In my last post I listed the first three of seven recruiting courtesies. Here are the last four that can help us from being “rude recruiters”.
Give them a written description of what you expect. We know what we want from a volunteer position and too often when we recruit someone we just assume they know what we want. It’s a recipe for disaster when we don’t put our basic expectations for the role in writing. Be as thorough as possible. People don’t appreciate it when they get into the position and the leader says, “Oh by the way I forgot to tell you we need you to…”
Allow them two or three weeks to observe and shadow a veteran volunteer. Remember just because a person has high enthusiasm about a new role doesn’t mean they have a high competence. Give new volunteers time to understand and adjust to the culture of your ministry. This not only equips your new recruit, but it impresses on your existing volunteers the value of mentor-based training.
Provide adequate training. We all know this is important but very few people do it. Some make the excuse they don’t have time to do the training, but when the new recruit starts making mistakes you will have to invest the time on the back end to correct what they’re doing wrong. Be wise and make the training investment on the front end.
Follow up within 30 days to see how they’re doing. Within the first 30-60 days your new recruit will surely begin to experience some disappointments, defeats or disillusionment that could dampen their enthusiasm. A good honest pulse check at the end of 30 days can help you encourage and coach the new volunteer resulting an a happier more productive team member.
What other recruiting courtesies would you add to this list?
Mac,
These last four lessons also apply to business. Many good organizations fail to do this with new employees and it just leads to disaster. Although all are important, in my opinion, number one crtitcal. Not only should the responsibiltiies and expectations be written, but I would have them explain it back to me, what they just read, just to make sure they understand it. If not, there is still a chance of a miscommunication.
Thanks for this blog, I enjoy reading it.