Recruit By Invitation Not Desperation

CVC 's June program addressed recruitment and retention of volunteers. Guest speakers were Zeeda Magnuson and Kristi Gray Shepherd representing the Volunteer Resource Center.

Gray Shepherd started the workshop by saying, "Not everyone will volunteer, so don't ask people who will say no." There is an old saying that 20% of the people will do 80% of the work. It is recommended to do some detective work to weed out the other 80% of folks who probably won't volunteer.

To summarize: the ask should be specific and timely with meaning from someone they trust. If you need to recruit 50 volunteers, a better approach than a mass email may be to ask ten people to ask five more people.

What motivates people to volunteer? Magnuson asked. She went on to examine three styles based on research by D. McClellend and J. Atkinson who examined work behaviors.

Need for:

• Achievement. Achievers are business like, strive for excellence, personal best, calculated risk takers, restless, will do what they say, task oriented, work well by themselves, love challenges, like to problem solve
• Affiliation. Affiliates enjoy mutual friendship, wants to be liked and accepted, strive for warm friendly relationships, interaction on a personal level, most happy in situations where there is strong social connection
• Influence.  Influencers are comfortable in leadership role, decision-makers, view themselves as capable, independent workers, have the need to impact and influence others, they like to give advice, verbally fluent, outspoken, confident, charismatic, creates confidence in others

How to Recruit, Recognize and Communicate With These Styles?

Achievers:  
Recruit through personal ask emphasizing the person is being asked because of the skills they will bring. The ask should contain the intended outcomes.

Reward achievers by telling others what he/she accomplished. For example, attach the volunteers' names to the story with the results in the employee newsletter. There is no need for big, splashy recognition -no plaque or banquet is required. You can also reward an achiever by giving them a bigger role next time.

Communication with achievers should be clear and concise listing the specific expectations, but not the specific steps to accomplish the task. A clear, concise email describing the intended outcomes is one effective communication tool to recruit someone with this style.

Affiliates:  
Recruit through personal ask.

Affiliates are rewarded by the social interaction they receive through the volunteer experience and like to celebrate as a group. People who attend recognition banquets are often affiliates.

Communication with affiliates should be face to face. Their second choice would be hand written notes or a personal phone call.

Influencers:
Recruit by giving them challenges and the parameters so they know how far they can go with challenge.

Recognition should be in the public eye because this gives the person another opportunity to influence.

Face to face communication is the preferred form of communication with influencers because it gives them another opportunity to influence.

Use affiliates to recruit other affiliates. Use influencers to recruit achievers and ask achievers to become influencers.

Gray Shepherd also discussed essential elements in a volunteer program structure. These are:

• Community Needs Assessment
• Program Vision and Issues Focus
• Agency Partner Identification and Partnership Development
• Project Development
• Recruitment and Placement
• Orientation and Training
• Recognition
• Evaluation

A key statement by Gray Shepherd was if the partner agency does not provide specific or adequate job descriptions, training or orientation, etc. then the business volunteer manager needs to reassess the partnership with the agency or plug the holes on their own.

Always respect the volunteer's time and skills, and you will be rewarded with happy, content volunteers who will more than likely want to volunteer again.

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