....

One of the most common mistakes made by volunteer recruiters is limiting the scope of their recruiting. They focus their efforts on people who are interested, certified, or talented in the actual work of the organization and ignore the hundreds of other potential recruits that would make their organization stronger and more efficient. A theater group, for example, works very hard to recruits actors, singers, and occasionally stagehands. They don't consider seamstresses, financiers, publicists, and basic runners. All of these people would be able to provide basic services to the organization that would be invaluable.

The advantages to recruiting a person who can't sing or dance, but is a financial wizard are multi-fold. First of all, that is their passion and they are probably much better at it than someone who just because they know how to balance their checkbook. In addition, they replace someone who is able to sing and dance. The financial wizard gets to become a part of an organization that they are interested in, maybe because a spouse is involved, and they can contribute in a way that most benefits that organization. By taking the place of an actor/singer, they reduce burnout because the actor/singer is likely to become less interested quicker if they were required to work on the finances which are of no interest to them. By broadening the scope, the organization now retains two new members that are passionate about their jobs and they are better off for it.