October 15, 2009 | Read Time: 2 minutes
To help ensure harmonious relationships between a charity’s volunteers and its staff members, say nonprofit experts, it’s important to vet volunteers carefully. Interviewing prospective volunteers is a good place to gauge not only would-be helpers’ ambitions, but also their personalities. Some steps to follow:
Be candid about job prospects — or lack thereof. Especially in this economy, many applicants for volunteer slots are looking for paid jobs, now or down the line, says Jill Friedman Fixler, a nonprofit-management consultant in Englewood, Colo., who specializes in volunteer issues.
To head off potential misunderstandings, she says, be clear about the organization’s current hiring situation and straightforward about future possibilities. “If you have a hiring freeze, say that,” she says.
However, Ms. Fixler adds, don’t automatically reject highly skilled volunteers just because they are shopping for a next career: “They can help overstretched staff members now, and, when the economy loosens up, you might have trained people ready to go.”
Watch out for Type A’s. Some of the most capable skilled volunteers may be coming from corporate environments that are more hard-nosed and results-oriented than the sometimes softer world of nonprofit management. Ms. Fixler advises watching for abrasive know-it-alls who will rub employees the wrong way and make them feel inept and insecure about their jobs.
Early in the interview process, she says, talk about building respectful relationships. “Don’t take a person who is too inflexible, and not humble enough to fit into your culture,” says Ms. Fixler. “If a volunteer is assigned to work closely with a staff member, check in with them early and often to make sure it’s a good team and that each member has clear expectations.”
Beware of short attention spans. Volunteers who seem overeager in the beginning may also turn out to have a shallow understanding of the charity’s mission, and a casual attitude toward commitment. Rules and duties should be discussed when the volunteer is interviewed, says Marilyn Kronmal, director of lifelong learning at California State University at Los Angeles, who trains nonprofit groups to work successfully with volunteers.
“Agencies often say they never know when volunteers are going to show up,” she says. “It may be as simple as no one told them they have to call in if they aren’t coming in or if they are going on vacation.”
Interview applicants more than once. Finding volunteers who are a good fit is easier now with the increased supply of volunteers, but taking the time to conduct more than one or two interviews can screen out potential trouble, such as abrasive or domineering personalities, says Ms. Kronmal.
Such vetting, she says, may also reveal which prospective volunteers possess the motivation but not the skills to complete the work assigned to them.
