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 The volunteer’s journey: An online step-by-step guide to locating and recruiting volunteers
The volunteer's journey This subject guide, consisting of this downloadable PDF guide and the online resources below, allows you to step into a volunteer's shoes and walk through the 7 stages of the recruitment process, looking at it from their perspective and working out how your organisation needs to respond to secure their involvement.
Online resources
Organisations can use the online information below to strengthen their recruitment. The resources are organised into 7 sections, matching the 7 stages of the volunteer's journey:
1: 'I want to volunteer' - Models, issues and tips for organisations setting up volunteer programs and designing volunteer roles
2: 'Where can I find out about volunteering?' - Ideas to help organisations understand and reach their potential recruits
3: 'So much information. How will I choose?' - Tips and ideas for organisations on how to send the right messages and help volunteers self-select
4: 'I know what I want. How do I apply?' - Tips and ideas for organisations in fielding and processing applications from volunteers
5: 'They want me to go for a chat' - Ways for organisations to strengthen their interviewing process
6: 'Did I get the job?' - Information to help with the selection and screening process, and with communicating with applicants
7: 'When do I start and what happens on my first day?' - Information on how to design and run strong orientation and induction programs.
You can scroll down to view all resources in The volunteer’s journey or you can go directly to the section which interests you.
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Help keep this guide current
These resources will be updated annually, so if you know of a resource that you think would be of interest and value to others please email us your suggestion or call us on 1800 008 252. Please report any broken links. |
1: 'I want to volunteer': Setting up volunteer programs and designing volunteer roles
National Standards for involving volunteers in not-for-profit organisations, 2nd edition, 2001, pp. 27-32
Standard 3: ‘An organisation that involves volunteers shall plan and have clearly documented volunteer recruitment, selection and orientation policies and procedures that are consistent with non-discriminatory practices and guidelines’ (p. 29)
Volunteering Australia recommends that not-for-profit organisations base their recruitment strategies for volunteers on this Standard. It is intended to ensure that recruiting volunteers
• is a non-discriminatory process,
• is controlled by established procedures, and
• meets the needs of both organisations and volunteers.
Copyright owner/publisher: Volunteering Australia
Facilitated discussions: a volunteer management workbook
This workbook explores how to collect stakeholder views to inform the development, design, delivery or review of volunteer programs. Copyright owner/publisher: Volunteer Canada
Volunteers contributing to a palliative approach in aged care: a model for ‘helping out’
This step-by-step process for involving volunteers offers a model that you might consider when designing your volunteer program. Pages 18-27 discuss the model and present the 12 guiding principles. The main audience isorganisations providing palliative care but the principles are generic in nature and were based on the National Standards for Involving Volunteers in Not for Profit Organisations.
Copyright owner/publisher: Commonwealth of Australia 2004, prepared by Edith Cowan University
Volunteering: what’s it all about?
This toolkit has been created to help you develop an inspiring information session on volunteering.
The toolkit includes a PowerPoint presentation, presenter's notes for each slide, templates and information to help you in creating a great talk to potential volunteers. The presentation can be used for people who have never volunteered or have not volunteered for a long time, and the resources are generic in nature so you can tailor them to suit your circumstances and your organisation.
Copyright owner/publisher: Volunteering Australia
Is it volunteering?
Volunteer roles are developed on the principle that they add value to an organisation in a way that paid roles do not. There are no hard and fast rules in developing a volunteer position. This page will help you define and identify volunteer roles.
Copyright owner/publisher: Volunteering Australia
Designing volunteer roles and writing position descriptions
This toolkit contains everything managers of volunteers and not-for-profit organisations need to know about designing volunteer roles and writing position descriptions.
Copyright owner/publisher: Volunteering Australia
Creating Volunteer Roles - overview
This webpage is full of practical ideas for involving volunteers, such as designing roles that suit different motivations and the amount of time/commitment people are able to provide.
Copyright owner/publisher: Volunteering England
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2: 'Where can I find out about volunteering?': Helping organisations understand and reach potential recruits
GoVolunteer
GoVolunteer is the first search engine of its type developed in Australia. It is easy to use for both volunteers and people wishing to involve volunteers in their not-for-profit organisations.
Copyright owner/publisher: Volunteering Australia
Find your nearest volunteer centre
A list of contact details including website links to state volunteer centres and volunteer resource centres in Australia.
Copyright owner/publisher: Volunteering Australia
Australian Neighbourhood Houses and Learning Centres
Neighbourhood centres offer a range of learning experiences and are often able to tell people of other learning opportunities in the area. This site has a links page to other learning providers in Victoria.
Copyright owner/publisher: ANHLC
Local Community Services Association NSW
LCSA is the peak body for 300 neighbourhood and community centres. Go to the links page to view a list of many other services in New South Wales, including neighbourhood centres and educational centres.
Copyright owner/publisher: Local Community Services Association
Community and Neighbourhood Houses and Centres Association Inc
CANH provides support and and advocacy for community centres and neighbourhood houses in South Australia. This website provides links to neighbourhood centres in 5 regions, 18 country regions and 63 metropolitan locations.
Copyright owner/publisher: CANH
Learning Centre Link
Learning Centre Link is the state association for community, neighbourhood and learning centres in Western Australia. It provides links to Adult Learning Australia, Department for Community Development WA and the Western Australian Department of Education and Training.
Copyright owner/publisher: Learning Centre Link
Tasmanian Association of Community Houses
Tasmanian Association of Community Houses (TACH) is the peak body for 33 community houses and neighbourhood centres around the state. Links to all TACH member houses are provided.
Copyright owner/publisher: Tasmanian Association of Community Houses
Creative Volunteering: No Limits
These workshops, an initiative of Regional Arts Australia, have been designed especially for community organisations run primarily by volunteers. Although the workshop content is geared towards cultural organisations, Volunteers working in all community-based organisations in regional Australia have been welcome to enrol. 'Network Within Communities', one of the eight workshops which make up this course, concentrates on how to establish and maintain successful networks within and across communities. This workshop covers an explanation of networks, networking tools, communication techniques and group dynamics. It presents key concepts and practical exercises to suit your organisation. Networks don’t just happen, they need to be developed. Making sure they remain vibrant groups where you can share ideas, learning and support takes effort and requires appropriate guidance, which this workshop can start to provide.
Copright owner/publisher: Regional Arts Australia, 2004
Voluntary Work Survey Australia 2006, catalogue number 4441.0
The Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) has now carried out three national surveys on volunteer activity in Australia. This link leads to a summary of the findings, the downloadable publication (and ordering details if you want a hard copy version), as well as explanatory notes and links to other relevant ABS publications. You will find information on geographical, gender and age comparisons, identification of areas of volunteer involvement, and number of hours.
Copyright owner/publisher: Australian Bureau of Statistics 2007, Canberra
Snapshot 2004: volunteering report card
Market research supports the trend toward increased volunteering as indicated by the ABS surveys. This report compares volunteering trends both nationally and internationally. It examines the progress made on the six objectives identified and listed in the National Agenda on Volunteering: Beyond the International Year of Volunteers.
Copyright owner/publisher: Volunteering Australia 2004
Involving young people in volunteering
This is an easy-to-use information sheet listing what young people can offer to not-for-profit organisations and why they say they want to get involved as volunteers.
Copyright owner/publisher: Volunteering Australia, 2003
Boomnet - capturing the baby boomer volunteers: a 2001 research project on baby boomers and volunteers
This research looked at volunteers in Western Australia and considered the motivations as well as the barriers for baby boomers when they volunteer. This was one of the first Australian projects to consider the potential impact of the baby boomer generation on volunteering.
Copyright owner/publisher: Department of the Premier and Cabinet, Western Australia 2001
Create links with the community
This learner guide is about mapping your community, identifying what makes up a local community, networks and leaders as well as barriers to linking people. It was written for community workers but could quite easily be adapted if you wanted to develop your own community networking map.
Copyright/publisher: Australian National Training Authority (ANTA) 1997
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3: 'So much information. How will I choose?': Sending the right messages and helping volunteers select your organisation
Tips for involving volunteers
This information sheet poses questions to consider when you are thinking about involving volunteers and gives ideas and tips for dealing with some of the common points encountered. On page 8, under the heading Final step, is a list of bullet points that underline the importance of first impressions by asking you to consider the processes you have put in place to ensure that a potential volunteer’s first impression is a good one.
Copyright owner/publisher: Volunteering Australia, 2006
Appealing to experience: Zeroing in on the right message
Chapter 5 of this book ‘Targeting messages’ (p. 14) considers what may attract older people to volunteer with a particular organisation. This book was written for an American audience but some of the issues are similar to the Australian experience. For instance, that older people are not an homogenous group and that not one message fits all.
Copyright owner/publisher: S Weiss, Civic Ventures, 2005
Current status of youth in volunteering
This web page examines three common assumptions about young people and suggests alternative perspectives and contemporary approaches for involving young people in volunteering
Copyright owner/publisher: Volunteering Queensland
From Boomnet to Boomnot - Part 2 of a research report on baby boomers and volunteering, 2002
While this research focused on organisations which specifically targeted and recruited volunteers in the baby boomer age category, methods for attracting volunteers are included in the discussion of the findings under 5.2 (p. 23) : If you always do what you’ve always done, you’ll always get what you’ve always got!
Copyright owner/publisher: Department of Community Development, Volunteering Secretariat
Promotion
This is part of The Volunteer Coordinators Network (Natural Areas) Manual on the management of volunteers. This particular page offers suggestions on promoting your volunteer program, case studies and an example media release.
Copyright owner/publisher: Volunteer Coordinators Network (natural areas), 2004
The contemporary challenges of volunteering in an ageing Australia
J. Warburton & S. Cordingley in Australian Journal on Volunteering, 2004, vol. 9 no. 2, pp. 67-74
This paper provides an overview of the current research evidence on volunteering by older people, which shows that they are an important resource to many not-for-profit organisations. Older people contribute much time and energy as volunteers, and in turn, there are health and social benefits associated with volunteering. These benefits are important in light of Australian ageing policy focused on the economic and social concerns associated with demographic ageing, particularly as babyboomers begin to age. Ageing policy is beginning to shift towards the concept of healthy ageing, with recognition that volunteering can be an important and positive activity in later life. However, the role of not-for-profit organisations is critical here in ensuring that their practices and policies are non-discriminatory and that the tighter institutional environment does not work against older volunteers.
Copyright owner/publisher: Volunteering Australia
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4: 'I know what I want. How do I apply?': Fielding and processing volunteers' applications
National Standards for involving volunteers in not-for-profit organisations, 2nd edition 2001, pp. 15-20
Standard 1: 'An organisation that involves volunteers shall define and document its policies and procedures for volunteer involvement and ensure that these are understood, implemented and maintained at all levels of the organisation where volunteers are involved.' (p. 15)
Implementing this standard requires organisations to develop an effective system of managing volunteers by implementing policies and procedures and maintaining a review and development process.
Copyright owner / publisher: Volunteering Australia
Culturally diverse youth and volunteerism: how to recruit, train, and retain culturally diverse youth volunteers
This resource encourages organisations to be proactive rather than reactive when planning positions for volunteers. In particular it focuses on designing positions using job design theory to encourage young people from culturally diverse backgrounds to volunteer.
Copyright owner/publisher: Calgary Immigrant Aid Society, Ottawa, Volunteer Canada
Volunteer Position Description Worksheet and Sample
This is an easy to use, straightforward example of the headings that could be used in designing a position description.
Copyright owner / publisher: Nonprofit Risk Management Center
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5: 'They want me to go for a chat': Strengthening the interviewing process
Induction interviews
This is part of The Volunteer Coordinators Network (Natural Areas) Manual on the management of volunteers. This particular page offers suggestions and tips on interviewing potential volunteers as well it provides an example of such an interview.
Copyright owner/publisher: Volunteer Coordinators Network (natural areas), 2004
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6: 'Did I get the job?': Selecting, screening and communicating with applicants
Screening and the volunteer recruitment process
Screening volunteers is an important step in the recruitment process. It enables organisations to establish the suitability of potential volunteers for the roles and tasks they are expected to carry out. As well as assessing the suitability of an applicant for a volunteer position, screening assists in risk management. Effective risk management helps protect organisations against financial loss, the risk of criminal or civil legal action and/or damage to their reputations.
Copyright owner/publisher: Volunteering Australia, 2005
Police checks and volunteers
This information sheet discusses the main aspects of police checks as a screening mechanism. It briefly outlines the processes undertaken in each state of Australia and what Australians may need if they want to volunteer overseas. This information sheet was current as at September 2006. Volunteering Australia recommends volunteers and organisations contact their local state police force or state volunteering centre for the most up-to-date information about police checks in their state.
Copyright owner/publisher: Volunteering Australia, 2005
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7: 'When do I start and what happens on my first day?': Designing and running strong orientation and induction programs
Be an effective volunteer
This learner guide has been designed to support you in understanding what it means to be a volunteer in a not-for-profit organisation. This includes knowledge of the volunteering sector and how to apply basic work practices to your volunteer role. Published by Volunteering Australia for the National Volunteer Skills Centre project and funded by the Australian Government Department of Family & Community Services. Size: 1.64MB.
Copyright owner/publisher: Volunteering Australia
Working with volunteers and managing volunteer programs in health care settings
Section 7: Induction, orientation and training of volunteers (pp. 30-32) suggests what might be included in a statement of understanding, the orientation process and training.
Copyright owner / publisher: Commonwealth of Australia and Volunteering Australia
Recruiting and sustaining youth volunteers – Orientation and Training Youth Volunteers
This resource will provide a framework to help build a successful youth volunteer program (pp. 14-18). It relates the experiences of St George’s YouthNet, a young volunteer leadership program.
Copyright owner / publisher: Saint George’s YouthNet / Volunteer Canada
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If you are interested in further reading on this subject or perhaps conducting or participating in research yourself, Volunteering Australia offers two services which may interest you.
The Australian Volunteering Library Network (AVALON) is a network of libraries across Australia specialising in resources on volunteering. Current members of the network are: Volunteering Australia, Volunteering Australia Darwin Resource Centre, Volunteering NSW, Volunteering QLD, Volunteering SA, Volunteering TAS and Volunteering VIC. To view the online library catalogue, click here.
To find out about current research projects and emerging trends, and to make contact with researchers on volunteering, visit our researchers’ database. The database can be searched by state, sector, research theme and demographics.
Acknowledgements: Volunteering Australia would like to thank all organisations and authors who have given us permission to include their resources free of charge in this Subject Guide. We also acknowledge and thank members of the reference group who contributed to the reviewing and evaluating of materials for this guide: Anne Franzi-Ford, St Vincent de Paul Health Services; David Ham, Manager, Volunteer Support, VolQld; and Dominic Pangrazio, Volunteer Resource Manager, RSPCA Victoria.
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