Targeting older members through a press release Your press release may pack a bigger punch if you combine a recruitment pitch with a human interest story about an older member. This sample release was adapted from interviews with members of...
Permalink | Posted to Recruitment and Placement
Targeting older members through a press release
Your press release may pack a bigger punch if you combine a recruitment pitch with a human interest story about an older member.
This sample release was adapted from interviews with members of the ESD 112's Washington Reading Corps (Vancouver, WA). Some things to remember about creating your own release are:
Permalink | Posted to Recruitment and Placement
Learn how one program recruited Spanish speakers
The Ready to Learn Providence AmeriCorps program serves children, families, and child care providers in Providence, Rhode Island where many families speak Spanish (and other languages) in their homes. In their child care centers and schools, children are learning English, but parents are often uncomfortable or unable to talk with the teacher because of a language barrier. Having AmeriCorps members who can bridge that gap provides much needed support for the children, so that they are not the ones always translating for their parents.
The first step towards recruiting diverse members was to create and distribute bilingual recruitment materials. To do this they:
In addition, trainings were conducted in Spanish and English during the second year of the program. Use of their native language created a more comfortable atmosphere for Spanish speakers to express their opinions in discussions.
After the first year of the program, word-of-mouth from the members spread the word to the Spanish-speaking community.
Laura Firtel of Notre Dame AmeriCorps in Apopka, FL also recruits bilinugal members. The program tutors and mentors children and youth, offers youth and adult education classes, and works with survivors of domestic violence.
Click the play button to hear her talk about the importance of personalizing bilingual pitches, and not just plastering a community with flyers.
Get the Flash Player to see this video.
Go back to Recruit for Diversity
The importance of learning about other cultures
Experienced AmeriCorps and VISTA staff agree: "To recruit an ethnically diverse team, it's important to learn about other cultures!"
Addell Anderson, Program Director of the Michigan AmeriCorps Partnership in Detroit, MI works with many cultures in her city. This program has grown to include at least eight graduate and undergraduate programs at the University of Michigan that annually serve nearly 40 diverse nonprofit organizations, primarily based in Detroit.
Click the play button to hear her talk about the importance of building relationships with members of different communities.
Get the Flash Player to see this video.
Part of learning about a culture is "getting" how it talks about volunteering. Not all languages have a word for "service," but most have a tradition of volunteering.
Khouan Rodriguez is the Project Director at the AmeriCorps ACCESS Project in Greensboro, North Carolina. ACCESS Project seeks to help refugees and immigrants gain better access to human services, build bridges with mainstream society, and become economically self-sufficient. For the 2007-08 service year, their 67 members represented 14 countries and spoke 14 different languages.
Click the play button to hear Rodriguez talk about how different cultures define volunteering.
Get the Flash Player to see this video.
Research is another way to learn about a new culture. Anderson's program serves a population that is one fifth Arab and Chaldean. After she realized that many of her staff and corps members were not familiar with these cultures (and made false assumptions about them), she did some research and put together a fact sheet on recruiting members from the Arab and Chaldean communities.
Recruiting Members of Arab and Chaldean Descent provides Anderson's fact sheet and explains how she made it.
Go back to Recruit for Diversity
Create a model of diversity
In some communities, it can take extra effort to recruit members from ethnic and cultural minority groups. However, building a multicultural corps increases the perspectives of your team and provides a model of diversity for the community.
Linda Burkholder, of the Youth Development Project at the Folsom Cordova Community Partnership in Rancho Cordova, CA, has created a multicultural VISTA team. Her program works to mobilize and integrate resources that enhance the education, health, and well being of the children and families in the community.
Click the play button to hear Burkholder talk about the benefits of having an ethnically diverse VISTA corps, and about how members can be leadership models for others in the community.
Get the Flash Player to see this video.
If you want to build a more ethnically diverse team, the following resources can help.
Go back to Recruit For Diversity
Continue reading "Members from Ethnic and Cultural Minority Groups" »
Teach members how to live on less
Living on the living allowance is a challenge. Help members start off right with training and tools for budgeting before they get in over their heads.
Go back to Prepare for New Members
Set members up for success
The first few weeks are one of the toughest times for new members. During this period they are learning the ins and outs of your program, your community, and their assignment. At the same time, they are learning to live in a new environment and face new personal challenges.
Set members up for success with tools that will help them understand their roles and anticipate challenges before their service begins.
Use the following
Find more sample manuals and tips for creating your own program handbook on the Manuals 101 page in the Supervise section.
Go on to Helping members make ends meet
Continue reading "Preparing Members for Their Assignments" »
Build excitement for the year ahead
Help new members feel valued and connected from the outset by sending a communication that lets them know how happy you are they're joining your team.
Use this sample as a starting point:
For a sample welcome packet and other useful resources, visit the Put Out the Welcome Mat page in the Supervise section.
Setting the stage for success
"Because there's a long time between when we select AmeriCorps members and when they start their service, we plan to have contact with them at least once a month in the intervening time. Something as simple as an e-mail or a postcard can keep them engaged and get them excited about what's to come." --Bethany, Admission Possible, St. Paul, MN
Now that you've selected your new members, use the time before they arrive to lay the groundwork for a successful year. Use these resources for:
Go on to Getting to know your members
Interviewing strategies to help determine if candidates and programs are a good fit
The type of interview you choose will depend on your program needs, number and location of applicants, and the people in your program who need to participate in the process.
Phone Interviews
Phone interviews are usually much shorter than in-person interviews and primarily offer you the chance to find out if applicants meet the minimum requirements for the position. They are also appropriate for out-of-area applicants. The phone interview gives applicants a chance to hear more about the position and decide if they are still interested. If the phone interview goes well and your position and the applicant are a good match, an individual or group interview may be the next step.
Individual Interviews
In the individual interview, a single candidate is interviewed by one or more staff members. It's a good idea for candidates to interview with more than one person. This gives everyone who will be working together an opportunity to evaluate fit. It also gives candidates a balanced introduction to your program and the position. While it may be intimidating for a candidate to be interviewed by several people at once, this is the most time-efficient way to conduct an individual interview. Another option is to have candidates come back for multiple interviews with different people. This can be less intimidating, but can draw out the interview process and requires a larger time commitment from the applicant.
Group InterviewsGroup Interviews provide an opportunity to interview several candidates at the same time. It's important that the candidates have the same interview experience no matter who facilitates their group.
No matter which interview type you choose, these resources and sample interview questions will help you get the most out of each interview:
Go back to Interviewing Applicants
One program's process
Schedule pre-screenings in the early evening, so potential members and VISTA staff can come after work.
CONNECT (Orange, CA) asks partner sites to recruit their own members. But, it provides a series of pre-screening meetings to give potential members an introduction to VISTA service, answer questions, and conduct interviews.
Click the play button to hear CONNECT's Kristi Piatkowski describe what happens at a pre-screening, which attracts from 10 to 25 applicants.
Piatkowski invites VISTA leaders and members to the pre-screening so they can provide an on-the-ground view of what VISTA life is like.
Click the play button for an explanation of what current VISTAs add to the session.
Click here to access pre-screening forms and resources used at the presentation.
Since CONNECT started the pre-screenings, fewer than 10 percent of applicants have opted out of service. The sessions also are a huge timesaver for CONNECT.
Click the play button to hear Piatkowski explain the benefits.
Go back to Helping Partner Sites Recruit
Continue reading "Pre-Screening Applicants for Partner Sites" »
A checklist and tools for success
"Having a checklist helps people stay on track to eliminate last minute recruitment and desperate measures." --Kristi Piatkowski, CONNECT (Orange, CA)
Kristi Piatkowski of CONNECT (Orange, CA) knew she had to provide support when she turned recruitment over to the 36 VISTA sites in her First 5 Service Corps program.
To make the process less intimidating, Piatkowski developed a recruitment timetable that's part of a marketing toolkit for partner sites. Here's what the toolkit contains:
Click the play button to hear Piatkowski talk about how her program introduces the toolkit to the sites.
Click the play button to hear how this process has turned partner site staff into effective recruiters and resulted in more local applicants.
In addition to providing resources, CONNECT helps its partners by holding pre-screening sessions for applicants throughout the 10-week recruitment period.
To learn more about how these sessions are structured and the related resources, click here.
Go back to Helping Partner Sites Recruit
How one program works with partner sites to recruit members
"Agencies that do their own recruitment are more likely to secure AmeriCorps members for their agencies versus the ones that wait for referrals from our program." --Khouan Rodriguez, ACCESS Project (Greensboro, NC)
The AmeriCorps ACCESS Project at University of North Carolina Greensboro (Greensboro, NC) used this process in working with 30 site agencies in a dozen counties during the 2007-08 service year:
ACCESS also encourages successful members to sign up for a second year. Learn more about this retention practice.
Go back to Helping Partner Sites Recruit
Providing sites with resources and steps to follow
Partner sites often have more buy-in to national service when they're charged with recruiting their own members.
Here are some tips from the AmeriCorps ACCESS Project at University of North Carolina Greensboro (Greensboro, NC) on how to approach the process:
Read about the ACCESS Project's recruitment process.
Examine one VISTA project's tools and guide to recruitment for its partner sites.
Go back to Advertise and Market Your Position
Recruiting locally in the Alaska bush
Almost 90% of RurAL CAP's 59 VISTA and AmeriCorps members come from the rural and remote Alaska villages where they serve. These tribal members help their communities develop environmental protection, energy education, and wellness programs.
RurAL CAP puts recruitment in the hands of traditional hosts such as tribal and city councils, but they provide everything the sites need to do the job.
Click the play button to hear Ellen Kazary describe the resources sent to local contacts.
Read RurAL CAP's best practices for long-distance local recruitment.
Go back to Recruiting for Diversity
Attracting members from the late teens to 60-plus
Since inclusion is a guiding principle of national service, it makes sense to seek members who represent various age groups in your community.
Recent High School Grads
Offering service opportunities to young recruits, fresh out of high school, can be especially fruitful. Often, service programs can be more understanding and flexible than a traditional employer.
When working with recruits fresh out of high school, consider this advice from Notre Dame AmeriCorps (Apopka, FL):
Family Service Corps AmeriCorps (Butler, PA) has members ranging from recent high school graduates to senior citizens. Director Karen Zapp says she recruits service recipients from partner sites as well as volunteers in those agencies.
Click the play button to hear more about attracting teen members.
Get the Flash Player to see this video.
College Students
Many service programs draw their recruits from the ranks of college students.
The Iowa Campus Compact VISTA program distributes postcards at college fairs, in campus placement offices, and campus mail rooms.
Download a copy of the postcard that introduces VISTA, the specific program, and has room for potential candidates to provide contact information.
Enlist your local college's design program to create a postcard and/or brochure as a service-learning project. Consider producing materials in different languages and targeting different age groups.
Retirees
Retirees also represent fertile recruiting ground. An estimated 35.6 million Americans are in this group, and they bring diverse work experience and skills to your program. Learn how to recruit, train, and support retirees in this 10 minute tutorial.
Check out the effective practices at The Resource Center, provided by Temple University Center for Intergenerational Learning, on finding and motivating older members.
Go back to Recruiting for Diversity
Some steps in the recruitment and placement process
Recruiting members with disabilities can be a powerful win-win arrangement. Such an individual can bring a unique perspective and life experience to your team. In return, service can boost the member's self-esteem, provide valuable experience, and (in some cases) supplement a Social Security disability payment. Service can also be the gateway to long-term employment for people who have had difficulty breaking into the job market because of their disabilities.
Marea Hunter of Parasol Tahoe Community Foundation AmeriCorps (Incline Village, NV) advises programs that want to attract members with disabilities to:
Other successful programs offer the following advice:
Identifying potential members:
Often the best way to recruit members with disabilities is from agencies serving disabled clients. Some of these agencies may already be partner sites.
Click the play button to hear how Karen Zapp, director of Family Service Corps/AmeriCorps (Butler, PA), approaches sites.
Get the Flash Player to see this video.
Once these members are on board, you'll find that they are a great resource for recruiting additional individuals with disabilities from among their circle of friends and contacts.
Interviewing potential members:
It's important to remember that disabilities are visible and invisible; disclosed and nondisclosed; diagnosed and nondiagnosed. Zapp, stresses that you need to treat everyone with respect and resist making assumptions. When interviewing candidates, Zapp always asks if they need an accommodation.
Click the play button to learn how she frames the question in a nonjudgmental way.
Get the Flash Player to see this video.
Placing members with disabilities:
Making sure your workplace is accessible can be beneficial not only to members with physical handicaps, but to everyone. Sam Castello, of TWC Youth Service Corps (Silver City, NM), says "universal design" elements are important in both the environment and in how positions are structured.
Click the play button to hear him explain.
Get the Flash Player to see this video.
Both Castello and Zapp find that Corps members benefit greatly from serving in a diverse team and often need little, if any, coaching in how to interact with the disabled member. However, you may need to pave the way with staff at partner sites.
Click the play button to see how Zapp approaches this issue.
Get the Flash Player to see this video.
For additional tips on recruiting members with disabilities, check out the strategies of the National Service Inclusion Project.
Go back to Recruiting for Diversity
Turn to partner agencies for new members
Service recipients are often motivated to "give back" and may also benefit greatly from the support available through the coaching and leadership of a national service program.
Peggy Friedenberg of Virginia Community Corps (Richmond, VA) has a number of members who are "TANF" (Temporary Aid to Needy Families) recipients and clients of her Corps' partner sites.
Click the play button to hear how she recruits these members.
Get the Flash Player to see this video.
Members will often refer other service recipients who are friends, relatives, or people they've come in contact with through public assistance programs.
If you recruit from this population, you may find it helpful to build basic job training into your member development. Click the play button to hear Friedenberg explain why.
Get the Flash Player to see this video.
Vicki Ginda, director of AmeriCorps Polk Reads (Bartow, FL), recruits parents and caregivers of the children served in her tutoring program, as well as older students in a special education program.
Like Friedenberg, she finds that these members are able to add an insider perspective and help other program staff see service recipients in a new light.
Click the play button to learn how everyone benefited when she created a job share position for a young man who received special education services.
Get the Flash Player to see this video.
Go back to Recruiting for Diversity
Continue reading "Recruiting Low-Income Members and Service Recipients" »
Encouraging members to renew their service
Consider taping a presentation by the second-year members and using clips as testimonials in other recruitment efforts.
Encouraging members to sign up for another term has a number of advantages. These experienced members:
Recruiting Second Years
Marea Hunter, director of the Parasol Tahoe Community Foundation AmeriCorps (Incline Village, NV), says recruiting second-year members often is as simple as letting them know it's a viable option.
Click the play button to hear more on this.
Get the Flash Player to see this video.
Notre Dame Mission Volunteers-AmeriCorps (Baltimore, MD) sends letters (in mid-March) to members recommended by site supervisors, asking them to join again and also thanking them for their service.
They also have a panel of second-year members present at their annual midyear conference. The panel allows second year members to openly discuss what they have gained and how they have grown in their second term. It is very inspiring for current members to hear advice from their peers on the benefits of staying for a second year, as well as a great way to recognize the people who've stayed.
See the letter that Notre Dame sends to potential second-year members.
The AmeriCorps ACCESS Project at the University of North Carolina Greensboro (Greensboro, NC) also asks successful members to apply for a second term.
See the application form that ACCESS uses.
Placing Second Years
The Parasol Tahoe Community Foundation AmeriCorps (Incline Village, NV) finds that second-year members do well when they're given new assignments, rather than continuing with the same work. Director Marea Hunter meets with returning members to see how she can build on their
past experiences.
Click the play button to learn more about this practice.
Get the Flash Player to see this video.
Another program that has been extremely successful in attracting second-year members is Notre Dame AmeriCorps (Apopka, FL).
Click the play button to hear how program director Laura Firtel believes that serving a second term benefits both the community and the member.
Get the Flash Player to see this video.
Firtel recommends building reflection on service into monthly meetings, so members are aware of the impact they're having emotionally, socially, and intellectually. When they realize all they've accomplished "it's hard [for them] to turn down a second term."
Go back to Recruiting for Retention
Giving VISTA applicants a true picture
If VISTA applicants have a realistic idea of what it's like to survive on the living allowance, there's a greater chance they'll stick with the program. As part of that process, Dustin Speakman of The Ohio Benefit Bank (Columbus, OH) has new recruits apply for food stamps BEFORE they attend pre-service orientation.
First, Speakman gives new members a budget showing how food stamps will help them stretch their stipend. He also explains that applying for food stamps before PSO can increase the amount of their benefit.
Click the play button to hear Speakman describe how this process gives new members insights into their clients and their VISTA service.
Look at a copy of a budget with and without food stamps.
Members fill out a survey about applying for food stamps. At their first meeting after PSO, they talk about what they experienced. Click the play button to hear Speakman discuss what a typical debriefing reveals.
Go back to Recruiting for Retention
Tips for avoiding attrition
"Sell service first, benefits second [when recruiting new members]. Remember that VISTA is not a job but a service opportunity. Ensure that candidates have an understanding that they'll be part of AmeriCorps*VISTA and not an employee of your organization." --Emily Kubiszewski, American Red Cross of Indianapolis (IN)
A good way to "recruit for retention" is to recognize red flags when screening applicants. If they're looking for a "job" rather than a unique service opportunity, they may quit as soon as a better "paying" opportunity comes along.
Emily Kubiszewski, VISTAs for American Red Cross of Indianapolis, says she doesn't recruit at unemployment offices or job fairs because "a majority of attendees want a far more lucrative opportunity." Instead, she targets university service and career fairs.
Linda Burkholder, Folsom Cordova (CA) Family Support Services, says she looks at the applicant's motivation during screening. Press the play button to hear why she thinks this is the most important factor.
Coleman Smith, Rocky Mountain Youth Corps (Steamboat Springs, CO), also focuses on motivation in interviews. Check out this list of screening questions, which can be adapted for your program.
Go back to Recruiting for Retention
How it affects retention
Sometimes it's better to avoid using words like capacity building and sustainability that can be somewhat intimidating. Try to break down the assignment with concrete examples and phrases like program coordination and resource development.
One issue VISTA supervisors face is helping people understand how capacity building differs from direct service. Knowing how "hands on" the job is could affect an applicant's decision to serve. It also may impact whether a new member successfully carries out the VISTA mission over the long term.
Kristi Piatkowski of CONNECT(Orange, CA) has both VISTAs and AmeriCorps members in her First 5 programs. She tries to determine if an applicant will be a better fit for one program or the other.
Click the play button to hear her remarks.
Rebecca Tedford of the Louisiana AmeriCorps*VISTA Program (Baton Rouge, LA) often uses a playground example to explain how direct service and capacity building differ.
Click the play button to hear her description.
This description also comes in handy when recruiting partner sites. For more on that topic, go to the Working with Host Sites section of Supervision.
Go back to Recruiting for Retention
