Recruit, Select And Induct Staff: Guiding Volunteers To Build A Stronger Organization

Recruitment, selection and induction

Discuss about the Recruit, Select and Induct Staff.

Volunteers, while joining any organisation are guided by certain expectations and motives. They come from diverse backgrounds and interests. They all have miscellaneous experiences and skills. It is thus very important to be sure about how to appoint these volunteers that best fit the criteria of your organisation. Moreover, the volunteers feel cherished at work.

To catch the attention of volunteers who fit the need of your organisation and add to the programs you must be well aware of the kind of volunteer roles that are necessary to achieve the objectives of that program. You must be able to judge if these people suit the roles to affect the program positively.

An appropriate policy on how to choose the correct volunteer helps in ensuring that you have a clear understanding about:

• What sort of volunteer-based facility you are offering
• How will you recruit the volunteers to work in your organisation
• What sort of people you plan to recruit for the programs
• How the volunteers will be engaged

It also summarizes your way of locating and appointing the volunteers. For example, the function of the policy might be to make certain that:

• The positions available for volunteering are filled up with the people appropriate for it
• You must ensure that all the selections conducted maintain a fair and are based on merit
• Selection as well as recruitment policies and processes should adhere to and maintain the Equal Opportunity Policy
• For recruitment in all the positions of the volunteers a standard approach is taken up
• Even if the procedures keep varying between the different organisations but it should summarize how the policy will be executed in reality.
• You should describe the process with proper reference to whichever checklists, forms or documents that are needed.
• You might include the following points too:
• If you want to create an opportunity for volunteering or create an advertisement for that, do you need permission to do so? If yes, what is the procedure of getting it approved and who can approve this?
• If the job descriptions are written, who are responsible for writing them?
• There will be unsuccessful candidates, who will take care of letting them know about it?

The process of selection comprises of choosing the person who meets the needed requirements of the position in the most appropriate way.

The process must be transparent and fair. Thus, the whole process of choosing the best volunteer for any vacancy must follow a clear process.

It may also protect you in case there is someone who applied and is not appropriate for the role.

Selection of individuals for any vacancies in volunteering roles consists of an informal talk concerning the requirements and the position of the job. Other organisations usually follow a rather formal process of selection. Your policy should clearly point out if the following points are required or not as a part of the policy

• Application form
• Interview
• Attendance at information sessions or workshops
• Following up and checking of the personal references provided
• Timelines
• Checks
• Checks

The volunteer policy of the organisation usually mentions various points of checking. These checks are important for recruitment of volunteers in that organisation. They are:

• A policy check
• Identity proof
• Certifications or qualifications
• Previous work history
• Any medical history relevant to the job
• A working with children check

The recruitment process finally ends with orientation. All the recruited individuals are now welcomed as new members of the organisation. These new members receive adequate information about their position in the organisation along with daily operations. They become aware of the key or important people in the organisation on the day of orientation.

The main aim of a well planned orientation or induction process is to lessen the stress of the new volunteers. With proper knowledge about the daily operations and important people in the organisation the volunteers feel more at ease while assuming their position.

Importance of appointing the right volunteers

A well planned orientation must have enough time when you can talk about the details of the job like working hours, various responsibilities and expectations.  A printed copy with this information will help them remember these easily.

Familiarise the new volunteers with resources, equipments and facilities

Go through the opening and closing times of the organisation

Properly explain the emergency and evacuation plans and processes

Provide copies of the current annual reports, marketing material and newsletters

Give a suitable introduction to your organisation

Provide a copy of volunteer responsibilities and volunteer rights

Introduce the key staffs and volunteers of your organisation

Familiarise the new volunteers with operations that are needed daily like using the photocopy machine, alarm systems telephone, filing system, keys, kitchens, etc.

Familiarise the new volunteers with the various procedures and policies, which include sexual harassment, disputes and complaints resolution, equal opportunity, safety and health

Provide whichever specific training that is necessary

Recruitment is the process of seeking out and acquiring a host of potential applicants with the considered necessary skills, experience and desired knowledge. The organisation chooses the most suitable individuals to take position of the available vacancies against job descriptions and essential specifications.

The main function of the recruitment procedure is to gather the widest pool of candidates so that the organisation has the greatest opportunity to go through and choose the best suited people for the vacant positions of the organisation.

Obtaining the best candidates for the needed roles will result in competitive advantage for the organisation.  An organisation may be effected negatively with ineffective recruitment. Ineffective recruitment usually produces enormous disruption, interpersonal interruptions and difficulties in operations, highly reduced productivity, customer services as well as long term costs.

Selection is the process which includes testing or interviewing or reference checking or all three together to filter out the most appropriate candidate among the pool of applicants that have been previously identified through the process of recruitment. This process assures the most suitable individuals or candidates to be appointed for the roles by applying the means of fair, equitable and effective assessment activities or tests.

The other name for job selection criteria is KSC, that is, key selection criteria. These criteria are designed in such a way that they help the organisation an accurate match between the skill set of an individual and the requirements of the vacant position. Certain sections of government have need of applicants responding to very specific KSC. You will not be allowed to clear the procedure to reach the interview stage irrespective of your skills and abilities if you do not fulfil the mentioned criteria. As requirements vary from agencies to departments, you must check and re-check the information you provide on the application form before submitting it.

• Understand the requirement of the job as well as the key selection criteria
• Think carefully to come to a decision if you are eligible for the job
• Gather information about the employer of the organisation

Selection process and policy

            To start with, study the description of thee position carefully including the key selection criteria. Read up on the other collected relevant and necessary information regarding the job. You can call the contract officer to clarify any doubts you encounter during the normal office hours. Their contact details are provided along with the job description and they will happily respond to your doubts and queries.

Values inform you about the ways the organisation functions and its expectations from the employees. If you wish to work with the organisation you must be comfortable with their values. You should also check if this is the way you wish to work.

Accountabilities can be described as an inventory of the daily responsibilities along with the errands of the role. Each job has a point of focus- for example, some are focussed on managing resources, some on supervision, etc. It is important that your interests and career backgrounds line up with the accountabilities and requirements of the role.

Candidates must be chosen o the basis on merit which requires fair and consistent assessment of the contestants. This is enforced by law. We achieve this by offering key selection criteria for each job and all applicants are tested against this.

You can notice while applying for any ob, the KSC for the particular job is clearly mentioned in the job description section so that you are fully aware of what are the basic requirements. You can check out the job advertisements on any career website for understanding this better.

The KSC sketches out the skills, qualities and knowledge necessary for the job. For certain jobs you are required to write attractive which promote and explain your capabilities against the KSC. You must provide these statements against specific examples or situations. Maybe you have had experience working in similar posts in other industries or have special interest towards it. Keep in mind all these things while applying for the job.

Being capable of writing a proper and excellent KSC reply statement ultimately prepares you for the interview stage in the selection procedure. You are now well versed with the specific examples which will help you satisfy the questions about the capability of performing well in the job.

We will be well informed about your suitability and ability to fulfil the job when you provide a description of how you meet the KSC. You can either cut-paste from a document you have already prepared previously or type it out in the space provided on the application forms. Be careful about the grammar and spellings.

KSC statements traditionally comprise of a combination of personal qualities, skills experience and knowledge. For example, you may write ’Ability to maintain as well as develop processes and systems of mail distribution’ and “Ability to perform under pressure, meet mentioned deadlines, prioritise tasks and maintain tolerance” to describe yourself. Nowadays key capabilities are focused on while describing job selection criteria. They include:

Resilience – staying calm under pressure; abilities to cope with setbacks; accept all sorts of constructive criticism and perform better.

Problem solving- identify and workout viable solutions; seeking problems from different perspectives; ability to see all pertinent facts; capacity to draw sound inferences.