About GoldStar 
Recruiting service users
Service users from socially excluded groups should be seen as potential volunteers. Their personal knowledge can very useful, especially in helping to break down barriers. Involving service users can help to ensure that your organisation adapts its recruitment measures to the needs of different groups.
Below are a few examples of how other organisations have accoplished this: |
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Wai Yin Chinese society’s volunteers come through the organisations own services. |
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Multiple Choice encourages all ex-service users into volunteering |
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Wai Yin Chinese Society supports women experiencing domestic violence, family breakdown and acute isolation. They target and engage mainly unemployed Chinese volunteers; they are recruited in three principal ways:
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Promotion specific volunteering opportunities as they arise;
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As part of Wai Yin service user’s personal development organised by project ways;
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Individual’s proactively approaching Wai Yin in search of volunteering opportunities.
Most of Wai Yin volunteers come through the organisation's own services and are encouraged to volunteer as part of their personal development and confidence building. Currently about 70% of volunteers are ex service users.
The wide range of activities undertaken through Wai Yin means that, a particular strength of the project is the ability to access service users and also link volunteers to their particular volunteering interests.
Multiple Choice, a community based drug rehabilitation programme, actively encourages volunteers with previous experiences of using drugs, mental health and other support services.
Multiple Choice stresses the importance of encouraging ex-service users to progress into volunteering (about 75% of volunteers are ex service users). Multiple choice does not go through an advertising process unless it is for specialist volunteering positions.
Multiple Choice will provide help for those who are unable to fill in the application form and every person that applies as a volunteer is invited to attend a training session with interviews held after this has taken place. They stress the importance of potential volunteers understanding the boundaries that have to be maintained as a volunteer, this being key aspect of their training.
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