How do I recruit volunteers?
The Volunteering Service is the first place to start. We can help you recruit by:
- Advertising on the Volunteering Service website.
- Including your project in the Volunteering Service Newsletter.
- Inviting you to our Volunteering Fairs.
- Posting an item about your project in the news section of the Students’ Union UCL’s webpages.
- Promoting your project on the Volunteering Service social media platforms.
- Advertising your volunteer vacancy through our Volunteering Directory.
- Advertising your roles to relevant UCL departments. If you are trying to recruit students from a particular course, we can send your volunteer advert to Departmental Administrators so that it can be emailed to the department’s students.
However, there are other ways you should consider, for example:
- The Volunteering Society might be able to promote your project to their members.
- Relevant Clubs and Societies could promote your project to their members. We can put you in touch with appropriate Clubs and Societies.
- Word of mouth – ask your friends if they know of anyone who is interested. Get them to spread the message.
- Writing an article for Pi Magazine.
- Creating a Facebook group, Twitter Feed or Instagram page. You can request that we repost your posts through the Volunteering Service’s social media.
- Using the Poster Distribution List to put up poster across the UCL Campus. Ask your Project Supervisor for a copy of the list.
Recruiting a diverse team of volunteers
When you’re recruiting, you should think about how you’ll involve people from different backgrounds and with different skills and experience. Having a diverse volunteer team means that your project will benefit from different perspectives, which will help ensure that your work is relevant.
By diversity, we mean ensuring that you have a representative mix of students in terms of ethnic origin, gender, UK/international students, undergrads/postgrads, faculty, age, disability and sexuality.
Ways to recruit a diverse team include:
- Checking that the language you use in your advertisements is inclusive and welcoming.
- Trying to ensure that you use images in your publicity that show people from a range of backgrounds.
- Thinking about how you can reach out to student groups who might be less likely to volunteer with you. This might include talking to Students’ Union UCL’s Liberation Officers (they are in charge of improving the representation and student experience of specific groups), targeting specific academic departments, or working with Students’ Union UCL’s cultural societies.
- Monitoring – if only informally – the volunteers you’re recruiting to see if you should try to improve diversity within your team.
- Be aware of how to use non-discriminatory language in your communications.
Please feel free to ask your Project Supervisor if you’d like further advice.
Selection
You will need to consider how you are going to decide who should or shouldn’t volunteer with you. Whatever system you choose, it should be transparent, appropriate for your project and everyone should be treated equally and fairly.
You’ll need to decide:
- Can anyone volunteer with you, or are there qualities, skills or previous experiences that students must have?
- How will you select your volunteers?
- How many volunteers will you need?
It is also important that you write a clear description of each volunteer role that your project has and, if you are selecting, what the selection criteria is. You should only pick volunteers based on these criteria.
Selection by interview
If you decide to interview prospective volunteers, you’ll need to draw up a list of questions and ensure that all applicants are asked the same ones. You’ll also need to decide who’ll be doing the interviewing.
Selection by application
If you decide to have a written application process, you’ll need to decide whether there will be a structured series of questions, or if you’ll ask applicants to provide a CV and a written statement.
If you’d like any advice, please ask your Project Supervisor.
Student-Led Projects Webpage
Once you have selected your volunteers, you must use your Student-Led Projects (SLP) webpage to register and manage your volunteers.
If you recruited volunteers through your SLP webpage, you must ensure that you manage the Expressions of Interest tab. Once you have finished your selection process, you need to confirm who has been chosen and who has not been chosen to volunteer with your Student-Led Project.
If you did not recruit your volunteers through your SLP webpage, you need to ensure that you add your volunteers to your webpage. If you have problems adding your volunteers, please email a list of your volunteers, including full name and UCL email address, to [email protected].
Once added to your SLP webpage, they’ll then be emailed a Student-Led Projects Registration Form to complete, which requests reference and emergency contact details.
You should use the Placements tab of your SLP webpage to regularly check which volunteers have had their references and DBS forms returned. You can also see who has completed our Volunteering with Children course.
It is very important that you let us know as soon as a student starts and stops volunteering with your Student-Led Project. Many volunteers request references to verify their time volunteering with one of our Student-Led Projects and we can only provide accurate references if we have the correct information regarding the duration of their volunteering placement. This is also important for students who want to receive certification for their volunteering or have their volunteering recognised on their Higher Education Achievement Report (HEAR).