- Staff: 2-3 Interviewers
- Supplies: Access to Available Volunteer Opportunities, Referral Forms, Pens
- Role:
◦Conduct brief interview on volunteer skills and preferences
◦Assign volunteer to an available opportunity
◦Document volunteer assignments
Your job is to do a quick interview of the prospective volunteer and refer him/her to a job at an agency appropriate to his abilities and interests. Requests for volunteers will be posted on a board in front of you (behind the volunteers being interviewed) and will be erased as the needs are filled. If the VRC has a computer system, you might also receive a printed list of the current needs.
When a new volunteer approaches, ask for his/her Registration Form. With the volunteer, verify its completeness and accuracy, and use it as a guide from which to inquire more about the volunteer’s skills. At the conclusion of the interview, keep his/her Registration Form. When the volunteer accepts an assignment, complete a Referral Form, filling in all information requested, sign or initial it, and give it to the volunteer and instruct him/her to report to Data Coordination (Station #3).
Before you signal the Greeter that you are ready for another interview, take a minute to jot down in the ―Notes‖ section anything about the volunteer you feel is important and that the volunteer did not include on his/her Registration Form (a special skill, an obvious physical limitation, etc.). If your center decides to use the blind field labeled ―Office Use Only,*‖ check the appropriate box. Place his/her Registration Form in the file.
Key points to remember are:
♦ Sit facing the wall/needs board
♦ Disaster registration differs from a “normal” volunteer intake – there is less time to try to fit each volunteer into an ideal assignment
♦ Refer the volunteer on the spot if possible – it may be impossible to contact him/her later. If the volunteer has special training or unusual skills that you think might be needed soon, ask him/her to wait in the sitting area and to check the volunteer request board for new requests for their specialized skills
♦ Be sure to watch for volunteers who would work well in the Volunteer Reception Center. (It may seem self-serving, but if the VRC has sufficient staff and works effectively, the community will benefit!)
♦ It is likely that some volunteers will exhibit the stress of the disaster – they may be survivors themselves. An extra measure of patience and understanding is needed
♦ You may be called upon to train new volunteers to assist with the interviewing
