Recruitment

Need volunteers?
Clubs often have detailed development and financial plans, however few have plans for their most valuable asset - their human resource.  Volunteering is all too often left to chance.  Nobody takes responsibility for volunteers or for putting volunteering on the management agenda.  As a result many clubs do not have sufficient volunteers, and the turnover of volunteers is high, or they cannot find people with the skills needed for voluntary roles.  Volunteers can become over burdened, out of their depth or disenchanted with their involvement.

It is important that as a club you spend time planning, to be able to set yourselves short, medium and long term goals.  Think about the needs of your club, for example, what are you lacking, how can you improve, what do you already do well and why?

There are four key steps to successfully recruiting volunteers.

• Outline the volunteer roles that are needed
• Provide clear role descriptions that profile what is involved
• Identify opportunities for recruiting volunteers
• Use effective recruitment methods for attracting volunteers

Outline the volunteer roles that are needed
It is very important to take a step back and ask the question “what needs to be done?” rather than “what can volunteers do around here?”  It may be useful to carry out a Strengths Weaknesses Opportunities and Threats analysis (S.W.O.T) on your club.  This will enable you to:

• Identify where you currently are and what you are doing well
• Identify what areas you may be weak in and why
• Identify areas of opportunity for improvements and development of new ideas
• Identify possible threats, currently or in the future, to your club and your volunteers

You should also consider the questions below to help you identify what you need from your volunteers.

• What jobs need to be done?
• What positions are available?
• What is involved in such jobs or positions?
• How much time would someone need to commit? Does it have to be done on a daily, weekly, monthly or ad hoc basis? Could it be made into a rota system?
• What sort of person would be best suitable, would it suit someone wanting to meet people, expand their skills, someone looking for a challenge?
• What skills would be helpful or necessary?
• What could they expect to get in return? Expenses, training, rewards, friendship?

Provide clear role descriptions that profile what is involved
The recruitment and retention of volunteers can be greatly effected by a lack of knowledge of what is expected of them and not having a clear idea of what work needs to be done.
 
If someone has already been involved in the position speak to him or her to get honest feedback as to what is ‘really’ involved.

A volunteer role description is a useful tool that gives clear guidelines to the volunteer about the part they play in the running of the club.  You can use the ASA Swim 21 Club Management website to access example role descriptions.

Make a list of the skills and experiences which are required for the role.  Are particular skills more important than experience?  Can you assist the volunteer to achieve the necessary skills? 

Try to steer away from a long list of tasks required for the position.  Use the role description as guidance for volunteers; try to make the role sound fun and not too daunting.

Identify opportunities for recruiting volunteers
Once the role and best person have been defined, think of where would be the best place to find the right person for the job.
 
For example, if you need someone to update the website, think about what people would be most likely to be interested and where would be the best place to reach them.
 
A young person who has IT skills?
A poster at an IT college?
 
Ask the parents, grandparents, brothers, sisters and friends of those already involved with the club, as a competitor or volunteer.  Parents often share a coffee while they wait for their children.  Have a chat to them about the prospects of becoming involved as a volunteer.  Or try to get them involved from day one when their child/children are registered.

Adapt your club membership form to ask any new members about any time they may have available or any skills they may have to offer.  The fact you are asking for this information might just prompt somebody to offer his or her help.

Use effective recruitment methods for attracting volunteers
There are many ways of attracting volunteers. 
 
Mass recruitment – This may also be referred to as taking anyone with a pulse! This is fine if you want someone who is relatively unskilled or if you want several people.
 
One to One Network – This is word of mouth, but in a proactive way. It involves thinking of volunteers and contacts you already have and also who they may know.
 
Group Network – this involves using groups who know each other to recruit other volunteers.
 
Partnerships – This is all about linking up with other agencies that can help you to recruit. The most common form of this is your local volunteer centre but local schools and colleges, local authorities and county sport partnerships can all help.
 
Targeted – This is the best method when you want to recruit a person with certain skills and abilities for a specific job
 
Here are some examples of how you can put these methods into practice. It is not an exhaustive list – you may have some unique, wacky and effective methods of your own!  Try and make sure you always provide as much information about the work involved as possible. 

• Press releases – combine a volunteer ask with a news release, or do it as an article in its own right!
• Advertise – There are lots of opportunities to advertise, in an event programme, your local press, at the swimming pool reception. An advert needs to be specific to the role you want to recruit for and should include contact details, location of the opportunity and a brief description of what is involved, both work and benefits-to-the-volunteer.
• Contact your local volunteer centre/development agency – By registering with your local bureau, they will post it on to do-it.org.uk on your behalf. To find your nearest bureau log on to do-it.org.uk and type in your postcode into the agency finder.
• Existing volunteers - Ask current volunteers to identify people who might be interested in taking over from them if they are leaving.  Or to simply promote the benefits from a their perspective.
• Place posters in appropriate places such as schools, shops, offices.  Make sure you include a point of contact so its easy for people to make enquiries
• Ask family and other supporters who come to watch training and events - provide an enquiry form for potential volunteers to complete and return.  Click here for an example. 
• Hold an open day or use a festival to promote your need for volunteers.  Challenge existing traditions to make possible roles flexible.  What about job share? Just because a role has always been done by the same person it doesn’t mean a job share in the future wouldn’t be successful. 
• Use a social event, such as a dinner, to raise the profile of volunteers you need to recruit.  Make sure you provide information about different roles that are required, because a person is not interested in one role it does not mean that might not be interested in another.
• Contact your local school and colleges– citizenship classes now involve a volunteering element. Students may also be able to use volunteering and the work it entails on their CV’s or even as part of their course work. For instance, a person studying Project Management may be interested in running a festival for you or someone completing their Duke of Edinburgh can volunteer as part of their award. 

Planning your message before you recruit is vital to its success. It is important to look at it from the viewpoint of your potential volunteer, focussing on what their needs are as well as your own.  Try to address any fears they may have to becoming a volunteers such as whether they needs certain skills or a knowledge of the sport, whether they should be a certain age.  Selling the benefits, such as meeting new friends, learning new skills, adding a valued contribution is also an important message that will help attract people into volunteering.