Volunteer Recruitment

From UKRag Guides (wiki)

All resources are at present in a hard copy format and available here: Rag Recruitment Guide

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Contents 1 Introduction 2 Basic Principles 3 Problems Facing Your Recruitment Drive 4 Recruiting Before Freshers Fair 4.1 The Timeline 4.2 Mailings 4.2.1 Who To Approach 4.2.2 Stuffing Envelopes 4.2.3 Student Press 4.3 Website 4.4 Accomodation Publicity 4.4.1 The Publicity 4.5 Freshers Crew 4.6 Bars 5 Fresher's Week 5.1 Plan Ahead 5.2 Brief Everyone 5.3 Selling Rag 5.4 Signing Up Freshers 5.5 Fresher's Meeting 5.6 Freshers Week Events 6 Ongoing Recruitment 6.1 Word of Mouth 6.2 At Events 6.3 Media Exposure 6.4 Building Links 7 Open Days 7.1 Why Open Days? 7.2 Freshers Once Again 7.3 Tour Guides

Introduction

Rag lives or dies on how successful your recruitment is. Anyone you recruit will probably be leaving you in only three or four years time. This constant turnover of volunteers means that effective recruitment is needed to ensure that skills, knowledge and experience is not lost forcing your Rag into a downward spiral.

This guide has been written by a group of current and ex Raggies from around the country to help you with the recruitment of the next generation of Rag. The guide covers ways of generating interest before, during and after Freshers week.

Basic Principles

Whenever you are recruiting people there are some basic principles to bear in mind.

Be approachable – Rags can often appear very cliquey from the outside and this can make some Fresher’s take the easy option and not bother to make the effort to talk to you.

Avoid jargon – Remember just because you know what HtA, megaraids etc are your potential new recruits probably won’t so try to avoid confusing the poor little things.

Know your stuff – Sounds like common sense but if you are going to tell someone all about the events your Rag runs make sure you know how that person can get involved, who they should speak to, how much time commitment is required etc.

Understand why someone wants to join - People join Rag for a variety of different reasons. For some it’s a social thing, others have a particular charity they want to support, others are just looking for something interesting to do. Make sure you are selling the right aspect of Rag to the right person.

Don’t overwhelm them – If you are an established Rag then you probably have loads of events, collections and committee positions you need help with. People can often be put off if they think too much work is involved make it clear that you don’t have to sell your soul to Rag, collect every weekend, run a major event and serve on the committee (although it would be nice!) recruits should be free to do as little or as much as they like.

Think like a Fresher! - Try to remember what your first impression of Rag were. Did you even notice their stall at Fresher's fair? Did you sign up to the mailing list, then only decide to see what it was all about after Christmas? If it convinced you to join, it might work on someone else too. Very few people come to university with a burning ambition to be a raggie, most probably won't have heard of you.

Problems Facing Your Recruitment Drive

Many Rags have suffered in recent years with recruitment of new blood, although this trend does seem to be on the upturn. Student apathy has been cited by many as the reason for this but often this is more an excuse used by the recruiting team rather than the true reason.

Student activities be it sports clubs, societies or volunteering is on the up if students were as apathetic as they are made out to be then there wouldn’t be 50 societies competing against you at the freshers fair.

One of the major problems in selling Rag is letting people know what Rag is! Everyone walking round the Fresher’s Fair will know what the hiking club, football team, Islamic society is before they even speak to anyone the name gives it away but what is Rag? Getting your point across in 20 seconds as someone walks past your stall can be difficult but is something you as a Rag committee need to address when you plan your recruitment drive for the coming year.

Recruiting Before Freshers Fair

You’ve got together the Rag committee, and are busy looking at how you’re going to grab the students’ attention at Freshers Fair. So why do you need to start considering what you’re going to do before then as well for?

The answers easy if you can get the word out to the freshers before they even set foot on campus you’ve got a head start on the rest of the competition. At Freshers Fair, Rag will be one of 60, 70, 80 or more sports clubs and societies trying to catch everyone’s attention, and that’s not even starting to mention all the commercial groups offering freebies, discounts and god alone knows what else.

You’ve got maybe 10 seconds to catch a students’ attention, and only a minute or so to sell Rag to them. Starting your recruitment campaign before Freshers Fair gives those students interested more time to take in what Rag offers, may get extra members from students who didn’t even realise Rag offered something to them, and at the very least gets Rag’s name and identity recognised from day one, which can only help your events!

This section of the guide looks at some methods that you can use to promote Rag in the run up to Freshers Fair, to make sure everyone’s looking for your stall when it comes to the big day. It’s organised as a basic timeline to help you plan ahead, but if you’re starting late don’t panic, many of the ideas can be played with to suit your timeframe, and budget.

The Timeline

July / August

Mailings

Student Press

Website

September

Accommodation Publicity

Freshers Week

Freshers Crew

Bars

Publicity

Mailings

Over the summer, universities and Student’s Unions send out a huge number of mailings to prospective and successful students – offer letters, accommodation letters, course information, student union information. Getting Rag into any of these will increase your exposure to students before they’ve even stepped foot on the campus.

Who is sending the information for you, and how generous they are will usually depend on the size and format you can send in the post, but an A4 sheet is usual. This could be a newsletter, letter or flyer, but whichever it is the following needs to be included:

• Spell out just how large (if need be, lie!) and how much fun Rag is – and not just the alcohol side of things.

• Include all the CV-enhancement facts (transferable skills and all that), for the parents that will be reading little Johnny’s mailing.

• Make sure you tell them how to get in contact with you, and where you are during Freshers Fair.

• Include a tear-off slip asking for all the information you need so they can join before they’ve arrived.

Who To Approach

Who your Rag is able to approach will depend a lot on the situation at your university, and how establishment-friendly your Rag is. We’ve put together a priority list of who to ask first based purely on the amount of students each mailing is likely to reach.

Accommodation Services will send letters out to every 1st year student that has requested a hall space confirming what has been offered to them, and is a good place to start. It’s an easy department to offer stuffing services to (see below). Bear in mind that if your university has a lot of home students, then you may miss a large proportion of Freshers using Accommodation Services

The Student Union is also likely to send a pack to every fresher, although they may not hit those who’ve come through clearing – which Accommodation Services will. The SU should be the most receptive to including an A4 sheet with their mailing, and it’s most likely the marketing manager or sabbatical with a communications brief that you’ll need to speak to.

Individual Faculties may be receptive if both of the above say no, as they’ll need to send joining information out to every 1st year on their courses. Again, offering a stuffing service may go down well here as it’ll save their staff time, but you will have to go around several departments, and not all may say yes.

Stuffing Envelopes

If you’ve got the willing volunteers, you could offer an envelope stuffing service in return for including your information, taking the pressure off university staff and making Rag look generally fab to all concerned. However, make sure your volunteers aren’t going to pull out at the last minute – that would be even worse!

You may even find that stuffing envelopes not only gets your mail out included but depending on the size of the job you might even be able to make some money out of it. Remember that by volunteering you may well be saving the University / Union paying several people to do the work.

Student Press

Most Student Union’s will publish a Fresher’s version of their newspaper or magazine, and many will produce a separate mailing (see mailings), and a guide detailing all the clubs and societies on offer. You’ll want to get as much about Rag as you can in all of these, and try and blag as much space as you can in all of them! Again, make sure the information goes into detail about how fab you all are, how much fun rag is, and how to contact you. Make sure you know the submission deadlines for articles, what format they require it in, and include photos and a logo if you can.

In terms of the guide (if it exists), see if you can persuade the editor (quite often the sabbatical with communications in their remit) to list Rag as a separate section, rather than within the societies listings. If you’re lucky, your status within the Union will be different to a society, making it easier to request more space, and you can then catch the eye with your full-page spread!

Many Unions may also produce a wall planner try and get who ever produces it to include the dates of any big events you have definite dates for such as Rag Week, Beer Festivals, Bungee Jumps. Make sure that it says RAG Beer Festival, RAG Bungee Jump etc so that your name is associated with the events.

Website

If your Rag has a website, make sure it’s updated with the new year’s committee and events as soon as possible in the summer, and if possible persuade your union to link to it from their front page, or given a high-profile link in their menu. Union websites will get a lot of hits over the summer and during clearing, so ideally the latest you’ll want everything updated is when the A-level results come out. Make sure you’ve got information about how to find you at Freshers Fair on your front page!

Union’s site a bit naff? Is it not mentioned when you search for your university on Google? If so, make sure you submit your site to the major search engines, and make sure your university name is mentioned somewhere on the front page. It might mean you get listed before your union’s site, and you’ll get even more hits from prospective students.

Accomodation Publicity

You’ll need to approach Accommodation Services again, to be allowed in to distribute the publicity. If you think that they are unlikely to allow you in to put things in every bedroom, or just haven’t got the volunteers to do it, there are other ‘ways in’

• In self-catered halls, ask to put the material in kitchens. It’s a lot less to distribute if you’re short of hands, and some accommodation departments may be happier if you’re not entering bedrooms – even if they’re empty.

• Ask if Hall Reps/Tutors or JCRs would be happy to distribute the material for you. Hall Reps or Tutors are usually ‘employed’ through accommodation departments, and they may be happier if they distribute rather than you, and if you’ve got them, JCRs will usually enjoy more access to hall rooms than you may be able to get.

The Publicity

Again, what you’ll be able to put into halls will depend on the permission given, but here are a few ideas

If you’ve got Rag Mags printed, then this is a great way to get rid of a few thousand! If you don’t produce one, or are just starting, you could try a small newsletter instead. Make sure your contact details and Freshers info is in there! If you are using your Rag Mag as a recruitment tool it’s useful to include a couple of pages of information on the types of event you run so the Fresher’s get an idea of what you run during the year (it also means they won’t be put off by as many crap jokes!)

A calendar with your events added on, plus of course contact details and so on would work well in kitchens as well bedrooms. Hopefully it’ll get used all year, and every time they use it your logo stares at them.

Posters and flyers for your first events, first meeting, or even just who to find you at Freshers Fair can go up in kitchens, laundrettes, or even just display boards in Hall buildings if you can’t get access to the flats or rooms themselves.

As always with any publicity, make sure it puts across the key messages, and informs people how and when to find you.

Freshers Crew

Almost every Union has them – Aston Aunties, Freshers Friends, Big Brothers or something equally silly. If you can get them on-side, or even better, make sure half your Rag has signed up to help, then you can tell the freshers about Rag as soon as they’ve started to unload the car.

If you’ve got raggies on the crew, then if possible arm them with Rag T-shirts that can wear whenever they can get away with it – the freshers will (hopefully) ask about the T-shirt, and then your raggies can just chat about how fab Rag is. There’s no real need for a ‘hard sell’ approach with this, because if they’re interested, their new-found crew member friend can bring them to the first meeting to join there.

Bars

The student union bars will be where a very large proportion of your Freshers will be in Freshers Week, so do what you can to keep Rag visible. Here are a few suggestions:

• Collecting Tins. If you aren’t allowed to have them out on the bar all year, ask to have them out for Freshers Week. If you have them out all year, make sure they’ve been cleaned and re-labelled!

• Bar Mats. Get a run of bar mats printed and ask the bars if they’ll use them during Freshers Week. (One for the rags with a bit more budget I think – and find a distributor before you print!)

• Flyers and Posters. If you’re allowed, put posters up about Rag and your first meeting in the bars ready for Freshers Week. Flyer the bars during the evenings in the first few days, with basic information about Rag and where to find you during Freshers Fair. Get your Freshers Crew Raggies to do this to save on leg-work!

• TV Adverts more and more Unions are getting screens installed to show adverts within the building speak to whoever is in charge of this system and you may be able to blag a free advert. Often all you need to do is produce a PowerPoint slide that can uploaded to the system.

Fresher's Week

Hopefully by now loads of publicity for Rag has gone out to Halls, around the campus and mailed to Fresher’s but the time to sit back and relax isn’t here yet.

Plan Ahead

Fresher’s Week is likely to be very chaotic so everything needs to be planned in advance so that things run smoothly. You need to sort out a rota system so that your stall is manned all the time, remember your office as well if you have advertised before Fresher’s week that you can join Rag by popping into the office the last thing you want is to loose somebody because the office is empty.

Work out how you are going to sell Rag to people, what is going to be on your display. Make sure that any flyers, posters etc are printed well in advance, as with Rag T shirts if you are going to use them.

If you are going to hand out and information pack e.g. Rag Mag, event flyers, newsletter. Then it is worth getting together the week before and making up packs by stuffing everything into the Rag Mag this will make things easier on the day as everyone can pick up all the information on Rag even if you are talking to someone else at the time.

Remember you’ll also need plenty of pens, paper, sign up sheets etc

Brief Everyone

Make sure everyone knows when they are manning the stall and what to do if they can’t make it. Everyone needs to be able to speak confidently about Rag so make sure everyone knows about what collections events etc are coming up soon, what Rag has planned for Freshers Week, when the first meeting is etc.

Selling Rag

Speaking face to face to people is by far the best way to recruit people. ‘Sales’ has a much greater effect than advertising, branding or marketing but is dependant on how much effort you put it.

Be proactive, stand in front of your stall and approach people don’t wait for them to come to you. In order to make the most of the Fresher’s fair you need to concentrate on the unique features of Rag such as the volunteer development / CV boost and the chance to make a difference in the world.

Try to avoid points that are not unique to Rag e.g. Join Rag because we have the best socials in the Union. It may be that you do but the AU clubs and other societies will probably be boasting the exact same claim and many of the Fresher’s will know more about the competition than they do about you. Make sure you get the right message across. When asked what do you do in Rag make sure the answers you are giving are going to inspire people to join. “You can find us most weekends on a wet street corner collecting cash” Isn’t going to persuade most people to give up their free time. “We travel all over the UK to different towns and cities each weekend, meet loads of other people from other universities raising money for charity and the best part is that it doesn’t cost us a penny because our travel costs are paid for” is much better.

Signing Up Freshers

If you are going to sign people up at the freshers fair have some simple forms printed, remember people aren’t going to want to fill in loads of information there and then. Make sure that they are filled in clearly it’s no good signing up 100 people if half of the forms are illegible you’ve just wasted all the time and effort of recruiting people.

If it’s the Rag committee taking peoples name then get the person who filled in the form to sign or initial so that if you can’t read the form you at least know who filled it in and perhaps they can decipher the details.

Remember that often Fresher’s won’t have registered with the university before they visit you this means that they may not have their university email address. So you’ll get a hotmail, yahoo etc mail address that might not be used or checked frequently fairly soon. Most universities have a system for allocating email address such as firstname.lastname@university or based your department details. Find out what system your university uses and then make sure you ask the right questions e.g. find out their full name and department that way you can probably trace their university email address at a latter date if you need it.

Fresher's Meeting

Think carefully about when and where you’re going to hold this. Make sure you pick a time that people are going to be free to attend.

Remember also that your potential new recruits won’t know their way around the campus that well so pick somewhere that’s easy to find. If your Rag office or meeting rooms are hidden in the maze of your union then why not pick somewhere else to meet like the bar or café and then move on to a different venue once everyone has arrived.

It might be worth having more than one meeting if you have recruited loads of people so that you have a chance to speak to everyone. Two meetings might also mean that everyone gets a chance to attend if they have other commitments.

Have information to hand out so people can take it away to read later or show their mates. Keep any talks or presentations short and to the point you don’t want to bore your audience. Also it’s often an idea for only one or two people to give the presentation so that it flows well but have as many other people as possible to hand so that you can chat with everyone before and afterwards.

Many Rags invite Charity Reps from one or two of the charities who work closely with Rags this can help give the Fresher’s an idea of how big Rag is across the country how much of a difference they personally can make and how much that help is appreciated.

If people have turned up to your first meeting then their probably quite keen on joining so now is the time to start finding out what they want to get out of Rag. They’ve also probably registered so will have a university email address and perhaps a phone number for their hall room / flat so make sure that you get that extra information to go with what you got from the Fresher’s Fair.

Freshers Week Events

There is bound to be loads going on in Fresher’s Week and your Rag will probably be stretched but if you do have the manpower then running events in Freshers Week can be another way to boost your profile to the new students and raise some extra cash.

The list of things you can do is endless you could help out the Union ents team by running a cloakroom for one of the nights, handing out condoms or selling stuff. Alternatively you could choose to run your own event such as a balloon launch, casino etc.

What ever you do having people wandering round in Rag Tshirts is going to boost your profile and give you that extra chance to speak to people.

Ongoing Recruitment

Although the main focus of your recruitment will obviously be during Fresher’s Week you should be aiming to keep attracting new people throughout the year. Many people are wary of committing to too many things at the start of the year until they’ve settled in to University, found out how much work their course involves, got a job etc. You need to make sure that you can still attract these people at a latter date.

The important thing to remember with on going recruitment is to be prepared have a supply of info about your Rag and events somewhere handy in the office so if someone wanders in then you can let them know what’s what.

Word of Mouth

The best way to sell Rag is through speaking to people so encourage everyone in Rag to speak to their course mates, flatmates etc about what Rag does and what you need help with. If someone knows people within an organisation the prospect of joining isn’t so daunting so often you be able to recruit people via word of mouth.

At Events

If your Rag runs events then these are a great opportunity to attract new members make sure you have someone at each event who’s job is to go round and chat to people who look as if they might be interested.

Have some information to hand that can be given out such as Rag Mags, flyers for upcoming events etc.

Media Exposure

Rag does a lot of good work and most people have loads of fun doing it so tell people about it! Try and make sure that your events and any successes you have are covered on the Union website, student newspapers etc. This way you will keep the name of Rag in people’s minds which will help out with your next event and may encourage people to come and find you.

Building Links

Try and work with other groups in the Union such as societies or the AU. If you can get them do take part in one of your events or create an event especially for them such as a sponsored swim, 5 aside tournament of the AU or a Battle of the Bands for the music society you will not only generate some cash for charity but you will find that members of other clubs and societies may want to be involved in Rag once they’ve learnt a bit more about it.

Open Days

We’ve put this one last because although it happens before Freshers Fair, the chances are you’ll not be ready to do this one the first time you pick up this guide – but if you are, then that’s fab…

All universities will run open days throughout the year, but the one’s you’ll probably be most interested in are any Clearing open days, and any open days in June or July. You could do everything at earlier days as well, but it may be too early for the information to stay in the mind of prospective students.

It must be noted that not all Rags will be able to get involved in any open days. It will probably only be appropriate if your Union is somehow involved with them already, as part of a tour of campus, for example, and some rags may find it does not improve recruitment, or is not practical due to volunteer levels for instance. It has, however, worked for at least one rag in the past (UCE), with a minimum of work.

Why Open Days?

At open days, the university is (or should be) trying to show off all parts of student life, and not just the academic side. Usually this means that the Union building is at least part of a campus tour, and Rag is a great example of student life at its best! Even if the students don’t then come to your university, you may have sparked an interest in Rag that will continue in the university they eventually choose, so someone still gets a recruit.

Freshers Once Again

Creating a presence at an open day is very easy – all you essentially need to do is put your Freshers Fair stall up again (censored slightly for the parents, maybe), and print a few leaflets explaining what Rag is.

If the Union is part of the open day, just get permission to put the stall out in the foyer, or somewhere appropriate, and you’re done. The stall won’t need to be staffed, and all you need to do is leave some leaflets (with a tear-off joining slip, possibly) and Rag Mags next to some nifty ‘Please Take One’ signs.

Tour Guides

Most university open days include a tour of campus, which are often done by students (and quite often paid!). Even if you’re unable to reuse your Freshers Fair stall, a couple of Raggies getting involved as tour guides means that you can enthuse about Rag when you’re talking about the Union and student life.