Working Volunteer / Starting

Ask what they want from it

Two people in one role can be there for opposite reasons.

A short conversation at the start, asking what the person is hoping to get from volunteering, changes how they should be managed. Somebody building experience toward employment needs different things from somebody who has retired and wants company, and both are entirely legitimate.

The experience-building volunteer needs their work to be visible, a reference at the end, and tasks that develop something. The company-seeking volunteer needs to be rostered with other people rather than alone, and a role that stops if it becomes onerous. Giving each the other's arrangement loses both.

It is also worth asking again after a few months, because the answer changes. Somebody who came for one reason frequently stays for another, and the organisation only finds out by asking.

Where what somebody wants is not available, saying so early is better than allowing them to discover it. A person hoping for client contact who will only ever be doing administration should know that before they invest a year.

It is worth asking what somebody does not want to do as well as what they do. People have specific aversions, frequently for reasons they would rather not explain, and asking directly avoids the situation where a volunteer is quietly placed somewhere they will not return to.