Volunteer Recruitment Guide

Introduction

Every Group needs to ensure that it has enough dedicated Volunteers to provide Scouting programs to the youth in its community. Most Groups don’t have prospective Volunteers knocking on their doors wanting to join, so having strategies for the recruitment of Volunteers is very important. Recruiting the right Volunteers is a critically important part of the process as well.

Scouts Canada—Volunteer Recruitment Strategies

The following Volunteer recruitment strategies can be used by Group Committees individually or in combination to recruit new Volunteers:

1. Selective Recruitment Process

Prospective Volunteers need to be introduced to Scouting in a very deliberate way so that they will enjoy Scouting and be successful as a Scouts Canada Volunteer. This process is called Selective Recruitment and it ensures that prospective Volunteers are a good fit with Scouts Canada’s mission and values.

Selective recruitment is about finding the Right People, with the Right Skills for the Right Responsibilities:

• Right Responsibilities—Responsibility implies that an individual has the autonomy to decide what actions are needed to accomplish an end goal and to ensure that those actions are carried out. Tasks are just actions people take to accomplish a goal.
• Right Skills—Skills or competencies necessary for each Scouting role should directly correspond with the responsibilities belonging to that role. Narrow the list down to four or five essential skills. Consider which skills you need the individual to have right away and which skills he or she could learn on the job.
• Right People—One of the biggest mistakes that recruiters make is posting a job ad somewhere and then passively waiting for people to respond. Active recruitment means searching out qualified prospects and engaging them so that they want to apply.

Selective Recruitment can happen two different ways:

• In passive recruitment, prospects approach your organization and you give them responsibilities that suit their skills. Your approach flows like this: People → Skills → Responsibilities
• In active recruitment, you determine what responsibilities that you want to recruit for and approach prospects that have appropriate skills. Your approach flows like this: Responsibilities → Skills → People

2. Engage prospective volunteers

The Prospect Engagement Cycle—The prospect engagement cycle is a useful model for thinking about how to recruit new Volunteers. The Prospect Engagement Cycle has four steps:

3. Use recruitment pools to find prospects

Recruitment Pools—Searching out qualified individuals who would make good Scouters can be difficult if you aren’t looking in the right places. Making use of recruitment pools will increase your chances of finding prospects who would make a good fit. Recruitment pools are communities of prospects who have similar backgrounds or motivations. In Scouting, we typically recruit Volunteers from three pools: youth, parents and non-Scouting individuals.

• Youth—Anyone 14 years of age or older may apply to be a Scouter. Senior youth participants can make excellent Scouters. They’re often motivated by their own personal progression within Scouting and a sense of wanting to give back to the organization. Suitability needs to be a strong consideration when recruiting youth.
• Parents—It is no surprise that parents and guardians can make great Scouters.  In fact, this is where Scouts Canada draws the majority of its Volunteers from.  They’re often motivated by wanting their child to have a great Scouting experience, and are strongly connected to issues facing young people today and want to make a difference. Avoid “Volun-telling”. Parents that are guilted or coerced into volunteering typically don’t make effective Scouters.
• Non-Scouting—This category refers to individuals who are aligned with Scouts Canada’s mission and values but who have no current connection to Scouting. Small recruitment pools within this category could be everything from “members of a church congregation” to “Scouter Joe’s outdoor enthusiast friends”. This pool may be motivated by things like past experiences with Scouting as a youth or Scouter, a passion for the outdoors, or a connection to issues facing young people today and a desire to make a difference.

Group Committee’s Role

The Group Committee can play an important part in the Volunteer recruitment process. Section Scouters often struggle to have meaningful conversations with parents about volunteering because they’re so busy with youth and their meeting. Having a Group Committee member present to engage with parents during drop-off and pick-up, allows the Group to develop its parent prospect pool. 

Having the Group Committee involved in the recruitment process also helps ensure the integration of the Volunteer screening and onboarding processes, ensuring a great experience for new applicants.