Recruiting Mentors (or any high-responsibility volunteers that will work with clients)

Recruitment is a mentality.

That's a phrase I heard while preparing for an online presentation for the National Collaborative Mentoring Webinar Series, coordinated by The Mentoring Partnership of Southwest Pennsylvania. It was said after we had talked about the challenges to recruiting mentors for youth, and that so many people want a mathematical formula for successful recruitment, or a magic bullet activity that makes recruitment happen - but there isn't one. We all agreed that successful recruitment comes from a mentality that permeates the organization, one that prompts employees and volunteers to always be looking for opportunities for outreach and partnership, and where all employees and volunteers are advocates for the program, regardless of the tasks they undertake.

This web page was created using resources compiled for that mentoring webinar series. It has specific recommendations to recruit mentors for youth, but these recommendations could be used for most any high-responsibility, high-commitment volunteer role working with clients, such as counselors, tutors, firefighters, CASA volunteers, etc.

Screening and a quick response is essential

Imagine that a high-profile PR company creates a wonderful TV advertisement to recruit mentors for your organization, and all the local TV stations show the ad a few times every day for many weeks. Sounds great, right? Now imagine a family watching that ad and one of them saying, "I called that organization. They never called me back. What a really poorly-run organization!" And then all of those family members tell their friends, who tell their family, who share on Facebook and blog about it... and a few other people have the same experience and tell their friends whenever your ad comes on TV. Now, instead of your ad generating interest, it's creating a lot of frustration and stories that don't reflect very well on your program.

In other words, none of these recommendations will help your organization if you do not have a process in place that quickly screens in appropriate candidates, quickly screens out inappropriate candidates, and provides a quick, complete response to people that inquire about mentoring. Without a great process to quickly screen in promising candidates and screen out candidates who wouldn’t be appropriate, you are going to generate bad public relations. People who don’t get a quick reply to their inquiry, don’t get complete answers to their questions, don’t understand why their application was rejected, etc., will share their bad experiences with their networks - their associates on Facebook, their family, their co-workers, etc.

Also, notify applicants promptly and respectfully if they do not meet program requirements to be a mentor. If appropriate, invite them in your program in another, on-mentoring role (see later in this page), or encourage them to look at volunteer matching web sites and apps for opportunities with other organizations.

You have something people want.

Great candidates for mentoring ARE out there, HUNGRY for these type of deep experiences. Those managing mentoring programs shouldn’t panic over the talk that everyone wants micro volunteering/short-term volunteering, etc. Certainly microvolunteering is very popular and that is a preference of many, but there are also lots of people that want a long-term, meaningful commitment out of volunteering. Look at Quora or YahooAnswers or other online Q & A and see all the people looking for deep, long-term volunteering - people really are out there! Just as not everyone wants to date lots of people - they want to get married and be in a long-term, committed relationship - a lot of people really would love to be a mentor for your organization.

Everything you say & do is a recruitment message

Promotion is about building your organization’s image and inspiring people to act. Every message your organization sends out is, at least indirectly, a mentor recruitment message. Every Facebook status update, every post, every newsletter story - it affects how people think about your organization and about volunteering with you. If most of your letters to supporters and speeches to civic groups are about how your organization needs money, people are going to get the impression that your organization needs money much more than people. If most of your messages are about the difference your volunteers make in the lives of young people, people are going to feel an emotional connection to what you do. If you post photos online of people having fun, of people being happy, etc., you are creating an image of an organization that would be pleasant to be a part of. If you post messages that thank your mentors, you are saying to potential candidates, "We value our mentors!" If you don't answer questions or criticisms posted online about your organization, that may make someone wonder how responsive you would be for mentors.

One of my favorite users of Facebook is Peace Corps, because every message they send out is, at least indirectly, a recruitment message. For instance, when they ask on a Facebook status update, "What did you love most about being a Peace Corps volunteer?", and people respond, the responses from alumni, and even the organization's response to criticism or questions from non-Peace Corps alumni, become recruitment messages for new volunteers.

Messages that work - and those that don't

Messages that attract potential mentors:

testimonials from mentors, young people or others regarding your program
media or other third-party articles about the importance of mentoring
evaluation of your program showing it’s effective
photos that show mentoring as fun, important, impactful, etc.
stressing that mentoring is NOT for everyone (makes it exclusive!)
“Make a difference”
“Are you up to the challenge?” (again, a lot of people would be attracted to the idea that you DON'T take everyone, that if they were accepted, they would be "special")

Messages that do NOT attract mentors:

“We need” messages (need rather than opportunity)
announcements regarding your annual report (zzzz)
boring photos (people sitting at desks or in a row of chairs, listening to something)
“We have lots of work to do”
“We need volunteers”

That doesn't mean that you shouldn't post about your annual report - you most certainly should. But remember that all of your outreach, collectively, is creating an image of your organization. You want that image to be inspiring, one that draws the right people to support your organization as mentors.

Everyone at your organization is a recruiter

Everyone at your organization - every volunteer, every employee, every long-term consultant - should be able to say what your does, just very basically, that your organization recruits mentors for young people, and where people can find complete information online about mentoring. The accountant, the human resources manager, the six-month marketing consultant: all should be able to say what the organization does, in their own words (no “canned” speech) and what the web address is. Also, all employees, consultants and volunteers, regardless of their responsibilities, should be invited to presentations on success stories - it will inspire them about the organization they work for AND make them better recruiters with family and friends.

Leverage other organizations and associations

Build partnerships/relationships with the organizations named below - don’t just contact them about mentor recruitment. Attend their events, “like” their Facebook postings (and comment on them!), let your volunteers and staff know about their events, etc. Invite them to your open houses, let them know about new videos you have posted on YouTube, etc. Do not make your very first engagement with any of these organizations a plea for mentors.

Once you have made at least that first connection, ask these organizations if they would put an item in their newsletter to members or staff about your mentor recruitment. You can also ask to speak to their membership or staff about mentoring. Organizations you should contact:

very large businesses/corporations
corporate volunteer councils
very large government offices
business associations, the chamber of commerce, etc.
minority professional associations
unions
civic organizations (Kiwanis, Junior League, Jaycees, Lions, Rotary, Elks, etc.)
adults fraternities and sororities
special-interest groups (Retired Senior Volunteer Program/RSVP, American Association of Retired Persons/AARP, medieval reenactors, historical societies, local gaming associations)
universities, colleges, for-profit technical schools (and graduates of such technical schools), etc.
communities of faith, ethical societies/humanist societies,
nonprofits who may work with people that would make excellent mentors. For instance, Adelante Mujeres in Forest Grove, Oregon works with the large Latino population in the area, helping them to start businesses, explore careers, learn how support their children in school and college, etc. Many of their clients would make excellent volunteers for other organizations, because volunteering would help their clients be more connected to the community. What nonprofits in your area have clients that might make great mentors in your program?

Your web site needs to be super-detailed!

Please see this web page, also on my site, The Information About & For Volunteers You Should Have on Your Web Site, for details on what your organization should have on its web site in order to be able to recruit and support volunteers. If your organization or department involves volunteers, or wants to, there are certain things your organization or department must have on its web site - not by law, of course, but from a point of view of ethics and credibility. To not have this basic information about volunteer engagement on your web site says that your organization or department takes volunteers for granted, does not value volunteers beyond money saved in salaries, or is not really ready to involve volunteers. In addition to what I have on that page, your web site also needs to have this information:

complete, detailed how to be a mentor
why to be a mentor (benefits for mentor AND mentee)
what mentors are doing (literally - what do they do)
testimonials from mentors and those that have benefited from such
photos
information on how mentors are screened (be up front about criminal background checks - and who pays for such)
information on what makes a great mentor
information on what would exclude someone from becoming a mentor (be frank)
videos

Use Third-Party web sites & volunteer matching apps

I already explore using third-party web sites & apps on this page, so I won't repeat myself here.

Social media

Use Facebook: create a Facebook page, post to it regularly, and focus your posts on success stories, links to media articles on mentoring in general, etc. - not just pleas for volunteers! See the earlier part of this page talking about messaging.
Use BlueSky and/or Mastodon: make sure your profile description has your city and state, and that your posts sometimes say the name of your city (and your state, if there would be confusion by someone seeing your message out of context). Also, look at other organizations using social media for tags you should use on messaging. For instance, if you were in the Portland, Oregon area, I would say that, whenever you can, tag your messages with #youth #pdx and #volunteer. Other tags that would be appropriate for mentoring: #ifionlyhad24hoursiwould (a tag that started trending on one of the social media channels I follow when I first drafted this page - in other words, leverage phrases that are trending, as appropriate), #helpothers, and tags associated with various days designated for doing good for youth: #youthskillsday, #characterday, #youthday your post. Tagging your posts means they can be found by anyone searching for or following those particular tags.
If you use Instagram, remember that this is a VISUAL medium. Pictures, yes. Text heavy graphics, no.
Do NOT create a gateway between Facebook and and other social media, where everything posted to one automatically gets posted to the other. These are DIFFERENT communications platforms. A long post on Facebook will end up truncated and nonsensical. It also makes you look lazy.
Engage on social media: ask questions, answer questions, respond to comments, like other organization's status updates and messaging, etc.
Encourage staff to use their own personal social media accounts to share messages and "like" messages.
Far more tips on this page, Daily, Mandatory, Minimal Tasks for Nonprofits on social media (includes how to find tags you should be using
Share videos of your program - or any video that illustrates the power of mentoring. Share these videos on your social media channels, via email, etc. They can be hosted for free at YouTube or Vimeo.

You don’t have to adopt a new social media channel until you hear about it for *at least* three months from several staff, volunteers, etc. Wait for it to “catch on” before you invest the time.

You DO have to do this! Don't have time? What about involving volunteers to help with social media activities? There are a lot of people who might not be able to make the commitment to mentor who would LOVE to help with this type of work!

Leverage National and International "Days" and "Weeks"

There are oh-so-many days in the USA designated to recognize volunteers or encourage volunteerism. In addition to having an incredible volume of high-quality books on volunteer engagement, Energize Inc. offers a comprehensive list of these days and weeks. Use these days to issue press releases in recognition of the events and your own mentoring program and results, to launch a new video that illustrates what's great about your mentoring program, etc. Many of these days come with tags you can use (like #youthday).

Recruiting Local Volunteers To Increase Diversity Among the Ranks

Having plenty of volunteers to undertake all the roles at your organization usually isn't enough to say a volunteering program is successful. Another indicator of success is if your volunteers represent a variety of ages, education-levels, economic levels and other demographics, or are a reflection of your local community. Most organizations don't want volunteers to be a homogeneous group; they want to reach a variety of people as volunteers (and donors and other supporters, for that matter). This resource will help you think about how to recruit for diversity, or to reach a specific demographic. This link will take you to detailed information about recruiting to increase diversity among your volunteers.

Create non-mentoring volunteering opportunities

Sometimes, people need a taste of an organization before they are willing to commit more fully in a role like mentoring. Volunteers can help with social media, web site management, videos (uploading, editing, tagging, etc.), photo sites (uploading, editing, tagging, writing descriptions, etc.), events, etc. You might even want to explore microvolunteering, short-term assignments for tech volunteers, and creating one-time, short-term group volunteering activities as taster activities for potential volunteers. These people may not eventually become mentors, but if they have a positive experience and feel inspired by your organization, they will probably refer family, friends and colleagues to you.

Be Nimble!

Email is often derided now as an effective way to reach people. But mentoring expert Lisa Bottomley pointed out in a conversation for our workshop that a mentoring organization that she works with had great success with a one-time, highly-personalized email to sent to some key volunteers, telling them about a specific mentoring need and asking them to let their networks know about this particular need. That email worked - but if the organization tried that every month, it probably wouldn't.

And where did I find most of the ideas listed on this page? Some I have undertaken myself. Some I see working on the social media and web site activities of other organizations. I steal marketing ideas - from nonprofits, from fast food restaurants, from anywhere and everywhere.

The point: always be thinking about ways to connect and get the word out. What works now may not in six months. What didn't work six months ago may work now. Ask all employees and volunteers to be looking for outreach opportunities and tell them to whom they should make those suggestions - and credit them when a strategy works!

More resources

This is a list of a variety of quick read articles regarding recruitment, curated by mentoring expert Lisa Bottomley.
This downloadable Men in Mentoring recruitment handbook.
An article specific to youth initiated recruitment.

If you want detailed information on how to work with online volunteers, and how to fully integrate virtual volunteering in to all of your community engagement, including how to set up and support an online mentoring program, see:

The Last Virtual Volunteering Guidebook

available for purchase as a paperback & an ebook

from Energize, Inc.
Completely revised and updated, & includes lots more advice about microvolunteering!
Published January 2014.

Also see

What I’ve learned as a mentor online.
A blog from November 2017 on what I have learned as an online mentor for a colleague in Afghanistan over the 10 years we've been working together.
Being an Online Mentor: A Real Relationship, A Real Commitment (What I've Learned as an Online Mentor).
A blog from 2008, talking about my experiences as an online mentor in various programs up to that date.
Recruiting Volunteers To Serve in Difficult, Even Dangerous Roles
Some volunteering is perceived as difficult by potential volunteers and the general public, because of the clients that volunteers will work with or the kind of activities volunteers must undertake. Examples: serving as a Big Brother/Big Sister, mentoring a foster child, assisting adults with developmental disabilities, volunteering in a shelter for women experiencing domestic violence, or staffing a suicide hotline. Some volunteering is perceived as difficult AND dangerous, such as fire fighting or search and rescue or volunteering in prisons or jails. Some volunteering roles may seem too intimidating to new recruits - so how do you recruit for them? This resource can help.
Recruiting Volunteers: A Step-by-Step Guide to QUICKLY Getting the Volunteers You Want
These are simple, immediate things you can do to get volunteers.
Using Video to Support Online Volunteers/Remote Volunteers.
Video is a great way to further support volunteers, and your computer probably already has all of the tools you need to make a video, or to engage in a live video conversation with others. Video isn't something to use only with online volunteers or remote volunteers (those providing onsite service at a different location than yours). It's also a tool you can use with new and current volunteers. In addition to an organization producing videos for volunteers, it can also work the other way around: volunteers can produce videos for organizations. This resource provides information on your options, and links to my own short video on the subject.
Recognizing Online Volunteers & Using the Internet to Honor ALL Volunteers
Recognition helps volunteers stay committed to your organization, and gets the attention of potential volunteers -- and donors -- as well. Organizations need to fully recognize the efforts of remote, online volunteers, as well as those onsite, and not differentiate the value of these two forms of service. Organizations should also incorporate use of the Internet to recognize the efforts of ALL volunteers, both online and onsite. With cyberspace, it's never been easier to show volunteers -- and the world -- that volunteers are a key part of your organization's successes. This new resource provides a long list of suggestions for both honoring online volunteers and using the Internet to recognize ALL volunteers that contribute to your organization.

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Recruiting Mentors

(or any high-responsibility volunteers that will work with clients at your nonprofit, NGO, charity, school or other program)