Recruiting volunteers: How to attract more volunteers by listening to your current ones

As the first part of the recruitment process, the volunteer advertisement has a lot of work to do. It’s also an opportunity to address some of your potential volunteers’ concerns early on.

The latest NCVO Time Well Spent survey tells us that, of people who had looked into volunteering and decided against it, the most common reason was the time commitment involved (21%). Lack of flexibility was a further barrier, as was uncertainty over whether opportunities were a good match for people’s skills, experience and interests.

Here, you have the chance to provide clarity and manage expectations. Your ads should be transparent about what’s needed in terms of the role and responsibilities, but also the time and shift patterns required. If you can offer flexibility, say so. 

This is where feedback loops come into their own, too. Reviewing comments from past applicants, exit interviews with volunteers who stepped back, and informal conversations at community events can reveal exactly which details were missing or unclear. That insight should directly shape your next set of role adverts.

Having the right tools in place makes a significant difference. At Letchworth Garden City Heritage Foundation, Access Assemble has replaced time-intensive manual processes and means the right details are always included. 

For the small team, attracting volunteers is now a case of building ads using pre-approved role profiles that already contain all the information potential applicants need – and look beautifully on brand. It’s a shift that’s paid off, with volunteer numbers nearly doubling in just one year.

By standardising role profiles based on real volunteer questions and feedback, the team ensures each new advert reflects what people actually want to know, not just what the organisation assumes is important.

Assemble also allows the team to:

• Create and adapt online application templates
• Host ads online, using a microsite that fits seamlessly into their website
• Accept online applications without involving the IT team

“Enabling volunteers to have access to a swift and seamless recruitment process is a big consideration when removing the potential barriers to entry for volunteers. We can easily create opportunities with all the details in our own tone of voice and share a link straight to the role on our website, where volunteers can apply right away.”

- Catherine Rose, Volunteering Manager, Letchworth Garden City Heritage Foundation

Read their success story

If you’re reviewing your current ways to recruit volunteers, simplifying the application journey is often the quickest win. 

Friction in the recruitment application process inevitably leads to lost applications, missed follow-ups and forgotten reminders. 

For Make-A-Wish UK, fragmented systems and a frustrating user experience were negatively impacting volunteer numbers. That’s until they switched to a digital volunteer management system and completely transformed the way they manage their programme and interact with volunteers.

Importantly, simplifying the process should not be a one-off redesign. Regularly asking applicants where they struggled, which questions felt unnecessary, or where they dropped off creates a live feedback loop. That loop allows you to refine forms, remove duplication and test improvements based on evidence, not guesswork.

Using Access Assemble, the team can now:

• Manage the application process from one central hub
• Send automated reminders to keep applications moving forward
• See real-time application tracking for volunteers and managers
• Meet volunteer expectations with an easy, app-based experience 

“We were losing volunteers not because they didn’t care, but because the tech was too complicated… [Now] we’re recruiting around 100 wish makers this quarter and we’ve had over 90 applications in just four weeks. That’s because Assemble makes it so easy for people to apply.”

- Liz Turner, Head of Community and Volunteering, Make-A-Wish UK

Find out more about Make-A-Wish UK’s experience

For organisations focused on volunteer recruitment best practice, onboarding is just as important as attraction. With a lot of checks to carry out and boxes to tick, it’s easy for the onboarding process to become a bottleneck and for promising applicants to fall by the wayside. 
        
Many of the services provided by the National Autistic Society wouldn’t happen without its network of around 1,000 volunteers. But before the team automated their volunteer recruitment processes with Access Assemble, onboarding was a manual process that could take weeks.  

Since streamlining their recruitment, the team can work much more efficiently. More importantly, the volunteer experience is smoother and speedier, with fewer hold-ups and drop-offs through the application stage.

Closing the feedback loop here is critical. Short pulse surveys after onboarding, quick check-ins during induction, or follow-up conversations after the first month can reveal where delays, confusion or frustration still exist. Those insights should then inform process tweaks and communication updates.

Using Assemble VMS, the team can now:

• Use live status updates to keep volunteers engaged
• Exchange direct messages to stay connected with volunteers
• Process references and documents quickly and easily for fewer delays

“The biggest improvement is easily the streamlining of our volunteer recruitment… We are now able to onboard volunteers within a few days of applying and the stages of recruitment through Assemble mean nothing is missed. The average time it takes to clear a volunteer to start has been reduced from approximately a month to two to three days.”

- Laura Clark, Head of Volunteering, National Autistic Society

Read about the National Autistic Society’s journey

By bringing together volunteers from different backgrounds and perspectives, organisations are better placed to innovate, solve problems and create services that truly resonate with their communities.

“We know that if we want inclusive volunteering to happen, organisations need to approach diversity holistically and across everything they do.” (NCVO)

The NCVO Time Well Spent: Diversity and Volunteering report – which supplements survey data with workshops, phone interviews and follow-up feedback – identifies rigid recruitment processes as a potential barrier to inclusion. Participants called for organisations to listen to and engage with applicants and be flexible in accommodating needs. Specifically, they noted that application forms can be intimidating and difficult to complete.

This is a clear example of why feedback must shape process design. Inclusion improves when organisations actively seek out the voices of underrepresented groups and adjust recruitment messaging, forms and onboarding accordingly.

For Mencap, meeting diversity goals began with understanding their volunteer demographic, then identifying ways to make their roles and processes more inclusive. Using the diversity and inclusion tools in Access Assemble has helped the team increase representation and grow the number of volunteers with a learning disability by 18%.

They're now able to:

• Gather and store relevant personal data securely and anonymously
• Analyse data for clear insights into volunteer demographics
• Make informed decisions to meet diversity goals
• Create a closer and more connected volunteer community 

“Our volunteer roles are created with and for people with a learning disability. That means we welcome people from all backgrounds and experiences, but we needed a system that could support that diversity at scale. Assemble has saved us serious time and helped us better understand who our volunteers are and what they need.”

- Matt Hatt, Volunteering Services Manager, Mencap

Read Mencap’s story

Listening to volunteers is one of the most effective ways of recruiting volunteers successfully. Clear role descriptions, simple onboarding and inclusive processes all start with understanding what people need and removing common barriers.

But listening without action creates frustration. A structured feedback loop means insight is captured, reviewed, prioritised and implemented. Over time, this builds trust with volunteers and strengthens your reputation in the community.

To put that learning into practice consistently, it helps to have the right systems in place. A volunteer management system makes it easier to future-proof your recruitment strategy with small, practical improvements at every stage.

When feedback, data and recruitment workflows sit in the same system, improvement becomes continuous rather than reactive.

When volunteer insight feeds directly into your messaging, processes and systems, recruitment becomes intentional rather than instinctive. Here’s what that looks like in practice:

• Recruiting volunteers successfully starts with listening to their experience and understanding common barriers.
• Clear, detailed role adverts help manage expectations and address concerns.
• Reducing friction in the application process increases completion rates.
• Faster, more responsive onboarding keeps volunteers engaged.
• Reviewing diversity data and community feedback supports more inclusive volunteer recruitment.
• Digital tools make it easier to embed these improvements consistently and at scale.

Read the full guide to volunteer recruitment best practice

How does Access Assemble help with recruiting volunteers?

Access Assemble brings recruitment, onboarding and diversity insights together in one place – helping you scale what works and respond quickly to what doesn’t.

If you’re reviewing your volunteer recruitment strategy and looking for ways to attract and encourage more volunteers, download the brochure.