Case study by Euradiponet
Matching volunteers’ and organizations’ expectations.
Intervention Strategies
Target group of volunteering are mostly the weak
segments of the population: the disabled,
children, elderly people and economically disadvantaged families.
The activities
of volunteering are directed towards the development of social and health care.
All categories of workers are represented in
volunteering, but students and retired people are most because of having much
more flexible time at their disposal.
Women are the ones more involved in
volunteering.
Recruitment takes place mainly in work places and in
volunteer association offices. Most
associations organize special events for recruiting but very few volunteers
give their availability in these occasions.
Local press and meetings are used for recruiting but it’s to be underlined that
the internet and e-mailing is still very little used in recruitment. Occasions
in which volunteer associations introduce themselves to the community are:
a)
Woman day (8th March),
b)
Labor day (1st May),
c)
Spring day,
d)
Game and sport events,
e)
Local festival
f)
Youth musical concerts.
In these occasions leaflets are delivered in the
stands of the associations.
In the leaflets there is a section in which are listed
duties and rights of potential volunteers.
Often the same volunteers are the those who advertise
their associations, especially the ones who matured a strong sense of
belonging.
Volunteer’s qualifications are always checked and
taken into consideration: for about fifty per cent of volunteers an initial
training is provided and the other fifty per cent of volunteers have already
specific competences ready to be used. A tutoring period for new volunteers is
planned. All associations provide for a phase of selection and a phase of
initial training in order to match the interests of the volunteer and the
demands of the associations. In addition to the training and a mentoring
program, interviews, specific skills
tests, submission of a curriculum vitae mentioning the professional
qualifications are taken into account. In few cases associations haven’t got
formal procedures to check skills from volunteers, but an exploration of the
interests of the volunteers always happens though informal talks with the referents of the
associations. .
No payment is given for volunteering activities, but
repayment of expenses and acknowledgements are given.
Insurance cover for volunteers is provided in Italy in all cases.
An application form is provided for recruitment in
almost all cases.
A web site is used by the organizations in the
recruitment phase, mainly to present in which of their areas volunteers are
needed and in addition to that for spreading information about the association
and attracting the attention from potential volunteers.
The subjects involved in the phase of recruitment in
the associations are mainly the same volunteers, the managers, and to a lesser
extend specialized staff as psychologists and experts in human resources.
The main instruments used for selecting the staff are
the personal talks, formal and informal, and to a lesser degree, the curriculum
vitae and specific recruitment forms
Italian associations claim that the
process about recruitment is easy to access and in most cases they try to have
a feedback from volunteers related to the recruitment process.
Motivation, very often, is more important than professional skills but
it is necessary to point out that for association involved in health care specific
competences are requested.
It is pointed out that volunteer
associations give great importance to
the phase of recruitment.
Although for some it is more
structured and for others less formal, all organizations recognize the
importance of taking care of this delicate phase.
