Monitoring Monday – Volunteer Position Descriptions

Volunteer Position Descriptions

If your organization relies on volunteers, you know how essential it is to attract good people. Your volunteers form the backbone of your programs. You need your volunteers to be hardworking, trustworthy, and pleasant to work with. How do you attract these volunteers? You likely need to write an informative, engaging volunteer position description to draw them in.

Volunteer position descriptions are important communication and accountability tools. Developing your program’s volunteer position descriptions is an opportunity to intentionally map out what your organization needs help with and how volunteers will ultimately support your mission. So just as you would for a staff member, develop a detailed position description for volunteers that clearly defines the activities and responsibilities of the role as well as minimum and preferred qualifications.

In volunteer recruitment, clarity is essential. Potential volunteers will want to know specific information about the position duties, how much of a commitment it entails, how long the opportunity will last, and what they can expect when they start. Giving your potential volunteers clear information helps you come across as organized and responsible and enables volunteers to make an informed decision about whether this role is right for them. 

Even though your volunteers are unpaid, you’ll likely still be holding them to your organization’s standards of professionalism and performance. Making your standards clear in advance lets your volunteers know what you expect and how they can make a good impression. 

A volunteer role description is not a legally binding contract. It serves as a document that clearly outlines the expectations of the volunteer, the tasks to be performed as part of the role and defines the scope of the role. It is important the role description balances what your organization requires from volunteers with the benefits they will gain through their involvement. These volunteer role descriptions are also an important mechanism of meeting your insurance requirements as they stipulate what a volunteer can and cannot do.

VOLUNTEER POSITION DESCRIPTION TEMPLATE

VOLUNTEER POSITION TITLE

The title of your volunteer job description is the first thing that potential volunteers will see. Start with a catchy title. This will be the volunteer’s identification. So make it catchy, concise, and relevant while giving it as much prestige as possible, such as Field Technician instead of Volunteer Sampler.

MAJOR OBJECTIVE & IMPACT OF THE ROLE

Let your volunteers know what impact the job will have in the watershed. Tell them how it supports your mission or bolsters a particular program.  Create a short concise statement reflecting the ultimate goals of the service to be performed. In short, state what the purpose of the position is and how will the volunteer's work affect the project's outcome.

RESPONSIBILITIES & DUTIES

List each duty and responsibility of the job and define what is expected from the volunteer, be as specific as possible.

TIME COMMITMENT

What do you expect of the volunteer?  What are the duty hours and which days of the week the volunteer is to perform the services. Include Length of service, hours per week, hours per day, whatever may apply. Include any special requirements such as weekend work or collecting water quality samples in the middle of the night. The minimum number of months you need from the volunteer based on your investment in training and supervision becomes the minimum length of commitment for the volunteer. A maximum time commitment should also be specified for the volunteer (number of hours per week, month, etc.).

WORK LOCATION & ENVIRONMENT

This is where you mention where the individual be working. Will the volunteer be working in multiple locations, are the work locations remote field sites, will work be done in a laboratory, can the work be done at home…? Is the sponsoring organizations paying transportation costs? You may want to state if public transportation is near your work site/so you can recruit people who might not have their own transportation.

Provide a description of the environmental conditions where work will be performed.  This may include terrain transversed, habitat worked in, expected weather conditions and other information relevant to the tasks being done by the volunteer.

You might also include whether there are physical requirements too. For example, you may want to disclose distances walked if it may seem long, weight of equipment and water samples expected to be carried, or microscope work which may require sitting for extended periods.

ORIENTATION & TRAINING OPPORTUNITIES

This includes the nature, specific content, and the approximate hours for orientation and training.  Some organizations may provide additional specialized training for specific roles and responsibilities. Let your volunteers know what that training will look like and what qualifications are needed for that training. Lastly, identify and provide contact information for the individuals who will conduct the training.

ON THE JOB SUPERVISION

Include a brief statement about who the volunteer’s supervisor and team leader will be and how they will interact. Including real names helps the volunteer feel more prepared. In most cases this will be the person with the most direct responsibility for the service being provided by the volunteer.

SAFETY HAZARD COMMUNICATION

Will the volunteer be working in the “wild” (poison oak, mosquitos, in a stream…) a laboratory (chemicals…) or another type of location with possible hazards? What personal protective equipment (PPE) will be provided for the volunteer?

BENEFITS/ VOLUNTEER PERKS

While many volunteers don’t get involved for the benefits, it’s nice to include them anyway. List any available benefits to the volunteer such as free parking, coffee, mileage reimbursement, training, materials usage, letter of recommendation, service hours credit, or recognition. For example, you might detail that volunteers will receive a free meal after some events or get a complimentary t-shirt to mark their participation after severing a set number of volunteer service hours. 

QUALIFICATIONS

Let volunteers know what attainments or characteristics they must have. These may be specific, like particular skills or a certain level of education or local knowledge, or they may be broader requirements, like a cheerful demeanor or the ability to work on their feet for several hours. Be careful not to over qualify the position – you could lose some excellent volunteers due to stringent educational requirements. Specifics such as a car or other types of transportation are required.

OTHER

Include the date the description was written or the date that it was updated. Include information about how to get answers to potential volunteer questions and who to call if interested. You might want to include signature lines for the volunteer manager and the site supervisor.

HOW TO APPLY

Provide a link to the application or any other directions explaining how to apply. It is helpful to include contact information for the person responsible for applications.

Erick Burres

Clean Water Team Coordinator

California Water Quality Collaboration Network Facilitator

Safe to Swim Network Co-facilitator

Email: erick.burres@waterboards.ca.gov

Phone: 213 712 6862 mobile

Mailing address: Erick Burres – Clean Water Team C/O SARWQCB - 3737 Main Street, Suite 500, Riverside, CA 92501

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