Paul Thompson shares some learning from the Scout movement about how to boost volunteer numbers for your community business – when there are plenty of tasks to be done, but not enough people to do them.
Recruiting volunteers has always been challenging, especially now with volunteer fatigue post-pandemic affecting all voluntary sector organisations.
My background in the Scout movement, where I served as Deputy County Commissioner for Growth in Oxfordshire, involved supporting groups in recruiting volunteers. Data shows we were good at recruiting but not retaining volunteers. If we supported our volunteers better, recruitment wouldn’t be as difficult.
In this blog, I’m going to focus on recruitment thoughts and strategies that can easily be transferred from scouting to the community business sector – be that looking for volunteers for a shop or committee members for your pub.
Photo: OASIS Community Centre & Gardens, Nottinghamshire
The Titanic
This will sound simple, but changing our messaging about recruitment is half the battle. “Help we need volunteers or the shop will close!” sends the message that it is a sinking ship with numerous problems, and very few people will want to join that ship, let alone stay onboard for the long haul.
Using language like “Come and join a thriving team of volunteers at the shop!” sends the message that it is successful, and you are there for the long term. Recruiting while the going is good means you should never need to recruit in bad times.
A scary-looking role or the small task
Knowing exactly what you need makes it easier to attract volunteers. For example, while most people have an idea of what a bar attendant does, they only see the front-of-house tasks and might not be aware of all the other responsibilities. Therefore, using a role title might not cover the entire role or might be off-putting.
Can the role be split up into smaller different tasks? It is often easier to find someone willing to do a part of a task rather than an entire role.
If you have space, create a vacancy board in your business. Try the following steps to grab people’s attention from the get-go:
Photo: Talking Shop, Sandford-on-Thames, Oxfordshire
Photo: Bledington Community Shop, Gloucestershire
Expand the search
Once you know the role or task you want to fill you have two options: advertise and wait for them to come to you, or to go after them.
As a group of existing volunteers, when you start searching you are often limited by creating a list of people you already know. There are a lot more people out there! One method of finding people is creating a search group. This shouldn’t be just your committee but could be various community figures such as the local vicar, headteacher, scout leader or parish councillors.
Make it clear you are not asking them to volunteer at the business but to just help with recruiting. Once you have them in the room share the roles/tasks and then see if they can think of anyone they know that would be a good fit. We usually call this a ‘name generation activity’.
Whilst they aren’t going to volunteer themselves, it creates better links with the wider community and may open other doors in terms of advertisement. It also means you should have a stronger shortlist of possible volunteers by the end.
Don’t be afraid to ask
Most volunteers are passive; they see an advert for a position and pass it by with the thought of “someone else will do it”. This is where the mass emailing of requests for help can often fall down.
If a search has identified a good candidate for a role, ask them directly if they would be interested. Clearly explain the role/task, the time commitment, and explain that you have had a search meeting and that their name came up as someone who would be good at it (ego stroking works really well!).
It is often harder to say ‘no’ when being directly asked in person. Also, it is worth thinking about who in your team is the right person to do the asking. Who has a friendly face and the right manner or might know the person?
Don’t be afraid of rejection. The worst they can say is ‘no,’ and it’s usually not because they lack the skills you’ve identified. More often, it’s due to time constraints or a lack of desire to help. While it’s unlikely to turn a ‘no’ into a ‘yes’ immediately, you can ask if they might be interested in the future or if they know someone else who could fill the role. This way, you won’t leave empty-handed.
Photo: Huby and Sutton Community Shop, North Yorkshire
Other strategies
Bring a friend volunteering
Encourage the regular volunteers to bring a friend once a week over a four-week period with the plan of slowly giving them more responsibilities and only ask them at the end of the four weeks if they want it to be more regular in future.
Working parties
Organise a community workday where people can volunteer for a day, such as tidying the pub garden or decorating the shop. This gets them involved and helps build relationships, encouraging future volunteering.
Other community groups
Groups like Scouts, Guides and Duke of Edinburgh groups all run awards that have volunteer requirements. Reach out to them and offer volunteer roles. Whilst the awards only ask for six months to a year’s service, if they enjoy it then you might have a volunteer for life. (I started volunteering at 15 in Scouting to gain an award; now I’m knocking on 40 and still can’t escape!)
Resources about recruiting volunteers
As I said at the beginning, I have used a lot of ideas from Scouting’s recruitment work and there are a lot more resources available via the link below that could be transferred to community businesses.
To access further resources and webinars on the subject of recruiting and retaining volunteers, become a Plunkett member. Click the link below to find out more and to join our movement!
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Paul Thompson is Data Manager at Plunkett UK
