Introducing group interviews to your volunteer recruitment process is a valuable way to increase engagement with applicants and volunteers. Done well, group interviews are an effective recruitment format to assist with the selection of individuals who are the best fit for each volunteer role in your organisation. Some of the benefits to introducing group interviews in volunteer recruitment include:

• Fostering a community: Group interviews provide an opportunity for applicants to connect with and engage with others. They are also a positive way for applicants to connect with active volunteers in addition to your volunteer support team.
• Informing volunteer applicants: Applicants can learn more about the organisation, expectations and the role they are applying for. Group interviews are an effective avenue to introduce common scenarios volunteers may encounter in their role and to have discussions around the best approach to dealing with them.
• Observing interactions: Importantly group interviews provide you with an opportunity to observe applicants engaging and interacting with their peers. These interactions cannot be observed during a one on one interview and provide a different perspective. This is particularly important for roles which require effective team work, excellent communication skills and roles which involve people interaction.
• Engaging volunteer leaders: Including volunteer leaders in developing group interviews and in providing support on the day provides them with a leadership opportunity. It is also a valuable avenue for applicants to learn from experienced volunteers. Additionally, volunteer leaders are another set of eyes to observe the applicant’s behaviour and interactions.
• Boost efficiency: Streamlining your volunteer recruitment process by replacing individual interviews with group interviews results in a more efficient process. Additionally, by batching the interviews this will enable more applicants to be onboarded and inducted together. This creates more efficiency and further opportunities for applicants to engage with each other throughout the recruitment process.

There are many approaches for facilitating group volunteer interviews. Here is one approach which I have found to be helpful, engaging and informative.

Developing Common Scenarios

A good starting point for developing group interviews is to assess the essential attributes required for the role. For example, volunteers may need to possess excellent communication skills, display resilience or work well in a team environment.

This an opportune time to commence engagement with your volunteer leaders. They can assist by identifying common scenarios they encounter in their role which requires them to display the essential attributes. Questions for group discussion can then be developed for each common scenario. Following each scenario and group discussion, the volunteer support team and volunteer leaders can provide feedback and input as to how they would manage each scenario. An example scenario and questions include the following:

Scenario to assess response to stressful situation, resilience and self-care

You have been volunteering at the animal rescue centre and enjoy visiting the animals on your break. You have become quite attached to a rabbit who you have been visiting every shift. On this particular shift the staff advise you that due to medical complications the rabbit was euthanised.

1. How would this make you feel?
2. Over the next few days you find that you are thinking/worrying a lot about what happened. What would you do?

Engaging with Applicants

Participating in a group interview can be a daunting experience for many individuals. Often applicants are out of their comfort zone and in a new environment where they may not know anyone. It is our role to ease this discomfort and provide a friendly and safe space where they feel comfortable to open up to us. Incorporating some time within the group interview where each applicant can connect one on one with a member of the volunteer support team is important. Providing this time allows for all personality types to have an opportunity to be their best. During the one on one component it is beneficial to ask each applicant questions related to their motivation as well as skills, experience and knowledge relevant to the role.

While the one on one component is taking place the volunteer leaders can continue connecting with the other applicants.

It is also important to be aware and sensitive to any medical conditions which may impact an applicant’s ability to participate in a group interview. In some circumstances it may be necessary to adjust the interview process to ensure fairness to the applicant and not to discriminate.

Develop Group Interview Procedure Document and Checklist

Developing a group interview procedure document and checklist will ensure the interview team understand their role, create consistency and provide a fair and equitable opportunity for all applicants. Important elements in the procedure document include:

• Specific roles and responsibilities for the interview team;
• A detailed schedule including the length of time allocated for each part of the group interview (for example: introductions and explanation of the group interview process, the scenarios and questions, group feedback, individual questions, FAQs and next steps); and
• Guidelines on managing any potential disputes and conflict resolution should the need arise.

Important elements on the checklist include names of applicants, the group and individual questions, an area for comments and observations for each applicant and a rating system e.g. 1= below expectations, 2=meets expectations and 3=exceeds expectations.

Group interviews bring many benefits when engaging volunteers, however this format may not suit every role, applicant or organisation. Please share your success stories and learnings from conducting volunteer interviews.