Attracting and recruiting young peo

Attracting and recruiting young people

Volunteering positions for young people can be long term or short term, a one off event or a continuing obligation; they could involve a daily/weekly/monthly or yearly commitment. The same applies for young volunteers as for anybody interested in volunteering.

There may be particular issues of availability for a student or someone working casual hours, for example you might find that a six-month position might slot into a uni student's life better than a continuous commitment. However, if the volunteer feels welcome and is passionate about your organisation and they have the ability to stay on, they probably will.

Make sure you check with your young volunteers about what works for them, rather than making broad assumptions. There's as much variety among younger volunteers as in volunteers of any age group!
Many young people become involved in volunteering because they know somebody already involved. Involve young volunteers in discussions about recruiting more young people and ask your volunteers to actively encourage their friends to join. Your younger volunteers will also know the best places to advertise new positions and how to design the role to appeal to their friends.

Young people could also become involved if it is part of their school program. See the section further down the page on Student volunteers for more information on student placements and work experience

Advertising

When looking for new youth positions, make sure you include in the advertisement that you are looking for young people and be clear about what skills are needed, how long the position/role is for and what benefits the young person will receive. View our page on Writing volunteer advertisements for more information.

Make sure it is easy for young people to express their interest in the position. On the advertisement or role position, include an email address and mobile number. Be ready to accept and respond to text messages.

Advertise the positions on your website and on your Facebook page if you have one. It may also be a good idea to put posters around universities. If your website allows people to share content by 'liking' it on Facebook, tweeting or using an 'email this page' button, make sure that functionality is enabled. Younger people will feel comfortable telling their peers about an opportunity using this kind of sharing technology.

Encourage your existing young volunteers to tell their friends about what they do for their organisation. An endorsement by word of mouth can be much more effective than other form of advertising.

Roles for young volunteers

When you're thinking about roles for young volunteers, it can be helpful to consider the level of responsibility required. The kind of role you place your young volunteers into should align with their skills, experience and also with what they tell you about what they want to do. Some young volunteers may be ready for a big challenge that lets them take something on and work towards a goal. Others may want to start with easy tasks until they have the confidence and experience to move into something more challenging.

Tasks with a low level of responsibility can be essential to an organisation, but may require a very small amount of training and supervision. These tasks can include data entry, reception, or working on a fundraising or event team.

Medium level responsibility tasks are usually part of a bigger project. A volunteer might have responsibility for one aspect of a project; one piece in the jigsaw puzzle. These types of roles can be great for building confidence and an understanding of teamwork.

Tasks that require a high level of responsibility could be given to young volunteers who have already demonstrated a high level of creativity and the ability to work under their own direction. Remember that training and support are extremely valuable to any young volunteer and to the organisation they work for – even those young people who seem very self-sufficient will benefit from mentoring, supervision and feedback.

The best way to ensure a young volunteer is well-matched to a role is to create a position description and let the young volunteer read it and make a decision about whether it's right for them. A clear role description is good for the organisation and the volunteer.

Student volunteers

Non-profit organisations can approach schools and universities about offering student placements. Most schools have a work experience program in year 10, and sometimes students are obliged to commit a certain number of hours to community service.

In some cases, these kinds of arrangement require that students are assessed during their time in the organisation. This means paperwork for you and the student. Hosting students involves a high level of supervision, contact with their teacher over the phone and email and possible site visits from teachers and parents.

For many students, a volunteer role or internship b