Real-Life Communication
As the volunteer coordinator for the Art Gallery, a well-known institution
in your large city, you need to find volunteers to give guided tours to visitors.
They have to commit to at least two hours a week and should ideally possess
some knowledge of art. Given the large number of volunteers you seek, you
think you'll have to advertise.
Volunteer coordinators deal with people
all the time: volunteers, staff, their board of directors and community members.
Every time they excite, motivate and manage others, they're using communication
skills to do it.
"Excellent communication skills are required -- oral,
verbal and written," says volunteer coordinator Ruth Mackenzie. First and
foremost, of course, you must persuade people to volunteer for your organization.
For
positions where no specific skills and a large number of volunteers are required,
Mackenzie says, the appeal can be quite general.
"An example would
be recruiting for a volunteer canvasser, where a volunteer manager may display
a poster calling for volunteers at a community center or put ads in a church
bulletin."
Volunteer positions that require specific skills call for
more targeted recruitment. What if you were looking for a volunteer treasurer?
"The
recruitment would be targeted to segments of the population that might have
some financial skills," Mackenzie says. "The volunteer manager may ask to
have an ad placed in a professional association journal."
Back at the
Art Gallery, you must write an ad that accurately describes the position while
striking a chord with the potential volunteer.
Instead of saying you
"need" volunteers, you will tell them you "want" them. You will let them know
that you will provide training and support. And you will give them an idea
of what they can expect in return.
The best ads manage to weave all
these elements together within a basic position description. "Position descriptions
are crucial for volunteer involvement and are likely something that every
volunteer manager has developed and uses on a regular basis," Mackenzie says.
Write
a four-sentence ad for the position for the classifieds section of your community
newspaper.