Toronto is home to more than 200,000 college and university students across multiple campuses and programs. While these students vary in age and experience, many are looking for volunteer opportunities that align with their education. Wondering how to connect with this dedicated cohort? Check out these considerations.


Recruitment
Don’t wait for students to find you, go directly to them: attend job and volunteer fairs at colleges and universities, and connect with groups, programs and offices that align with your work.

Connect to career paths: Be clear about how volunteering with you can align with a student’s career and education goals.

Adjust your engagement process: Provide upfront information about how long screening and onboarding will take, and consider how exam periods and breaks will interrupt the process.


Scheduling and Commitment
Be flexible: Volunteering won’t be most students’ top priority, so enable self-directed scheduling, project-based engagement, and built-in breaks when engaging these volunteers.

Focus on shorter commitments: As with any volunteer, a commitment of six months or longer will be difficult. Ask for shorter-term opportunities that fit within student schedules over summer, breaks, or during semesters.


Designing Roles
Focus on impact: Create volunteer roles where students can see the impacts of their efforts clearly, and share that impact with volunteers.

Provide autonomy: Give volunteers real responsibility and trust them to succeed. This includes appropriate training and supervision when needed, and also being “hands-off” to give volunteers the space to try and succeed. Consider how volunteers are treated as valuable members of the team and valued by everyone at the organization.

Ask for Input: Find out from existing post-secondary volunteers what they like about the role, what they want to see, and how roles can be enhanced for future volunteers.