{"alias":"blogEntry","byline":"By Alison, the lead volunteer for the Scouts\u2019 Welcome project (a collaboration between Scouts and Girlguiding, funded by Pears Foundation)","standfirst":"Alongside volunteers, Scouts Cymru and Girlguiding, and with the support of an external agency, we\u2019re developing a new digital tool to recruit volunteers.","content":{"layouts":[{"type":"singleColumn","areas":[{"items":[{"gridType":"RichTextBlock","content":"\u003Cp\u003EThis is an exciting opportunity for us to take volunteer experiences on board and transform the joining experience so that it\u2019s welcoming and as simple as possible.\u003C/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EOutside of my role as lead volunteer for the Welcome project, I\u2019m Deputy County Commissioner (People) in Central Yorkshire with a passion for making sure our leaders get the support that they need.\u003C/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EThe Welcome team started by talking to volunteers and enquirers who wanted to join, to map out the current journey and identify places where it wasn\u2019t meeting our needs.\u003C/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EVolunteers told us the current recruitment and welcome process can be admin-heavy, so a solution is needed to help to reduce that burden. The Welcome project has come up with a new digital recruitment platform, focusing on creating a positive volunteer journey which meets the needs and expectations of both new and existing volunteers.\u003C/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EWe\u2019re looking at functions to match volunteers to the right opportunity for them, as well as flexibility around those opportunities to remove some of the potential barriers currently faced when joining.\u003C/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EThe aim is to make it simple and easy for new volunteers to join and for existing volunteers to manage.\u003C/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EAfter thinking about how the tool could integrate with the new digital experience to come for better managing membership data, we\u2019re now building the new system with cloudThing, a digital design and development agency.\u00A0The solution will be integrated with the other digital tools we\u2019re building for learning and managing our membership to create a smooth digital experience.\u003C/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EThrough \u003Cspan\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022/about-us/testing-hub/\u0022 title=\u0022Testing hub\u0022\u003Ethe Scouts Testing Hub\u003C/a\u003E,\u003C/span\u003E volunteers told us that they saw benefits in a service that would be transparent, flexible, streamlined, and able to give consistent information to volunteers. Benefits were also seen in a process that would be more personalised to volunteers by better finding suitable roles, as well as tracking and following up on expressions of interest.\u003C/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EWe\u2019re also working alongside groups of volunteers in selected areas. You can read about one of these pieces of work below.\u003C/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EThe Welcome project is just one element of the \u003Ca href=\u0022https://www.scouts.org.uk/about-us/strategy/our-programmes-of-work/people/\u0022\u003EPeople Programme\u003C/a\u003E within Scouts. The Programme\u2019s also looking at improving how we learn, and how we volunteer to make things easier and more fun.\u003C/p\u003E\n\u003Ch3\u003ECo-designing with Scouts Cymru\u003C/h3\u003E\n\u003Ch4\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EWhat\u2019s co-designing?\u003C/strong\u003E\u003C/h4\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003ECo-design describes our method for designing the physical \u2018product\u2019 element of the project. Instead of designing the solution behind-the-scenes and testing it when complete, we\u2019re following industry good practice and making sure volunteers are involved in the creation at every step of the process.\u003C/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EWe used national statistics, membership statistics and the input of regional teams to select an area of the UK to work closely with in the early stages: the co-design County/Area/Region. Local volunteers from the chosen County/Area/Region will work with our project team over the next few months to create the first version of the platform.\u003C/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EThis is an iterative process which will be kicking off with some workshops this month.\u003C/p\u003E\n\u003Ch4\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EWhy Scouts Cymru?\u003C/strong\u003E\u003C/h4\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EThe first group we\u2019re working with are three Areas in South Cymru: Cardiff and Vale, Mid Glamorgan and Gwent.\u003C/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EThe volunteers in these areas will be taking part in workshops and testing early drafts of the platform. Alongside the digital development, we\u2019re also coming up with some new ways to support enquirers and considering how we\u2019ll roll out the platform.\u003C/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EAs we go along, we\u2019ll be constantly improving designs to make sure they meet the needs of current and future volunteers. \u00A0\u003C/p\u003E\n\u003Ch4\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003ENext stages\u003C/strong\u003E\u003C/h4\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003ETo prepare for the roll out in 2023, we\u2019ll continue to test the new digital tool for recruiting volunteers throughout 2022.\u003C/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EIn the summer, we\u2018ll work with different Counties/Areas/Regions to test the platform and new journey in many different contexts. We\u2019ll also test with communities who don\u2019t normally join us to learn how we can be more welcoming and inclusive.\u003C/p\u003E","gtmId":"","gtmClass":""},{"type":"Promo","cta":"Sign up now","body":"\u003Cp\u003EIn addition to our co-designing, we also have a volunteer engagement group who meet monthly to test and develop new content for the project. \u003Cspan\u003ESign up now\u003C/span\u003E if you\u2019re interested in joining.\u003C/p\u003E","link":{"name":"Welcome project engagement group sign-up","id":null,"url":"https://app.smartsheet.com/b/form/bdb2b5b19d05493982f478c0ad2df1a3","newWindow":false,"target":"_blank"},"colour":"#002f6c","title":"How to get involved","image":null,"imageFocus":"","imageId":0,"imageKey":"00000000-0000-0000-0000-000000000000","imageCrop":"","gridType":"card","gtmId":"","gtmClass":""}]}],"config":null}]},"searchDescription":null,"pageType":null,"location":null,"versionDate":"04 April 2022","reviewDate":null,"furtherReading":[],"relatedLinks":[{"caption":"","title":"Join the volunteer engagement group","url":"https://app.smartsheet.com/b/form/bdb2b5b19d05493982f478c0ad2df1a3","newWindow":true},{"caption":"","title":"Girlguiding and Scouts to collaborate on joint recruitment project","url":"/news/2021/april/girlguiding-and-scouts-to-collaborate-on-joint-recruitment-project/","newWindow":false}],"id":48688,"nodeName":"A new digital tool for recruiting volunteers","title":"A new digital tool for recruiting volunteers","type":"blogEntry","image":{"url":"/media/10478/scouts-logo.jpg?width=800\u0026height=450\u0026v=1db789232a4a190","caption":"Scouts Logo","type":"jpg","size":30784,"width":800,"height":450,"altText":"The Scouts logo"},"assets":null,"headerOptions":{"headerTitle":"A new digital tool for recruiting volunteers","headerSubTitle":null,"headerCta":null,"headerCtaText":null,"headerCtaLink":null,"headerBackgroundColour":null,"showSEOImage":false,"headerBackgroundImage":null,"quickLinks":null},"subHeader":"Read more about the collaboration between Scouts Cymru and Girlguiding, and how you can get involved and shape the future of volunteering.","browserTitle":null,"silktide":"eyJjbXMiOiJVbWJyYWNvIiwiZWRpdG9yVXJsIjoiaHR0cHM6Ly9wcm9kLWNtcy5zY291dHMub3JnLnVrLy91bWJyYWNvIy9jb250ZW50L2NvbnRlbnQvZWRpdC80ODY4OCJ9","canonicalUrl":"https://www.scouts.org.uk/news/2022/march/a-new-digital-tool-for-recruiting-volunteers/"}