A Conversation with a Purpose: A Practical Guide to Interviewing Prospective Volunteers

Kathleen McCleskey and Cheryle N. Yallen

This book will help you:

Obtain as much information as possible through quality communication during the interview process.

Match an individual’s skills with the needs of the organization.

Interview any type of potential volunteer, including those who will serve online and in groups.

KM Consulting and Training Connection, 2009, 67 pages, electronic edition.

Electronic version:


Price: AU$12.00

About the Book:

Interviewing potential volunteers demonstrates the value your organisation places on volunteer involvement and helps to identify individuals whose skills, personality, and motivation fit well with your team. Authors McCleskey and Yallen provide a combination of knowledge, preparation, and practice to enable the unskilled interviewer to become a skilled interviewer who can ascertain the information needed to choose the right volunteers for the right jobs.

For volunteer managers new to conducting interviews, this book gives common sense advice, steps for preparing for an interview, sample interview questions, and handy forms and worksheets to copy and use.

 
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Brief Excerpt

From: Chapter 3, “The Interview Process,” pages 24-25.

Helpful phrases

During the interview process, the interviewer may need to obtain further information in reference to a question that they have asked. The following are examples of some phrases that can be used to assist in obtaining the needed information.

What do you think about...
How did you come to that conclusion...
You did not feel comfortable when...
Sounds like it makes you anxious when....
So when that happened you...
If there was a problem, you suggest that...
Tell me more about...
What happened then?
Please explain the procedure you used when...
As I understand it, you...
So your point is...
Let me see if I understand...
Is it possible that...
What I hear you saying…

These phrases will assist the interviewer in obtaining more information from the prospective volunteer without being judgmental about the response. They allow the interviewer to better understand the response. They say the interviewer heard what was said, clarify what was stated by the prospective volunteer, and ask for feedback. They assist in keeping the conversation going and help to develop a mutual understanding between what the prospective volunteer is trying to say and what the interviewer is hearing.
 

Table of Contents

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