Establishing a Strong Volunteer Screening Process
Screening is a vital tool in the volunteer recruitment process to ensure that the volunteer is a "good fit" for the position. This entails not only if the volunteer is willing, able and interested in doing the tasks which are part of the position, but generally fitting into your organization's culture and expectations.
Self-Screening
Self-screening is when the volunteer makes a decision about whether or not they are a fit for a position - based on the available information. The more accurate and in-depth the available information you provide up-front, the easier and more effective self-screening will be.
The first step in this is clarifying themes such as organizational culture, mission statement and purpose. This will ensure the volunteer self-screens to see how they fit your culture. The second step is writing a detailed "job description," which will break down the actual tasks, duties and responsibilities involved in a role. This will help the volunteer have accurate and clearer expectations from the beginning - which again is a way to self-screen. There's nothing worse than having an eager volunteer who then finds out a role they have agreed to entails tasks or responsibilities they don't want. This leads to unsatisfied volunteers, which in most cases will result in them changing roles or leaving your organization altogether.
Organizational Screening
Screening involves the organization taking the time in order to assess various components between the volunteer and organization. This starts by assessing risks to both the volunteer and organization. In many cases, a background check, criminal record check and/or personal reference check is a critical step which should not be skipped. Some kind of background or criminal record check is absolutely essential for any roles which deal with youth or vulnerable populations.
What to Include in Your Screening Process
To protect your organization and it's volunteers, you must develop a strong screening process. Some points to consider are below.
- Conduct a background check
- Contact references
- Receive copies or verifications of any license, certifications or relevant education
- Conduct a criminal record check where applicable
- Ensure you're provided with the correct and appropriate information from your volunteers
- Assess levels of risk and liability, including for:
- Vulnerable people, including children, seniors and newcomers to Canada
- Supplies, cash or other resources which could suffer from theft
While these aren't everything that you can include in a screening process, they are parts that should be present in most cases.
Ensuring Effectiveness
Where you include the steps of a screening process can help make them more effective:
- Example 1: include the need for a criminal record check or a specific licence verification in the original volunteer posting and any initial communication to the volunteer. This will help set expectations, and encourage self-screening for volunteers who do not qualify.
- Example 2: if there are any risks associated with a volunteer role (ex: park cleanup could involve encountering broken glass, needles, etc), this should also be listed up front so any potential volunteers are aware of risks and be more prepared to avoid them.
Another important component is developing a set of questions specific to the position you are looking to fill. This is self-explanatory, but sometimes details related to specific positions are missed in favour of more generalized questions. If there's anything critically important or specific in the volunteer role you are filling, make sure you include questions relevant to that need.
Asking the right questions when interviewing a volunteer will help you gather information:
- Assess the person's motivations and personality for fit
- Understand their task preferences
- Learn their communication style, ex: do they prefer emails or phone calls? Do they prefer simple, step by step instructions, or are they more interested in roles where they can take on some problem solving on their own?
- Any skills they have relevant to the role (or even other roles)
- This is also an opportunity to see them demonstrate some of their skills.
Feedback & Review
Getting feedback on your process is useful to ensure efficacy and efficiency. Asking for feedback from your clients, volunteers and colleagues can help offer alternative ideas or solutions to optimize processes. No process will be effective indefinitely either, so periodically asking for feedback and reviewing how you are recruiting and screening volunteers leaves you room to adapt as needed.
