Volunteer roles and recruitment

Before you recruit volunteers to your organisation make sure that you have in place a Volunteer Policy and a Volunteer Handbook. This will help you to write your role descriptions and once volunteers are recruited support and value your volunteers.

Writing volunteer role descriptions

The West Midlands Museum Development: A toolkit for developing a new volunteer initiative includes:

• a volunteer role description template
• information about marketing and advertising the volunteer role
• templates for application forms and reference requests
• and an interview checklist

Recruiting volunteers

NCVO’s Involving Volunteering has a useful section on recruiting and welcoming volunteers it includes information on what to think about when writing a advert.

Advertising for volunteers

You can advertise for volunteers through a wide range of channels including:

• your local volunteer bureau (You can find this via the NAVCA site)
• your museum development service, they will have a website and also send out regular news letters (You can find your local MD service via the Museum Development site)
• your local library
• local newletters
• your own networks
• social media
• own website
• at your organisation

Further suggestions can be found on the South East Museum Development’s – Top Tips on Promoting your Volunteer Opportunities.