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| Screening |
| By Charles
Tremper and Gwynne Kostin |
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Unless you accept everyone who walks in off the street,
you are already screening. Using a structured procedure
replaces haphazard, and potentially arbitrary, decisions
with a fair and defensible method. Methodical screening
doesn't eliminate reliance on your gut feeling; you may
subconsciously pick up clues about a candidate's suitability.
You can leave room for intuition in your selection process,
but use it as a basis for further inquiry.
As the sensitivity of the volunteer assignment increases,
the need for multiple and more thorough screening procedures
rises. At the low risk end of the spectrum is a volunteer
who assists each week in copying and filing newspaper clippings
or someone who helps organize groceries for the food bank.
At the high risk end is a guardian for an elderly person
with Alzheimer's disease or a mentor for a child in a program
involving unsupervised overnight visits at the mentor's
home.
Using multiple screens increases your chance of finding
the best volunteers and rejecting the worst. Layered screening
procedures may expose people who aren't telling the truth
by revealing inconsistent responses. In addition, the thoroughness
of the process may discourage applicants with something
to hide.
Some people are afraid that extensive screening will scare
away potential volunteers. Fortunately, many successful
programs have demonstrated that thorough screening can be
done. Most candidates will understand the reason for a thorough
process when you explain your organization's concern that
clients be served and protected. Once again, open communication
is key.
When dealing with vulnerable populations screening volunteers
before placement is not enough! Research has found that
convicted child abusers were amazed at how readily they
were placed. They were even more amazed that they were unsupervised
as they carried out their volunteer work while sexually
abusing children. Build ongoing supervision, training, and
evaluation into your program. Help employees, other volunteers,
clients, and their guardians to recognize and report suspected
abuse.
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| Screening
Guidelines |
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Use the position description to evaluate
the responsibilities of and supervision for the position.
This analysis provides the basis for developing appropriate
screening procedures.
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Gather all of your data before making
a judgment. If something seems fishy to you, ask the applicant
for an explanation. Be sensitive to cultural differences
and your own assumptions. Remember, the goal is to recruit
the best people, even if they aren't just like you.
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Ask the same question in different
ways and get information from multiple sources. For example,
you can trace an applicant's employment record during
an interview and then call former employers. Verifiable
information, like a driving record, can give you insights
that an interview won't provide. Later on you can line
up all the answers and see if the dates and locations
match.
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Include others in the process. One
person may pick up signals that the other misses. Consider
peer interviews or group sessions. Caveat: Limit the number
of eyes that have access to sensitive or private information.
Only those staffers with a legitimate need to know should
review criminal and financial records, for example.
- Be realistic. Be flexible. Weigh the thoroughness of the
screening technique against the responsibility of the position.
For example,a youth-serving organization may wantto sponsor
a mentoring program that includes overnight visits. If the
group doesn't have the resources to screen each volunteer
thoroughly, it may revise the program to prohibit unsupervised
contact.
- Don't collect information you can't evaluate. Ask yourself
what you will do with the information. Some organizations
set up elaborate interviewing processes or use personal-style
tests such as Myers-Briggs and don't know an E-N-F-P (extroverted,
intuition,feeling, perceiving) from a J-E-R-K.
- Make sure the information you gather is really necessary
and appropriate to the duties. Do you need to fingerprint
someone who referees a fundraising basketball game?
" Be consistent. If background checks are important
enough for some volunteers, they are equally important for
all volunteers performing the same tasks. Failing to screen
board members, prominent citizens, or others assumed to
be suitable invites disaster.
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Every screening technique has pluses and
minuses. For example, criminal records checks are an important
element of the screening procedure because they can eliminate
known offenders and scare away people who have been convicted
of target crimes. Nonetheless, criminal records checks identify
relatively few abusers. If a position is sensitive enough
to need a criminal records check, use that check in addition
to other information you gather.
Don't make the mistake of believing that a program is too
valuable to let thorough screening get in the way. Although
screening procedures may seem daunting, keep your focus on
protecting the people you serve and fulfilling your mission.
And be creative. Maybe a psychology instructor at a local
college would volunteer to help design and implement your
procedures.
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Excerpted from No Surprises:
Harmonizing Risk and Reward in Volunteer Management, 2nd
ed, by Charles Tremper and Gwynne Kostin, © 2001, Nonprofit
Risk Management Center
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Found in the Energize, Inc. website library
at http://www.energizeinc.com/art.html
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