Vital Skills: Recruiting Volunteers

It was absolutely perfect, I am very grateful! – Attendee 2025

Purpose of course

Recruiting Volunteers tackles one of the key issues faced by our network and the wider community. Volunteer recruitment is one of the most asked-about topics within our network. What works for one project doesn’t always work for another. This can be due to a wide range of variables such as location, budget and marketing.

This interactive, practice‑focused course equips staff with the knowledge, tools, and confidence needed to recruit the right volunteer befrienders for their project. Through exploring real recruitment challenges and current volunteering trends, participants learn how to recognise and overcome common barriers—such as time commitments, training expectations, misconceptions about vulnerable people, costs, and work‑life pressures.

The course introduces a structured recruitment pathway, good‑practice protocols, and essential elements such as role descriptors, application processes, and inclusive volunteer profiles. Participants also gain hands‑on experience in social marketing, SMART recruitment messaging, and designing effective adverts, posters, and digital content to attract a diverse volunteer base.

By the end of the training, participants can leave with practical tools, fresh ideas, and a stronger understanding of how to reach, select, and retain committed volunteer befrienders—building a confident and sustainable volunteer team for their service. This session will have comfort breaks to reduce screen time and allow participants to have refreshments.

Learning Objectives Include:

• To develop an understanding of barriers to volunteering
• To propose solutions to overcoming barriers to volunteering
• To review the recruitment protocol and elements
• To critique and analyse social media and social marketing
• To discuss good practice methods in recruitment policies and procedures

Resources and Additional Support

All attendees will gain access to our Recruitment Resource Pack, Interview and Selection guidance, Templates for Recruitment Records and Procedures, Recent Research on Volunteering, Support Materials for Creating Social Media Marketing Materials, and more. All participants will also receive bespoke feedback on their current recruitment materials, providing recommendations for improvement as appropriate.

Certificate of Completion

All participants of Vital Skills have the opportunity to earn a certificate of attendance by completing the summative assessment to evidence their learning on the course.

Questions?

Not sure if this course is right for you? Want to ask questions? Contact the course facilitator via email at Victoria@befriending.co.uk