Keele Student Volunteers & You. Tips and advice for recruiting Keele student volunteers

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Brandon Hamilton
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1 Keele Student Volunteers & You Tips and advice for recruiting Keele student volunteers 6

Why recruit Keele Student Volunteers? Utilising the skills of Keele students is a fantastic way for you to enrich your projects. They are keen, enthusiastic and want to make a difference.

2 Why recruit Keele Student Volunteers? Utilising the skills of Keele students is a fantastic way for you to enrich your projects. They are keen, enthusiastic and want to make a difference. Your volunteering opportunities also help the students, enabling them to develop and learn outside of the lecture halls, become a part of the local community, and enhancing their student experience. We want you to think about students a little differently - they have a diversity of skills and experiences that they can bring to your projects. Maybe you need someone who has IT skills to help with your social media, or perhaps you need marshals or support staff for a specific role or event? applications or training, or a very long term commitment might be needed. This booklet is designed to help you to get the most out of recruiting and utilising Keele students within your projects, giving you an insight into our s skills, the Keele University timetable, and how you can work with KeeleSU Volunteering to find the right volunteers for you. How can you start recruiting Keele Student Volunteers? The KeeleSU Volunteering Department Volunteering has been a key part of Keele since 1962, and just over 10 years ago the Volunteering Department was set up to formalise student volunteering. The department supports students to find volunteering opportunities, encouraging the development of new and existing skills and experiences through getting involved and making a difference. We work closely with both the University and the local community to build positive, effective partnerships in the surrounding area. Our students can work towards KeeleSU Volunteering awards, which provide recognition of the fantastic work our student volunteers do. 1

Last academic year, our students logged over 27000 hours of volunteering with us. In this time you could have flown around the world 574 times, and equates to over 143,105 worth of work!

3 Last academic year, our students logged over hours of volunteering with us. In this time you could have flown around the world 574 times, and equates to over 143,105 worth of work! Although some of this volunteering is done on campus supporting fellow students, organisations and communities. Our brokerage service helps to connect students with relevant organisations, such as yourselves, allowing you to advertise your opportunities directly to our student volunteers. Advertising your volunteering opportunities database using our online KeeleSU Volunteering has an online database of opportunities on our KeeleSU website, allowing you to register and advertise your opportunities to students directly. This is the best way to get your opportunities out to Keele students; the database is often their first port of call for finding volunteering, and your adverts are also automatically ed out to students whose interests match your opportunity. Registering with us online makes managing your volunteering opportunities really simple! Through your central profile you can easily add, update and remove opportunities, and keep track of your student volunteers. Our automated service also means that you will be immediately informed by of whenever a new student applies for one of your opportunities. Out of 133 opportunities advertised last year, 121 had at least one applicant, and many organisations have gone on to advertise multiple volunteering opportunities. To find out more and sign up, go to: volunteering/externalorganisations 2

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5 What are Keele Students Studying? Keele has around 11,000 students. Take a look at the wide range of subjects that they study in the table below. With this huge diversity of course combinations and mix of students from all over the world, why not make the most of students specialist skills and knowledge? If you want to target students with particular skills for a project, KeeleSU Volunteering can help you connect you with relevant schools and students. Faculty of Medical and Health Sciences Faculty of Humanities and Social Science Faculty of Natural Sciences Physiotherapy Medicine Nursing and Midwifery Pharmacy School of Humantities (American Literature and History, Creative Writing, English Literature, Film Studies, History, Media, Music and Music Technology) Keele Management School (Accounting, Finance, Economics, Management, Marketing, Human Resource Management, International Business and Law) School of Social Science and Public Policy (Criminology, Education, Sociology, Social Week) School of Politics, Philosophy, International Relations and Environment School of Law School of Computing and Mathematics School of Life Sciences (Biology, Neuroscience, Biochemistry, Biomedical Science) School of Physical and Geographical Spaces (Chemistry, Environmental Science, Forensic Science, Geology and Geography, Physics and Astrophysics) School of Psychology 4

Tip 1: Create the right opportunities Think about flexibility Think outside the box of your traditional roles Remember we are here to help and support you!

Let them know the difference they will be making Tip 3: Join in with our campaigns and projects Arrange to have Keele students volunteering for you for a day through our Make a Difference days and

6 Tip 1: Create the right opportunities Think about flexibility Think outside the box of your traditional roles Remember we are here to help and support you! Tip 2: Write good role descriptions Make the title short & snappy! Use words like need, spare time fun, flexible and make a difference Give specifics where you can i.e. Where/when/what commitment are you expecting? Let them know the difference they will be making Tip 3: Join in with our campaigns and projects Arrange to have Keele students volunteering for you for a day through our Make a Difference days and our Keele Social Action project These are a no strings attached volunteering sessions, maybe a gardening project or some painting and decorating? KeeleSU Volunteering can reimburse your expenses (such as materials) for these These events can then be used to get the students involved on a more regular basis with the opportunities you have and with fundraising Tip 4: How to recruit Contact a member of the KeeleSU Volunteering Team su.volunteering@keele.ac.uk to help with promotion Register your organisation/project on the KeeleSU Volunteering website and start advertising Commitment needed- is it short term or long term? Marketing strategy to attract students Tip 5: Invest in your volunteers Induction and training Build up a relationship regular meetings and feedback organisation vertise face to face feel a part of your 6

The Academic Year Students are here at Keele for approximately 9 months a year. During vacation periods, campus can be very quiet as students either go home or are working towards deadlines.

7 The Academic Year Students are here at Keele for approximately 9 months a year. During vacation periods, campus can be very quiet as students either go home or are working towards deadlines. Below is a breakdown of the Academic Year for , to make you aware of how the year could impact on availability. to every student; some students will get involved in volunteering all year round, it just depends on their workload and free time that they have. The best thing to do is get to know your Keele student volunteers to learn how to get the best out of them. Semester Semester Dates: 26 th Sept 20 th Jan Dates: 23 rd Jan 9 th June Christmas Vacation: 17 th Dec 8 th Jan Easter Vacation: 1 st April April 23 rd Exam period: 9 th Jan 20 th Jan Exam period: 8 th May 26 th May KeeleSU Volunteering Contact Information su.volunteering@keele.ac.uk Tel: Website: Facebook: ksuvolunteering KeeleSU Volunteering Staff: Sarah Amphlett Jessica Thorley Jamie Roberston Volunteering Manager Volunteering Coordinator Volunteering Coordinator 6

Example One Name Telephone number Contact details

Example One Name Telephone number Contact details Example One Name Email Telephone number Contact details PERSONAL PROFILE An organised and creative English graduate professional keen to utilise his selling and excellent customer service skills in a representative