Screening Volunteers for Attitude

Involving volunteers only to get work done or to save money are ideas that have long ago jumped the shark. The modern volunteer manager involves volunteers for much better reasons:

Involving volunteers gives people without a financial interest in the organization a firsthand look at how things work. Involving volunteers -- representatives of the community -- helps educate the community about what the organization does.
Community engagement is community ownership. Volunteer involvement demonstrates that the community is invested in the organization and its goals.
Volunteer involvement can help to reach constituencies/demographics not represented among staff, board leadership or clients.
Volunteers may be the most appropriate people for certain tasks, rather than paid staff; your clients may prefer to be counseled by volunteers with certain backgrounds rather than paid employees, for instance.
Volunteer involvement may create other support for an organization: volunteers may become financial donors, they may speak at local government meetings or write letters to the editor of your local newspaper on your organization's behalf, or they may tell their friends and colleagues about your organization in conversations or via their blogs and online status updates.

The reality is that the modern organization involves volunteers because the organization is trying to build relationships, not just to get work done.

When an organization involves volunteers in high-responsibility, long-term roles, volunteer turnover can be a program killer. It's vital that organizations continually look for ways to ensure that volunteers are well-supported, that volunteers feel their concerns are heard and addressed promptly, that volunteers feel respected and valued, etc., but screening is also vital to help screen in the right people for high-responsibility, long-term volunteer roles, particularly those where the volunteer will work with clients and the general public, and to screen out people who may be better in shorter-term assignments or assignments where they would not work with clients or the general public, or who would not be appropriate in any role at the organization.

While volunteer managers are much more than HR managers, there are resources from the HR management world that can be helpful in the new paradigm of volunteer involvement / community engagement. For instance, this article from workforce.com on screening and hiring employees with an eye to their attitude can help volunteer managers seeking to create a screening process that will keep turnover low for high-responsibility, long-term volunteer roles.

(note that you will have to register to read articles on workforce.com, but registration is free)

The article notes that the idea of hiring for attitude has been made famous by such companies as Southwest Airlines and Nordstrom. One CEO of a real estate services company in New Jersey, which traditionally has a high-turnover rate, used various books about this model to develop his own test to measure five qualities among potential candidates. Such an assessment tool could easily be adapted at nonprofit organizations looking to reduce turnover and create a particular type of culture among long-term, high-commitment volunteers.

The recruiter or hiring manager administers the test verbally, face-to-face or by phone. One of the qualities sought is demonstrated integrity, measured through a series of questions about ethical behavior. Another quality sought is passion, which candidates can demonstrate through a hobby or a personal project where the candidate succeeded (not just through a paid or volunteer role).

The third quality test—longevity—determines whether the candidate is looking for a job or a career. Adapted for a volunteer model, the goal could be to see if the volunteer is looking for a long-term relationship with an organization or cause through volunteering.

The fourth step measures positive attitude and asks candidates to describe a positive customer service experience. It also asks how the candidate’s friends would describe the candidate’s personal characteristics. The final element of the test measures the candidate’s knowledge of tasks that are relevant to the job and the company’s mission and role.

What could the assessment questions actually look like that test for these qualities? Some very general ideas:

Why do you want to volunteer with us?
What do you hope to accomplish or gain through volunteering?
Why do you think our organization involves volunteers?
Tell me about a time when you have felt passionate or excitement about a project; this can be at work, through volunteering, or just through a hobby -- skate boarding, singing, helping a family member, whatever.
What is your greatest personal or professional accomplishment?
What makes you excited or motivated to get a task done?
How can you tell when a supervisor is satisfied with your work?
How can you tell when a customer or client is satisfied?
Tell me a time when you went above and beyond for a customer, a client, a co-worker, or someone else, to make sure they got what they needed or were satisfied with an experience?
How would you define "great team work"?
Tell me about an experience in which you demonstrated commitment.
Tell me about an experience in which you demonstrated resilience.
What would you do if you saw a good friend and fellow volunteer doing something inappropriate at the organization?
Tell me about a time when you have had to deal with a difficult personality (for instance, an angry customer), and how you addressed the situation.
Tell me an example in which you successfully persuade someone to do something.
What would your friends or co-workers say about how you work under pressure (having to get something done sooner than expected, or to get something done that's come up unexpectantly and, therefore, you hadn't planned for, etc.)
How do you define diversity?
Tell me about a time when you have worked with people who are different from you, in terms of age, economic background, ethnicity, etc. (what you liked about the experience, what might have made you uncomfortable, what you learned from such an experience, etc.).
Tell me about a time when you had a negative impression of someone, but later, it changed to a positive impression, and why that change happened.
How comfortable are you with name of an activity that a volunteer would undertake (such as asking friends and associates for donations, dealing with angry people, etc.)

As creating an accommodating, welcoming and diverse volunteering program is also a vital role for the volunteer manager, I do not recommend this entire test be used for all volunteer role screening. You do not want to create an assessment that excludes people:

who have a different work style than the rest of your organization but that would be, nonetheless, quite capable of volunteering and working with others
who don't have an excellent command of English (if such isn't required for all volunteer roles)
who don't interview well (if such a characteristic isn't required for all volunteer roles)
who are shy
who don't verbalize their feelings well
who aren't ready yet to make a long-term commitment but may be ready to do so in the future
who could use certain volunteering activities to build their professional and personal skills such that they could take on higher-responsibility roles later
etc.

Different volunteer roles require different screening. Yet another reason why volunteer managers aren't exactly the same as HR managers...

One last caution: the page you are reading now doesn't talk about screening for safety, to ensure volunteers are appropriate to be around children; this is covered at length in the resources noted on this blog. In addition to screening for safety, you also need to employ screening techniques to better ensure that applicants don't have a motivation to volunteer that, while it might be legal, would not be appropriate. For instant, an applicant may have a motivation to volunteer primarily to attract customers for his or her multi-level marketing business, or may be volunteering primarily to recruit people for his or her church, temple or other community of faith. One of your methods to screen out these people is to review your written policies and procedures with all applicants, and after particularly important sections, such as those detailing prohibitions regarding sexual harassment, proselytizing, etc., and your guidelines on sales pitches and solicitations by volunteers to other staff, you ask applicants, "Would you have any issues adhering to this particular policy?" Some may be upfront about disagreeing with certain policies, others may not express disagreement - but you might not see them again.

Also see:

volunteer managers: you are NOT psychic!
A manager of volunteers should NEVER let his or her gut be the guide to decision-making! Thank it for its input, but look at the facts. Your gut may, in fact, be encouraging a prejudice you didn't know you had - or encourage you to overlook a warning sign about a volunteer.
The Information About & For Volunteers You Should Have on Your Web Site
If your organization or department involves volunteers, or wants to, there are certain things your organization or department must have on its web site - not by law, of course, but from a point of view of ethics and credibility. To not have this basic information about volunteer engagement on your web site says that your organization or department takes volunteers for granted, does not value volunteers beyond money saved in salaries, or is not really ready to involve volunteers.
Diagnosing the causes of volunteer recruitment problems
Before you hire a consultant, even me, to see what the problem is regarding why you don’t have enough volunteers, or the kinds of volunteers you want most, you might be able to diagnosis the problem yourself - this blog is meant to help you do that. The only catch is that you MUST be honest as you answer the questions listed here. Also, answering these questions is rarely a one-person exercise; you may think you know the answer, but you need to ask other staff members, including volunteers themselves, what their answers are to these assessment questions. This is one of the most popular blogs I've ever written.
Letting Fear Prevent Volunteer Involvement is Too Risky
About how choosing NOT to involve volunteers is often, in fact, a greater risk than choosing to involve volunteers. To say, "We can't involve volunteers - it's too risky!" puts your organization at a profound disadvantage. This is a blog I wrote for Susan Ellis and Energize, Inc. - you leave my web site if you click on that link.
Recruiting Volunteers: A Step-by-Step Guide to QUICKLY Getting the Volunteers You Want
These are simple, immediate things you can do to get volunteers.
Recruiting Mentors
(or any high-responsibility volunteers that will work with clients)
Recruitment is a mentality. Successful recruitment of volunteer mentors comes from a mentality that permeates the organization, one that prompts employees and volunteers to always be looking for opportunities for outreach and partnership, and where all employees and volunteers are advocates for the program, regardless of the tasks they undertake. This web page has specific recommendations to recruit mentors for youth, but these recommendations could be used for most any high-responsibility, high-commitment volunteer role working with clients, such as counselors or tutors.
Recruiting Local Volunteers To Increase Diversity Among the Ranks
Having plenty of volunteers to undertake all the roles at your organization usually isn't enough to say a volunteering program is successful. Another indicator of success is if your volunteers represent a variety of ages, education-levels, economic levels and other demographics, or are a reflection of your local community. Most organizations don't want volunteers to be a homogeneous group; they want to reach a variety of people as volunteers (and donors and other supporters, for that matter). This resource will help you think about how to recruit for diversity, or to reach a specific demographic.
Research and case studies regarding recruitment and retainment of volunteer firefighters & justifications for involving volunteer firefighters that do NOT relate to "money saved"
A little bit of commentary and a long list of resources, compiled from various sources. Updates welcomed!
Virtual Volunteering Myths
Common misconceptions about virtual volunteering versus the reality of the practice.
Research on online volunteering
All of the academic research and journal articles about online volunteering and online community engagement.
Online culture

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