What to Look for in a Volunteer

It helps to consider volunteers as unpaid staff within your organization. Like staff, there is an expectation that volunteers are screened to determine whether they are a good fit for your CALP. Screening protects your learners, your organization’s reputation, and the volunteers themselves from placement in an unsatisfactory - or unexpected - volunteer role. Additionally, screening affords the volunteer coordinator multiple opportunities to get to know a potential volunteer before they are matched with a learner.

Several experienced CALP literacy and volunteer coordinators share their best practices for screening potential volunteers in the blog New Tutor Interviews.

To summarize, they suggest you:

• Create a warm and welcoming space
• Explain about your program
• Clarify the tutor role and expectations
• Know what you are looking for in a tutor

The position of volunteer tutor is unique. This is a meaningful volunteer opportunity that requires a long-term commitment. It is important to determine what qualities your organization is prioritizing when looking for a volunteer tutor. A great place to start is the ‘Qualities Developed by Good Tutors’ handout from Creating Learning Partners, Literacy Alberta. This list reminds us “the qualities [learners] need the most in their tutor was to do with the tutor’s attitude, not aptitude. The qualities most often desired in tutors have little to do with being “an expert” and everything to do with being a caring human being”.

When recruiting a volunteer tutor you may want to be screening for fluency, reliability, empathy and enthusiasm. Some examples include:

• Fluency: Ask prospective volunteers to fill out the volunteer application form by hand (reading and writing), have a conversation with any prospective volunteers either in person or over the telephone (oral communication) and/or ask a volunteer to submit their volunteer application online (basic digital skills).
  
  
• Reliability: Invite prospective volunteers to attend an information session, volunteer training, or orientation. Note the timeliness of the volunteer. Also, if a volunteer does not attend a scheduled meeting, do they call ahead of time, after the fact, or not at all to explain their absence?
  
  
• Empathy: Ask volunteers to share their motivations for volunteering with your program. Typically, volunteers have a personal connection to literacy and foundational learning. Explore that connection and note where the volunteer is eager to focus their tutoring time.
  
  
• Enthusiasm: It is important that volunteers understand that literacy learning is hard work. The learners are undertaking a learning journey that will often take significant time, energy, and focus. They need an enthusiastic coach to motivate them along the way

  Tip Sheet: Interviewing a Volunteer Tutor

Not all volunteers who apply to your CALP will be an appropriate fit. It is possible that they may be able to volunteer in another capacity within your organization or would be better suited to volunteer outside of your CALP. It is best to trust your instincts when placing a volunteer in any volunteer position.

This is especially important when you consider that the volunteer tutor assumes a position of trust and leadership in the context of the one on one match. Regardless of where a match meets, they will spend much of their time together unsupervised. You need volunteer tutors who are trustworthy and can create an environment where the learner feels safe and welcome to learn. When recruiting and screening for volunteer tutors it is important to communicate that not everyone who applies for the position of volunteer tutor is selected to fill the role.

For more information on how to deal with 'Exits and Other Challenging Situations', check out the Working with Volunteers: Your Greatest Partner e-Learning. 

• When possible, meet with prospective volunteers in the same space they will be working with their learners.
  
  
• Provide prospective volunteers with as much information about the program as possible without compromising the confidentiality of your learners.
  
  
• Review the volunteer position description together; this information functions as a screening tool. Similar to a job interview, the prospective volunteer should be encouraged to ask questions and determine whether this position meets their expectations.