Volunteer Recruitment System
The next system you should create is Volunteer Recruitment.
We’d all probably agree that recruiting volunteers is one of the hardest things about our job. Creating a system won’t completely solve the issue, but I think you’d notice a difference 2 years into a good system.
A ministry without a good volunteer recruitment system probably tends to recruit when only needs come up. We probably recruit a little too much from the stage or in broad communications. We probably tend to recruit with a little too much urgency.
There are 2 pieces to this that overlap. You should have a yearly system in an effort to be fully staffed each fall, but you should also have an individual system so that once you have someone who is interested there are specific steps for them to go through.
Your yearly system for recruiting leaders should really get started for each fall in late winter or early spring. That is when you should have a few different strategies kick off & you should already have a few things on the calendar by the start of the year.
A few of those strategies might be something like…
Leverage your leaders
Your circle is limited. Your influence is limited. But the circle and influence of all of your leaders combined is vast. At least once a year, lead your volunteers through a process…a SYSTEM…that has them thinking about those in their circle who might be a fit, and then equip them on how to reach out to those individuals.
Try something like this:
Each winter, have them think of two people in their circle who might be a good fit as a SGL. Then ask them to pray over those names.
Have them text both names to you—not for you to follow up with, but to pray for.
Ask them to connect with those people (via text, email, phone, etc.) over the next two weeks to let them know that, as a team, you’re all praying for & looking for new leaders & that their names came up. They can share why they currently serve as SGLs. , Without applying pressure, they can express that they would love for those two people to think it over.
After two weeks, your SGLs can follow up with those people to ask if they’re interested in learning more about what it would look like to get involved. And if they are, those names can then be passed along to you, a coach, or another key leader.
If you (as the youth director, key leader, etc.), receive the name of someone who is interested, then they move on to your individual recruiting system.
Give them a taste
Find an opportunity in late winter or spring for folks to either view the weekly environment they’re interested in attending or have an event that gives them a chance to get involved without committing to something.
Celebrate
If you’re celebrating what is happening in your ministry in front of your whole church on a regular basis, it’s going to be so much easier to get people inspired to serve in it. Have some systematic, yearly things that you know you are celebrating in front of your whole church. That might be through messages on Sunday morning, videos in service, social media, whatever.
Interest meeting or an orientation training.
These are probably on your calendars in some way shape or form, so I’m not going to dive into those.
So, systematically, there are a lot of things you can be doing to start your recruiting season at the same time every year with the same focus. However, you still need a system for individuals when they do show an interest in getting involved.
If someone came up to you & said they were interested in getting involved in youth ministry, what would happen next? If you would have asked me that 10 years ago, I could have given you a few answers that would have happened at some point, probably. But there really wasn’t a clear path. That ended up putting me in some difficult circumstances & it left some potential volunteers frustrated & confused at times.
Here are a few things that should be in that system somewhere…
Application
Background Check
Interview/Conversation
Sneak previews
Equipping & Training
Job descriptions
When someone asks you that question, you should know the process. At my last church, here’s roughly what worked best for us.
Interest > Lead Small book > application & background check > lunch/interview > sneak preview > follow up.
When we don’t start recruiting until there is a need, then we’re already too late. It must be an ongoing process. In order to be fully staffed and ready for the fall, our most important recruiting season will most likely be late winter or early spring. If you wait until summer to recruit, well . . . we all know what summer attendance is like. Every year, plan out your recruiting strategy for the next year.
Put dates on the calendar. Create job descriptions. Have resources like Lead Small available for potential new leaders.
You may not need to do everything we’ve talked about,
but grab an idea or two from here and do something to take your strategy to the next level. It’s such a worthwhile endeavor.
The better you develop systems for the times and ways this will happen, the more effective it will be.
Click below to deep dive into another system.
