Volunteer position descriptions are an important part of the volunteer recruitment process. They let volunteers know what they’ll be doing with your organization, so it’s important that they accurately reflects what volunteers will be doing. Here are some tips for writing a volunteer position description:

Be clear about what you want people to do. A volunteer position description is an introduction to your organization and what you’re asking volunteers to do. It’s important to have a clear, easy to read description of what volunteers will be doing with your organization.

Have an interesting title. When a volunteer is looking at a list of available opportunities, what’s going to make yours stand out? Are you looking for an office volunteer or a Chief Morale Officer? Are you looking for a community garden volunteer or an Urban Garden Enthusiast? The position title is likely to be the first thing a new volunteer will see, so make it something interesting that will make them want to know more about the position.

What’s the purpose of the position? Make sure your position description not only lays out what the volunteer will be doing, but why the position is important to your organization and how the work benefits the community.

What will the volunteer be doing? Make sure to identify the specifics of what the volunteer will be doing. It helps the volunteer to understand what is being asked of them, and helps you to assign tasks for the volunteer when they start with your organization.

Training. Let the volunteer know what kind of training your organization will give to make sure they’re able to do the tasks you’re asking them to do. Even if it’s just an orientation to their position and the office they’ll be working in, make sure to let them know that they’ll have an opportunity to learn more about what they’re being asked to do.

Evaluation. Let your volunteers know how they’ll be evaluated and who they’ll report to. In addition to letting volunteers know what they’ll be doing, letting them know how they’ll be evaluated and by who lets them know there’s some accountability with their position and that it’s important to the organization. Letting volunteers know who they’ll be reporting to gives them a specific person to ask questions to and to learn from.

What are your tips for writing volunteer position descriptions? Do you have an awesome volunteer position description that you want to share? Let us know in the comments!

1. Look for a big audience.

If you can, schedule a volunteer orientation for a large group of new volunteers.  A larger group gives you a better chance of being able to connect with someone.  If you find yourself starting to get nervous focus on a person you’ve connected with, it will help you to get back on track and not feel as nervous.

2. Take all the words off your slides.

If you need to make sure that your volunteers are paying attention to what you’ll be saying, take all of the words off of your slides.  This way, no one will be reading ahead of what you’ll be saying.  Make sure to use pictures that relate to what you’re talking about, though.

3. Don’t give print outs of your slides.

Giving out a printout of your slides before your presentation gives your new volunteers something to pay attention to other than you and the orientation.  If you want the volunteers to have the information you’ll be talking about, give it to them after the orientation.

4. Show up early to figure out the lay of the land.

This may sound a bit silly, especially if you’ll be giving your orientation at the place you work.  You probably know the lay of the land there fairly well.

It’s not just about being familiar with the room, but being able to set up a room in a way that works best for you.  Don’t like where a desk is?  Move it.  Don’t like how much light is in the room?  See if you can change it.

Showing up early gives you time to set up your presentation before your new volunteers arrive.  This way you can get things started right away instead of keeping your new volunteers waiting while you set up.

5. Encourage your audience to ask a lot of questions.

Make sure to leave open time during your orientation for the new volunteers to ask questions.  Not only does this give the volunteers an opportunity to ask their question while it’s still fresh in their head, but it gives you a break from talking and moves the attention to the volunteers.  A few moments of not talking reminds you to breathe and gives you an opportunity to get a drink of water or mentally rearrange your orientation.

6. Have fun with mistakes.

No matter how well rehearsed and planned your orientation is, something is going to go wrong.  Don’t dwell on what’s not going right.  Have fun with what’s not working instead of letting it turn into a crisis.

Lets not kid ourselves.  Standing up in front of a group of people and talking is hard.  Try not to let it intimidate you.  Remember that you know what you’re going to be talking about.  Don’t forget to have fun, either!

How do you prepare for new volunteer orientations?  What have you done that works really well?  What have you found that doesn’t work?

Think of a volunteer.

Who did you think of? Was the person younger than 18? Were they older than 65? According to Volunteering in the United States, the largest percent of adults who volunteer are between the ages of thirty-five and forty-four. Twenty to twenty-four year olds have the lowest reported rate of volunteering (19.4%) and only 24% of adults age 65 or older volunteer—although they have the highest average hours volunteered per year of any age group.

How can nonprofits more effectively recruit from these populations? Here are some tips for recruiting volunteers from these groups.

Identify the barriers to volunteering for these groups.

Then knock those barriers down.

Address the cultural myths that say youth and older adults can’t make meaningful contributions to their communities. Both of these age groups have skills and knowledge that are meaningful and should be shared.

Think about what motivates these groups to volunteer.

Build volunteer experiences that increase a sense of connectedness to community and give volunteers an opportunity to meet new friends through volunteering. Make sure your volunteer tasks have an impact that is easy to see so volunteers know that they’re making a difference.

Think about timing.

If you’re looking to recruit younger volunteers, think about the events that might be going on in their life that could serve as a barrier to volunteering. Of course school commitments, both classes and extracurricular activities, can make volunteering harder during the school year. Family vacations and summer camps can make summer-time volunteering a challenge, too. What types of weekend or after-school opportunities does your organization have?

Older volunteers may have less timing restrictions to volunteering than other volunteer groups. Think about the volunteer opportunities that you have during the traditional work day.

Make sure your recruitment message sells your program.

Crafting a detailed recruitment message is important to recruit any volunteers. It’s okay to have more than one message that targets different kinds of volunteers. A message that appeals to a younger volunteer may not be as appealing to an older volunteer.

Don’t restrict your recruitment message to one medium, either. Try multiple different methods to find out which method works best for which group of people.

Are you actively looking for volunteers from groups that don’t traditionally volunteer? Need help? Want to share a success story? Let us know in the comments!