Find your volunteer team

Make the most of your recruitment efforts and get things started by thinking about who you want on your team.

By having lots of volunteers with a range of skills, interests and availability, you’ll be able to team up to offer really great guiding to your girls. If you know you can share responsibilities out, everyone will have the chance to spend quality time with the girls.

Identify gaps in your team

Grab a cuppa and think about the ‘who, what, where, when, how and why’ of recruiting new volunteers. This will help you to plan your volunteer recruitment and work out what kind of volunteers you need to get your team up to full health.

What skills do you need?

Look at the skills your current volunteers have and identify if there’s anything else you need. Here are some you might want to look for in new recruits.

• Planning meetings and activities
• Inspiring the girls
• Offering different activities or helping on residentials
• Behind the scenes admin
• Finances
• Planning and organising
• Communications skills
• Specific skills they could share with other volunteers or girls
• Coaching or mentoring

Use our role descriptions to think about the people you might be missing – there are lots of different positions your new recruits could fill.

I work full time and have a family, and would have found the hassle of doing the accounts just too much. Having a volunteer treasurer means I can focus on what I enjoy – organising activities for the girls – Suzanne, Guide leader

When will your team be under pressure?

Is someone retiring who you need to replace? Or maybe some of your parent volunteers will move on if their daughters are moving to the next section? Don’t forget, you’re likely to get new sign ups coming to you in the autumn too after our national volunteer recruitment campaign – so make the most of this window!

We introduced a parent rota to get more adult help. It took a couple of months to catch on, but then we explained that the units may close if they didn’t help out. It’s been running for almost a year and one parent has decided to become a leader – Rainbow leader

Who needs a helping hand?

Who could do with extra help during the unit meeting? Who would appreciate a regular week off guiding to ease the pressure? Getting new volunteers to support current ones could be the difference between them staying and going.

Help leaders feel that however much (or little) time they have to give is welcome. By making guiding work for each volunteer, they’re able to keep coming back – Lisa, Unit leader in Rochester

How many volunteers do you need for a full bench?

Think about your dream-team - what’s your ideal line up? How many people are there? How are the responsibilities split? How many people would ease the burden on your current volunteers?

We have a unit team of seven adults. It sounds like a lot, but it means that no Leader feels bad if they have work or study commitments that mean they can't make every week. We all have to miss some weeks, but we're a team and we make it work between us – Fliss, Guide leader in Birmingham

Top tip: There’s no I in ‘team’ – so remember you don’t need to do it alone! Get your team to help: they’ll feel invested in your recruitment campaign and together you’ll go the distance.

Where are your open positions?

Have a look on GO – where are the girls waiting to join guiding in your area? If your area has a long waiting list, could you recruit someone to help run an additional unit?

I decided to give Saturday guiding a go. I offered it to parents of girls on the waiting list and now the unit meets twice a month. It's attracted new volunteers and previous volunteers who couldn’t commit to weekly evening meetings – Karen, County Growing Guiding Coordinator for South West England

Why should people sign with your unit?

Explore how to get new recruits excited about volunteering. Why should they sign up, and what will keep them coming back? Be flexible if you get sign ups from people who don’t exactly fit what you need. They could end up being a knockout in your unit, or they could be vital for another unit close by.

I registered my daughter for Brownies, offered my help and within three weeks I was on my first camp! The support from the other volunteers has been amazing and I feel so proud to see their girls grow throughout their journey – Chris, Chair of Havering Trefoil Guild

Top tip: Get in touch with your local commissioner – they can help you coordinate with other units in your area when recruiting and placing volunteers in new positions.