I was invited by the Mayor to attend the council’s volunteer group (the current Mayor has community as of one of his councillor jobs) open evening and I wasn’t surprised to find that practically every single group that relies on volunteers, struggles. Chatting to some of the people there it seems ones that do best have a simpler joining process or are really specialised, like sports, martial arts, boxing and performing arts, who seem to draw people from parents or who have just progressed and become coaches and instructors. Which is similar to us, but without our underlying pressure to go a particular way.
When I explained our joining process the council workers, (as were some of the other groups) were astounded that it was so convoluted and even more so it was all on paper. Also they weren’t enthused by the pressure to go into uniform and said this would be a blocker as people who volunteer want to decide their level of involvement and not have pressure / expectation to do more than they want to.
A comment was no wonder you struggle to get people to help. They said getting people in and working should be simple, no more than one or two pages and it should be all electronic/online and emailable to make it easier.
The DBS is almost taken as de-rigeur now, so people either accept it or walk away, where it is required.
They have put us on their database of volunteering opportunities. With a brief explanation of what people have to do to join, as do all of the organisations.
I said that is was all on paper (including DBS), had to be done via post, interviews with Wing Staff which can take a while to happen, long probation period at which point you could still be asked to leave, compulsory courses and questioning as to when you might consider going into uniform. I also said that it wasn’t done locally (ie done at Corps level), there is a history of paperwork being lost or not processed at levels above the squadron and you could also be asked to go to another squadron if it was felt their need for staff was greater than at the one you had gone to initially.
If any of those aspects aren’t correct, point out which ones are not right or within peope’s experience. I saw no reason in dressing it up, as they are willing to try and help get people.
As I said they were not surprised that we struggle to get new people in and relied too heavily on cadets continuing as staff.
Maybe, but at least people will know what they are getting into.
I would hope that I have enough personal integrity to ensure people get an honest perspective, regardless of how it sounds. it’s not one of the those glossy brochure/pamphlet snippets, where they forget to mention it took a year and a half and 3 sets of paperwork.
How many people do we lose as the system is so ponderous and basically not fit for purpose, unless you are a cadet already?
