What happens when I apply to Volunteer?
Sometimes, when you apply to volunteer you don’t always hear back from the organisation. This can be for many reasons. BUT, it is not because they don’t want you!
Just because you are offering to help out for free, it doesn’t mean that you will be guaranteed a spot.
Some of the reasons an organisation doesn’t get back to you or you aren’t chosen to volunteer include:
- They are too busy to get back to every applicant. They might have part time staff or volunteers who do the volunteer recruiting, and they simply don’t have enough time. Although this shouldn’t be an excuse, it often is the case, especially if people have very heavy workloads or the organisation is run only by volunteers.
- They might have more people applying, than they have roles.
- Some places only recruit volunteers in groups, a few times a year, so they might only contact you when they are ready to do this.
If you don’t hear back from a place you’ve applied to volunteer, you can always follow up with a phone call or email. It shows you are interested and ready to volunteer.
Each organisation is different, but usually they will contact you, by email or phone to discuss the role. They may ask you to come in for an informal interview at their office or ask you to come in and have a look around or a trial shift.
Some of the questions they might ask you are:
- Why would you like to volunteer here?
- How often would you like to volunteer?
- What skills have you got?
- Have you got any previous experience in a role like this?
In a lot of cases, it doesn’t matter if you don’t have experience. However, some volunteer roles might ask that you have some skills already.
For instance, if you are doing an administration role, they will want you to know how to use a computer already, and in some cases you will need to know a lot about using a computer.
If you didn’t already fill in your personal details when you applied, they will ask you to provide some personal information, like your name, address and contact details.
