Volunteer Coordinator interview questions and answers

Volunteer Coordinator Interview Questions

Volunteer coordinators source, recruit, organize and retain competent and enthusiastic volunteers. You’ll want candidates who understand that this is a job both challenging and rewarding.

A degree isn’t always required but you can still look for a bachelor’s in social studies, HR or a field related to your organization’s mission. Their work background can be quite diverse ranging from volunteer coordinator to operations management. Generally, you’ll want people with experience working in close contact with people. It’s also best if you shortlist candidates who have been volunteers themselves in the past.

People who excel in this position are great leaders. They should have the ability to inspire people who don’t get paid for their work and keep them satisfied. Look for signs that a candidate can thrive in communicating the purpose of volunteering, solve problems, pay attention to detail and organize not only their own tasks but also those of volunteers.

These questions illustrate how you can evaluate these attributes. The best candidates will show they’re aware of your organization’s mission, activities and outreach and will ask great questions in return.

Operational and Situational questions

• How would you encourage diversity among volunteers?
• How would you promote the recognition of volunteers’ work in the community?
• Imagine one of the most committed volunteers tells you they want to quit. What do you say?
• You will need to work with people who don’t receive any compensation for what they do. How do you motivate/reward them?
• Imagine you interview a volunteer who seems a nice, outgoing and enthusiastic person. Yet you find that they lack time-management and organizational skills. What do you do?
• If you didn’t have enough volunteers, would you take any person who applied? What would it take for you to refuse a volunteer?

Role-specific questions

• How would you rate yourself as a leader?
• Do you find our mission important and why?
• How does your experience make you right for this role?
• What’s your experience with databases? How would you use them to recruit volunteers?
• What system would you use to keep track of volunteers?
• Are you familiar with background checks? When would it be necessary to conduct one?
• What’s your experience in training volunteers/employees?
• What type of software do you think a volunteer coordinator needs? Have you used any in the past?
• What do you need to know to create a schedule for volunteers?

Behavioral questions

• Describe a time you dealt with an argument between volunteers
• Recall an instance in your time as a volunteer when you found it difficult to stay motivated. What did you do? What do you think a volunteer coordinator should have done?
• Tell me about a time you had to work while being short staffed. How did you manage?
• Describe a project/event you coordinated successfully