With the UK’s economic recovery still weak and the impact of the coalition government’s spending cuts yet to be felt, the prospects of sustained growth in Britain’s economy remain uncertain and are likely to stay that way for some time. However, even before David Cameron announced his idea of ‘the Big Society’ one area that has achieved strong growth in recent years is the volunteering sector. An increase in public awareness, press coverage and a raised political profile has seen an unprecedented increase in the numbers of people enquiring about volunteering their time, skills and enthusiasm to a wide range of organisations.
An upward trend
This rise in interest is supported by figures from volunteer involving organisations YouthNet and Community Service Volunteers. YouthNet, home of the UK’s volunteering website do-it.org.uk, has recorded a staggering rise of 115% in the number of people applying for volunteering opportunities, from 2007 to 2008, with the numbers of applications made in 2008 topping 60,000. The latest statistics show a continuation of this trend with 38,592 and 40,143 applications made in January and February 2009 respectively – double the number of applications made for the same period the previous year.[1]
The excitement and interest generated by the London 2012 Olympic Games is also playing an important part in this growing trend. The organising committee recently received nearly a quarter of a million applications for up to 70,000 Games Makers at the 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games.
One charity whose experience supports the published figures is The Motor Neurone Disease (MND) Association. John Bruce, the charity’s volunteering manager said: “We have seen a significant rise in the number of enquiries we are receiving and the trend is likely to continue with the advances in government’s policy and practice. The sector is in a healthy situation and it will continue as long as the government’s policies are properly executed.”
Commitment and investment
The voluntary sector, like any other sector, needs a skilled workforce in order to thrive and provide quality services. Charities, social enterprises and voluntary organisations are facing the same pressures as the commercial world with rising demands, whilst driving down costs and still delivering results.
An organisation that relies heavily on volunteers can receive enquiries through many different channels and, with the number rising rapidly, small in-house volunteer recruitment teams are stretched to process the interested applicants quickly and efficiently. For many, telephone and email are the main ways of communication but with heightened interest, volunteering organisations now find themselves competing for volunteers and their recruitment teams need to focus on improved engagement and interaction with potential volunteers and more personalised forms of communication.
As John Bruce explains, “personal engagement is key and the MND Association’s focus is to get our key messages and principals across to interested volunteers at the early stages of the process. Every enquirer needs to understand we are committed to investing in our volunteer programme and they will have a long and rewarding experience with us.”
One thing is certain, volunteering needs to be seen as an enjoyable experience and if the initial enquiry process isn’t dealt with correctly it could give a negative impression to potential volunteers. If the in-house team is only using telephone, email and hard copy application forms as the main way of processing applications this can be a lengthy and costly exercise, resulting in a lack of communication and transparency with little time available to invest in more personalised and timely methods of communication.
Reducing the amount of manual administration a recruitment team is required to undertake in processing an enquiry will in-turn improve personal engagement with potential volunteers, changing the conversation from "might be interested" to "yes I am going to volunteer".
Affordable e-recruitment technology is fast becoming an option for organisations looking to manage both staff and volunteer recruitment. While cost control is obviously paramount, equipping the recruitment teams with the right processes to ensure greater efficiency and improve effectiveness is now a key factor in a volunteer recruitment strategy and recruitment software can make a huge impact on achieving these goals.
Finding and keeping the right talent
With many volunteers increasingly making the internet their preferred channel to discover research opportunities, it is imperative that organisations have the tools and processes in place for potential volunteers to have a professional experience from the moment they express their interest, throughout the application process and beyond. For a smaller volunteer-involving organisation trying to build their profile and online presence is essential to allow them to potentially reach far beyond their traditional audience. A positive user experience gives potential volunteers confidence, and the commitment to the organisation is reinforced.
The other plus is that e-recruitment technology enables charities of all sizes and prominence to reach a far greater number of potential volunteers; it can provide quick and effective communication methods which assist with initial volunteer engagement as well as longer term relationship building. Once identified, the volunteers logged on the database enable the charity to build a talent pool of people with specialist skills that may not volunteer on a regular basis but might have the skills a charity needs for a particular project or campaign in the future.
Creating a partnership
Clearly, a collaborative working relationship is essential when assessing a technology partner; one who is able to, at the right price, deliver the most appropriate technology and understands the difference between staff recruitment and volunteer recruitment. Many volunteer-involving organisations rely heavily on their dedicated team of volunteers to further their cause and undertake essential work. Finding, selecting and keeping them is a continuous cycle and is crucial if they are to continue to offer the vital services, support and aid which they are able to do often solely through their volunteer programmes.
[1] The number of applications to volunteer received by do-it.org.uk in January and February 2008 was 19,621 and 20,559 respectively. In 2007 do-it.org.uk received 28,185 applications in total, rising to 60,621 in 2008.