Home : Wayne's Blog (Wayne Bulpitt - UK Chief Commissioner) : Improving awareness
Improving awareness
Being creative in recruitment
Following a catch-up with 'Key 3', we met with Martin Bryant who joined us a year or so ago as Chairman of Scout Shops Limited to discuss the company’s performance and particularly its strategy for the future.
We recruited Martin, a volunteer, with the help of a professional recruitment agency. This has been a particularly successful option for us over recent years, resulting in more than 15 very senior and experienced professionals in particular fields agreeing to give us the benefit of their services for free. This has been either as trustees or for example in operations such as Unity, Scout Shops or the national centres.
This set me thinking whether we could explore this option more locally by using recruitment firms and the like to help us find volunteers, especially those in specialist roles perhaps. This could help us widen the potential pool beyond our own contacts. Have you tried anything similar?
At a group level, why not use the family information form to help you find out what the parents of your members do, and discuss how this might help you?
Building awareness
I also caught up with a couple of people this week to pick their brains on how we might better help local Scouting to improve awareness of what we do. I know from my travels and discussions that this is something that is regularly asked for – so what can we do to make more of our popularity?
We do really well with the big stories – but how can we help you get more frequent positive coverage in your local paper and on the radio and TV?
In addition to addressing the above, our marketing colleagues are looking at how we might be able to support a more integrated action plan across several local channels (print, website, social media, radio, TV etc) rather than relying on just one or two as we often do. This is something else we will be discussing at a meeting of the operations sub-committee this weekend.
How could we best achieve this?
I know also that some of you already do this (hence some of the meetings I am having and picking of brains), so perhaps you can share what you do?
Would be great if a few more of you could share your ideas and experiences perhaps?
Comments
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By Jools Granville MCIPR MCIM
on 25/01/2012 17:28 Hi Wayne
I am delighted to read your comments on the importance you place on building awareness. I agree wholeheartedly that we need to go a lot further than seeing awareness building in terms of PR coverage.
I welcome your willingness to accept input from outside your own team and as such I would like to offer the full support of the new Avon Scouts Marketing and Communications Team. Our team covers all marketing and communications channels - from offering insights at strategic level through to grass-roots, on the ground, delivery at local level. It is our belief that all communications must be multi-channel to work with our segmented audiences both internal and external and that awareness building and communicating what we do is at the heart of every volunteers role.
Avon has recruited a marcomms team made up of a variety of people ranging from marcomms professionals providing pro-bono services to a charity they belive in to volunteers with amazing transferrable life skills and young people with enthusiasm and drive. We'd be delighted to offer suggestions to your sub-commitee and feedback our experiences as newcomers to Scouting.
NOTE FROM WAYNE
Many thanks Jools, you'll be pleased to know that one of the people I've met this week is Dan Wood, your CC!
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By Richard Fenton, CSL 1st Hartburn
on 26/01/2012 12:07 Hi Wayne,
This is something that I have always done and we utilise it to specifically ask for help in a number of ways. Over the years we have had, police finger printing, agility dog display, pottery wheels, horse riding as some example activities and we use it as a recruitment tool to identify potential active exec members.
I would recommend following your advice with this, our experience is a good one.
Regards
Richard
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By Chris Maxted - ACC [PR] Cornwall
on 28/01/2012 17:38 Dear Wayne,
As someone with a fair knowledge of Sales and Marketing I am amazed why we never seem to look for the 'win win' situation.
Until recently I worked in Oldham as a Development Officer and was approached by the local Police Inspector to find a way of getting the 'kids off the streets' during the summer holiday. Having checked with Linnet Clough Scout campsite when they had some free days during the week I then negotiated with the Housing Association, who had a vested interest in engaging with their tenants and their families as well as the local council to provide funding for a two day taster session of outdoor activities.
We took 100 young people - supported by Community Police Officers (who were amazed to find themselves talking to young people in a non-confrontational situation) and other youth workers from the estate and housing association.
The following week the police hand delivered an invitation to all participants to attend a Youth Fair the following Saturday at which they could discover which groups offered them activities they were interested in.
Of the 100 attending, 87 joined a club that week-end, including 36 new Scouts.
We repeated the exercise the following year but Linnet Clough could not accommodate us because they were fully booked by their local Education Committee who had got to hear of the initiative. We were forced to de-camp to Gt. Manchester West's site at Dunham. They were so enthused by the project (and the money they were being offered) that they gave us an extra day free which paid for new washbasins in the toilet block.
As an adjunct to this story I am now looking to persuade local Housing Association to promote Scouting as a way of engaging their young tenants and their parents and, if possible, to provide accommodation.
One of the tools I am looking to use is the �three in one� helper idea I pinched from Merseyside. Take three young single mums. They take it in turns to help with the unit one week. Next week they baby-sit for the other two and the third week they have a night off to relax or do whatever takes their fancy.
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By Steve Altria GSL 1st Wellington Somerset
on 29/01/2012 14:43 Re Recruitment. How do you keep your "Troops" motivated in the short and long term if your parachuting in others into the Senior roles?
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