Hints and Tips for improved volunteer recruitment
As you already know, volunteers play a vital part in any not-for-profit organisation. A common challenge for the sector is how to recruit more volunteers. The following are some tips to help you develop effective volunteer recruitment communication for your organisation. We hope you find them useful.
Creating effective communications
The hidden message of your recruitment materials could discourage instead of encourage people to volunteer. The language and images used makes a real difference to who you recruit.
Before starting your recruitment drive
Before developing any recruitment materials it is important to be clear about who your organisation is and what you do, and what sort of volunteers you need.
Assuming that 'everyone knows what we do' is risky - even if your organisation is well known. Opinions and understanding amongst the wider public will undoubtedly vary. All volunteer organisations need to clearly start their aims and objectives as simply as possible. If you are an organisation that has been operating for some time, you may need to consider how opinions and understanding may have changed over the years.
Be specific about what your volunteer roles are. If you are specific about the role and what is required, you will get a more appropriate response. Be specific - if you want a 'volunteer receptionist' say so, don't just ask for a 'volunteer'. It is important that people are clear about what they are volunteering for.
Effective use of language
The language you use in your brochures, posters or advertisements can convey more than just what is written. The words you chose have a big impact on those reading them. If you use elaborate language it can exclude people with poor reading and writing skills and/or those for whom English is a second language.
Avoid jargon, whilst you and your organisation may understand all the abbreviations, acronyms and terminology used in your organisation, remember the majority of people outside do not.
Keep it simple, less is more! A few messages are much easier to remember than a multitude. That is not to say you need to dumb your message down, just keep it short and to the point.
Think about the amount of space you have available for your promotion, you need to ensure that readers are not overwhelmed by words. With posters, keep the headlines short and punchy - you want to draw the reader in, but you have just a few short moments to keep their attention. With brochures and other longer documents, use punchy, relevant headlines, subheads and images to highlight key information and break up the paragraph lengths.
Effective use of images
It is true that a picture can be worth a thousand words, and the wrong kind of picture can do more harm than good. In order to attract the most appropriate volunteers, you need to think about the sort of images you use in your communication. Who are you trying to attract? What sorts of images will they relate too? Do you have any anecdotal feedback or research to draw upon in order to best tailor your images to that audience? It may be important to use a mixture of images in order to be inclusive to all sectors (men, women, the young, the elderly..) alternatively you may wish to appeal to a select group and only represent them.You want the volunteers you are trying to recruit to see your images and relate to them - to feel that they 'fit' with your organisation.
For more information and links to other useful resources click here
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