Last updated by Kasey Murphy on 08/27/2020

Hopefully, by this point, you have read our interview guide and have recruited some wonderful interviewees! But now, the important part is making sure the people you are interviewing are right for your organization and specifically what your role is asking for. 

While sometimes you can easily set apart the right person by their experience or qualifications over the other interviewees, it is still essential to evaluate all of the pros and cons of a candidate. 

The MOST IMPORTANT part of interviewing and evaluating candidates is having criteria to evaluate them on! Meaning, you can’t decide on the best volunteer coordinator candidate until you have laid out what the best volunteer coordinator candidate is. 

Paycor says, “With a post-interview evaluation process, those in charge of making the hiring decision have a set of criteria that they can use to make their final decision.

A great way to do this is to evaluate “must-have” values, qualities, experience, and more that you think the right candidate will have to efficiently do the job, and more! Then, you will want to layout other qualities that would be ideal but are not essential. So, these may be qualities that you would be willing to give up if the candidate has all of the “must-have” qualities. You also want to be able to point out red flags in the interview and make note of them.

Even if you have a great memory, it is important to note all of your thoughts during the interview, including any thoughts you may have that you cannot really explain. For example, if you have a gut feeling that the candidate is very warm and would be a great resource for volunteers, but they don’t necessarily say anything about it, this is still good to note! 

To help you go through the hiring process, download our full hiring process. This will help you with creating interview questions and posting the job to the right places to find the best volunteer coordinator!

We think there are two main ways to evaluate applicants. There is the “Box-Checking” approach and the “Scaling Method”. These two methods are completely up to you and how straightforward you would like to be with evaluating candidates. 

If you have multiple candidates passing through these two evaluation methods, it may be a great idea to create a second interview with the proceeding candidates, more intense and specific questions, and a new outline of goals.

The Box-Checking Approach

This approach is very straightforward and will be good for someone who wants to quickly make a decision on a candidate. This basically allows you to create a checklist of the things that you want in a volunteer coordinator. Whoever has the most checks is the one that you will hire. 
Or, you can make a section that will be the “must-have” section, and if a candidate does not check those boxes, then they will not pass on to the next round.

To download a box-checking a template that you can personalize and use in your interviews, click here.  

The Scaling Method

If you are a bit more analytical and maybe indecisive, the scaling method is for you. This will allow you to place a candidate on a scale of 1-10 for each quality you are looking for. The scaling method helps create a bit of leeway and can help distinguish very similarly qualified candidates.
The scaling method is also a great way to judge how happy you are with the candidate overall and how excited you would be to have them join your team. 

You can even do a combination of both methods and have a box-checking approach for your must-have qualities, and a scaling method for the other qualities and presence of red flags.

Overall, the right candidate should make you feel like your organization, its volunteers, and the program are going to be in the right hands. In an overall perspective, here are some more tips on deciding on the right volunteer coordinator.

• Be sure to only interview candidates that are qualified and match legal requirements for your organization. 
• Consider the person who seems to be great at making relationships. This job is tough, but it’s much easier when you have people you can learn from, people you can relate to, and people you can grow with. Successful volunteer coordinators thrive on community, conversation, and relationships. They love being around people, they love bringing people together, and they love finding new people to recruit to join their cause. 
• Choose someone who is eager to grow. It is good to have someone who is confident as a volunteer manager, but also someone who always looks for ways to improve and be better.
• Be sure to gauge their personal investment to your organization’s mission. f they aren’t invested, then they’ll do the bare minimum. But if you find someone with passion and zest, you know they’ll do everything they can to grow your organization and make it better than ever.

When You Find The Perfect Volunteer Coordinator, Here’s What You Should Offer Them

Have a Hiring packet available for the Volunteer Coordinator and go over it with them. A new employee should feel welcome and able to have a say in their contract deals. Be sure to go over all of these pieces and ask the new employee if they have any questions. 

• Start Date - The date when employment will begin, and if it is a contract role, the date that the contract will expire.
• Wage and Hours - Hourly or salary rate, and the expected work days & hours of the position
• Job Duties - List of responsibilities that the coordinator will have. (You can take this from the job posting)
• Any non-disclosure agreements, or privacy documents
• Holiday & Vacation Time - What are expectations around holiday and vacation time off
• Personal & Sick Time - What are expectations around personal days and sick time 
• Health Coverage (if applicable) - When does coordinator qualify for insurance, and what are the terms
• Other benefits - i.e. Volunteer Time Off or Holiday Hours. 

Lastly, make sure to have a few “starter” projects in mind for the volunteer coordinator to get in the groove of the organization. Have a clear transition plan for the volunteer coordinator to enter the workplace and work well with the organization.