Volunteer Recruitment Project

The volunteer recruitment project is a 3-year project which aims to get more people volunteering with Girlguiding across Scotland. Staff and volunteers will be working together to create recruitment plans, test out creative and tailored approaches to recruitment and connect with external organisations that could help us reach more potential volunteers. We’ll also be exploring how we can improve the welcome and induction we give new volunteers and creating resources and training to help support and increase the confidence of our existing volunteers in relation to recruitment and welcome.

This project is more ambitious – over the next 3 years we hope to see a positive impact in every county. We’ve already reached out to every volunteer centre, college and university in Scotland to start building on the local connections that already exist and that’s just the beginning.  

This project will be more tailored – we need to adapt how we approach recruitment and welcome to the needs of local areas and to those of the people we want to welcome into guiding. We’ll be testing our new approaches to see what works best in different communities.  

This project will be more visible – we’ll be sharing what’s happening as it happens through our project Instagram, Girlguiding Scotland newsletters and webpage. We’re also keen to get out and talk about the project at your events so let us know if you have something happening we could join.  

This project will be more of a partnership – each area joining the project will be asked to make a commitment of 6 months initially and the recruitment plan we create together will have shared goals and timelines attached to it. We’ll agree togeth

We’re looking for district and division teams to join the project now. This is a Scotland-wide project so it’s not confined to particular locations. We might have to prioritise areas initially if there’s lots of requests to join the project but we’d like to see districts or divisions from every county involved. You can contact growth@girlguiding-scot.org.uk to set up a chat with a member of the team or you can complete our expression of interest form. 

No, this project isn’t restricted to areas of deprivation. To join the project, your area just needs to be in need of more volunteers, be open to trying new things and be able to appoint a project lead volunteer who will work with us to create and deliver a recruitment plan. We’d expect to work with each area for a minimum of 6 months.  

We would anticipate working with each area for at least 6 months, however, this will vary depending on the needs of the area. Each area joining the project will be asked to appoint a lead volunteer. This is someone who can make decisions on behalf of the district or division in relation to volunteer recruitment and welcome. This person will be responsible for keeping the rest of the district informed and engaged in the project. They’ll also act as a link between the project and the county team.  

As well as having a lead volunteer, each area will ideally appoint a small team of enthusiastic people who can share ideas and support the activities we agree to try through the project.  We’ll be looking to work with people who are open to new ideas (and revisiting some old ones) and willing to share local knowledge and experiences.  

Areas joining the project will work in partnership with members of the Scottish staff and volunteer team to create a recruitment plan and agree some goals for the next 6 months initially. Once you’ve created your plan, you’ll agree together who will do what by when. As an example of the support you can expect to receive to deliver your plan, our Volunteer Recruitment Officers can help with reviewing processes, clearing volunteer enquiry backlogs, creating recruitment adverts, attending events, making links with external organisations and delivering welcome activities. The project team will get together online or in person regularly to share updates and check things are on track.  

Each area will also be asked to evaluate the support they’ve had from the project. This is really key to ensuring we learn as we go and continue to improve the help we offer.  

Our volunteer recruitment officers will absolutely be able to help put your ideas into practice. We’ll work with you to create a shared recruitment plan and as part of that process, would ask you to be open to feedback based on what we have learned from other areas, projects and organisations. This will make sure we’re maximising the chances of the project being a success in your area. We’ll need you to appoint a lead volunteer who can communicate with us regularly. Each area would ideally also appoint a small team of volunteers who can work alongside our Volunteer Recruitment Officers for 6 months initially and this is something we can help you do before creating a recruitment plan. Once the plan is in place, we’ll agree with you, who will do what and by when and confirm how we’ll keep you updated on progress.  

Volunteer recruitment officers are staff who have been employed to help local volunteers with creating, tailoring, and delivering, recruitment and welcome plans. They’re available to attend recruitment and networking events, both online and in-person, during the week as well as evenings and weekends. They will make connections with external organisations to help reach more potential volunteers and will share opportunities with local volunteers. They’ll also be listening to our existing members and creating resources and trainings in response to their needs to help make recruiting and welcoming new volunteers easier. 

We want this to be a partnership between Scottish staff and volunteers and local district/divisions teams. Your local knowledge and ideas are key to making the project a success and we’ll work together to create a plan tailored to your area’s specific needs. You’ll be asked what you think is realistic over the next 6 months initially and we’ll set some goals based on your insights. Each area participating in the project will be asked to evaluate the support they’ve had so we can continually look for ways to improve.  

Our volunteer recruitment officers will work around your schedule, offering flexibility with evening and weekend availability. They can also support you by attending daytime events or supporting with administrative tasks related to volunteer recruitment that you may not have time for. We’ll ask you about your preferred ways to keep in touch too to make it easy to stay in contact outside of meetings.  

Absolutely! You can contact us on growth@girlguiding-scot.org.uk to arrange a zoom call or alternatively call or text our Volunteer Recruitment Officers Ali (07949900250) or Leah (07495975509).  

We’re initially focusing on working with district and division teams to make sure that recruitment plans are linked to a plan for welcoming new volunteers. However, this could look different from area to area – in practice it might just be a small number of units within a large district or division that needs volunteers, for example. In such cases, we’d be happy to work with a group of leaders from these units as long as a member of the district or division team is happy to appoint a lead volunteer for the area’s involvement. We’d suggest having a chat with your commissioner initially to check whether they’ve already expressed interest in joining the project.   

Yes, you can absolutely run your own recruitment drives. We’re here to help though so reach out if you’d like help from a member of the team. We can help with creating adverts; posting on social media; making displays for recruitment events; ordering printed recruitment materials or finding communication templates to support warm welcome and much more! 

Our volunteer recruitment officers have access to a staff version of GO. This is slightly different to the volunteer version in that it allows them to see volunteer enquiries from all over Scotland. They will be able to follow new enquirers through the recruitment process from enquiry to membership. There are some limits though and our recruitment officers cannot currently hold the ID verifier role as staff members. We’re talking to Girlguiding about a workaround for this as we understand that this is something that they could usefully help with.  

Yes, whether you’d like to share an idea or a contact you think we should follow up or are interested in potentially joining the project team as a specialist volunteer in the future, please get in touch  at growth@girlguiding-scot.org.uk   

While our volunteer recruitment officers will mostly be working directly with districts and divisions, we’re keen to make sure our county teams are supported too so please reach out if there’s something we might be able to help with. Examples of support we can offer include: creating role descriptions and adverts for county growth roles/ teams; clearing volunteer enquiry backlogs; helping you to update your warm welcome activities/ processes; delivering growth-related trainings or briefing your commissioners on the project.  

The results of our unit recruitment needs survey showed that there is a need for both girl-facing unit-based roles and behind-the-scenes supporting roles so the project will focus on recruiting people into both. Creating a recruitment plan will involve thinking about what roles need to be filled and how best we can do that.