Essential vs ideal requirements for your experiences
Knowing exactly the needs of your project is the first step for you to define what is essential and what would be ideal to find in the volunteers you are looking for. Establishing the requirements and matching them with the right filters helps a lot in the recruitment process and, consequently, in the quality of experiences.
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An important part of the process of finding good volunteers is choosing the right requirements for each position. Depending on your needs, these requirements can be considered essential or ideal for your project.
Language proficiency, for example, is decisive when it comes to communication, both with you the host and with the other people involved in your project. If the volunteer’s help involves customer service activities, it’s essential that the language fluency requested matches this activity, so that there are no communication issues. However, if you need help in a task that requires less interaction with other people, asking for a high proficiency level may be ideal, but not essential. The best way to check volunteer language skills is to exchange audio messages on our platform or have video calls with them.
The minimum and/or maximum age requirement may be essential depending on the activity requested, necessary documentation or even legal issues. This filter interferes a lot in the amount of applications that each position receives. So, beware! And don’t forget: no one is too old to travel and volunteer!
Tip: in the Requirements session, in your volunteer position, each modification changes the percentage of volunteers from our base who meet the requirements requested. The ideal is to keep the bar between 40% and 80%. Keep an eye on it!
On the other hand, extra fees may be essential for the operation of projects where the volunteer activity is not for profit (e.g. NGOs, social projects, ecovillages, and other projects focused on the United Nations SDGs). If your project requires financial collaboration from the volunteers, do not forget to explain well in your profile what these fees are used for.
Another important point is the acceptance or not of couples/friends traveling together. Volunteers who travel alone tend to connect and interact more with other travelers, being valuable to the project’s environment. Those who travel in pairs tend to look for longer stays and other forms of interaction and connection with the project and people. Whether or not to enable this option, it depends on the style and needs of your project.
Other requirements such as the volunteer’s home country and documentation also help direct the applications you will receive. Receiving volunteers only from your country facilitates communication, while receiving volunteers from other parts of the world allows a greater cultural mix in your project. Asking for specific types of document may be necessary for your project but, if not essential, this requirement may decrease the amount of applications you will receive. Remember that documentation is not an eliminator filter, but an indication. If documentation is mandatory, add screening questions that reinforce this requirement.
Overall, the most important thing is to know exactly what’s essential and what’s ideal for your project, make the right combinations between the requirements available and choose the volunteers well. With time and more experience, we always recommend returning to this step and making the necessary adjustments, keeping your requirements updated.
