Recruitment
See what our leaders have to say!
"We had two small units in nearby villages and were struggling to find new leaders so using the flexible Guiding approach we merged the two units together and it has been a huge success "
"I really appreciate the fact that my Division organised a meal to say thank you for all our hard work, it makes such a difference to feel your efforts are valued "
"My employer has been very generous in supporting my work with Girl Guiding so I invited him along to one of our events to see our work for himself, he was very impressed"
There are lots of FREE recruitment materials available from CHQ. Visit the Girlguiding Essentials Shop to order them!
Girlguiding UK is incredibly popular for girls and young women. In fact, recent figures show that there are 50,000 girls and young women on joining lists for Rainbows, Brownies, Guides and the Senior Section. That's 50,000 girls and young women who want to experience the fun and challenge that is Girlguiding UK.
With that in mind, the Project 50k team are always working on new ways to retain and recruit volunteers. Here are some different solutions and how you can put them into practice.
Flexible Guiding
An increasing number of guiding units are becoming more flexible. This allows existing volunteers whose circumstances change to continue with guiding. It should also make recruiting new volunteers who lead busy lives easier. Flexible guiding can take many forms. It may involve having a range of different meeting places which are used on rotation, having a rota system for volunteers or simply meeting on a different day each week.
The 12 hour challenge
Another way flexible guiding can be developed is by encouraging people in your local community to take the 12 Hour Challenge for Girlguiding UK. This challenge has been devised to allow volunteering to be as flexible as possible as well as giving people who have never been involved in guiding a taster of what it’s all about. There is no set agenda for the 12 Hour Challenge. Volunteers taking part can give their time in any way they choose. Some volunteers may choose to go and help cook on a Brownie Camp and give the 12 hours all in one go whereas some volunteers may prefer to give an hour each month to help with a unit’s accounts.
Retention
Retaining Girlguiding UK’s existing volunteers is a crucial part of Project 50k’s work. Volunteers need lots of motivation and praise in order to feel they are making a difference. This section will enable you to find out what the Project 50k team is doing in order to support volunteers throughout the UK. We should say thank you to our volunteers. It is important that Girlguiding UK adopts a culture of thanking people for the time and energy they devote to local guiding. Saying thank you is probably the easiest way to show a volunteer how valued they are, but what if you want to tell everyone how much you appreciate what they have done? You may want to thank a volunteer for going shopping for your unit and enabling you to do a specific activity or it may be that you want to thank a volunteer for continual assistance each week over a number of years.
Employee Supported Volunteering
Girlguiding UK wants to raise awareness with employers of the benefits of employee volunteering, and promote the benefits of supporting Girlguiding UK volunteers to employers. So far, a number of positive actions have happened, some of which are practical, and some of which focus on internal communication of the issues. Why not tell your employers about your volunteering and discuss how they can support you in this?
Recruitment Tool Kit
A tool kit has been developed to help you recruit new leaders. It contains leaflets, posters, cards etc. There are also banners and displays which can sometimes be borrowed from county and the region, for use at events where you may have an opportunity to recruit people. Please contact the county recruitment adviser to discuss your requirements, she would be happy to help.
