Recruiting and Retaining Talent

Whether you are running a nonprofit, are just starting out, or are in need of help but have a limited budget for payroll, the expertise and support of an extraordinary, professional volunteer team can be essential for any service-based organization or business.

Finding Volunteers for Your Company/Organization

Finding professional volunteers who are dedicated to your mission can seem like a daunting task. Here are some suggestions to get you started on your search:

Reach out to connections whose communities or audiences would fit the criteria you need in your volunteers.

Begin by searching for qualified candidates via your social media platforms, LinkedIn, & AMSE™. Quality networking within these communities will provide you with a professional pool of highly qualified volunteers – including military spouses and veterans – with the potential to serve your organization or business. 

Advertise the volunteer opportunity. 

1. Make a list of the attributes you want to see in your volunteers. 

2. Brainstorm the top three volunteer positions you are inquiring about, and write out what the job description is, along with the responsibilities and qualifications. (Note: As you expand your team, you can add additional roles.)

3. Create a job posting with a detailed description of whatever position you are looking for that has an SOP relevant to the role.

Interviewing Potential Volunteer Candidates

After you have found a number of hopeful candidates, it's time to interview! To get through this, you'll need to:

1. Go through an interview process, and speak to each and every qualified candidate about the position they are applying for. Help them dive deeper into where they are professionally and where they want to go professionally. This helps you to decide the best role for them on the team and also to develop professional goals for the prospective volunteers within and beyond the organization or business.

2. Determine whether or not each candidate has the resume and experiences to successfully meet the demands of the role assigned.

3. Honestly ask yourself if you believe your candidates have the passion to learn and grow together, while supporting the mission of your organization or company.

4. Make it official! Send a volunteer contract for them to review and sign. This then goes on file and allows them to have clear expectations.

Mentoring Your Volunteers

Once your volunteers are on-board and settled, you'll need to be sure to…

• Schedule an official orientation to allow them to feel comfortable with the role and responsibilities and also get to know you and the team.

• Provide the necessary onboarding, which might include software and platforms used.

• Link them up with a more seasoned professional volunteer to guide them through the orientation process.

• Introduce them officially to the entire team and – most importantly – to their supervisor or team lead.

• Provide important human resources.

• Collect basic information that includes their birthday, contact details, etc.

• Have them add their role on LinkedIn, and do a welcome post!

Creating a Volunteer Incentive Program

To help with goal-setting and motivation for your volunteers, become a certifying organization for a volunteer incentive program like the Presidential Service Award Program. This gives your volunteers a service goal to work toward. To make a successful program, consider providing your volunteers with the following tools or procedures:

• Volunteer time tracker (Clockify, etc.)

• Expectation to serve a set number of hours per week (Note: Most programs will list hours required to earn awards by age group) 

• Written, weekly progress reflection

• Written, weekly goal-setting statement

• 30/60/90-day plans provided by program directors or team leads

• Google Workspace for chat, email, and GSuite (Note: 501c3 nonprofit organizations can apply for free access to get official emails and workspaces for the organization)

• Asana for project and task management

• QuickBooks to track any expenses used for your volunteer incentive program and beyond, especially if you have finance team volunteers

Rewarding Your Volunteers

Create special, meaningful ways to say “thank you” to your volunteers. Never take your volunteers or the work they accomplish for your organization for granted. Find ways to reward and support them, and you'll discover the more positive environment (and more productive workflow) that gets created. 

What works?

1. Volunteer of the Month award with a personalized Certificate of Excellence

2. Gift cards 

3. Social media features

4. Professional endorsements

5. Scholarships

6. Event opportunities

7. Stipends

Bringing individuals on to help your organization or company but without offering monetary compensation does not have to equate to disorganization or a “whatever I can get” attitude. It IS possible to find and nurture a talented, professional volunteer team who will build each other up, celebrate each other’s successes, and support your mission.

💻 AMSE Action Item: Ready to take that first step toward your volunteer search? Check out the #opportunities thread on your AMSE Member Slack channel to create your posting!

Christina Etchberger

Christina Etchberger is a dynamic and compassionate leader, driven by her deep commitment to supporting the military community. As the Founder, President, and CEO of It's a Military Life Corporation, she has dedicated her career to making a positive impact on the lives of military families and veterans.

I Found the Ultimate Productivity Routine

When you type “productivity/planner,” you’ll find thousands of books and productivity templates to organize your day. Have you noticed that most entrepreneurs spend their mornings the same way as business owners? This may look like 1) making money, 2) paying the bills, 3) paying yourself, and then investing in the business. Let’s remix this by investing in ourselves.  

I’ve found out that there is no such thing as a one size fits all productivity routine. The best productivity routine is the one that you can commit to and sustain consistently. 

Productivity Gurus tell us that anywhere between 3 am and 5 am is the optimum time to begin a routine, but when we are managing a household with unpredictable variables that wake up in the middle of the night for water and cuddles, 6-8 hours of sleep becomes more important than the Guru talk. We need sleep. We need to be alert so that we can have a sharp focus on our passions. We also need the energy to keep our brains and bodies active. Having success in these areas will look different for everyone. 

I didn’t want to work out at 5:00 am today, so I didn’t. Instead, I got moved at 6 am. My routine begins with a non-negotiable time window of affirmations and fitness, so my spirit is filled with goodness before I speak to anyone. I don’t like fitness; it’s just not my thing; never been into it, but I like how my body looks.  

Committing to doing the work requires us to create a non-negotiable habit of investing in ourselves before working on the dreams and goals of others. We begin to flow in wisdom, innovative ideas, and peace when we develop a productivity routine that works best for us. We will also feel the benefit of wholeness.

Today I want to encourage you to evaluate what creates harmony for your schedule and then use those ideas to map out a schedule for your day. Leave room to welcome inevitable distractions like a phone call, social media brain breaks, and some hugs and kisses from our unpredictable variables. Committing to work holds for everything else in life. Once we discover a routine that allows us to invest in ourselves before investing our time in the goals of others, we have successfully developed the ultimate productivity routine for ourselves and our business. 

Jaiya Clarke

Jaiya Clarke is an author, speaker, and joy strategist. She impacts and transforms women's lives globally through her best-selling book, The Keys to Unlocking Your Joy! Jaiya has an MBA in Organizational Psychology and Development. She has written multiple lifestyle resources to enhance soul care, personal growth, and spiritual maturity. Jaiya is passionate about building communities that nurture the spiritual wholeness of women. She regularly shares impactful community discussions about identity, soul care, boldness, and freedom.

Use Networking to Create a Killer Career

Everyone socializes and networks. As a small business owner, networking can reap many benefits that increase brand awareness, revenue, collaboration, and more. 

So, how do you turn networking into a thriving business?

Use Social Media Apps or Sites

Using social media apps can help you find your target market. All social media marketing is different. What you post on Instagram or Snapchat may be inappropriate to post on LinkedIn. Tailoring your content to the site you are posting on is essential. Try out each app and see where your followers get the most engagement. Each like, share, or comment you receive builds your brand awareness.

Join Virtual and In-Person Groups

Collaborating with other entrepreneurs can help you increase your reach and revenue. There are multiple ways that you can collaborate with other small business owners. Matchmaking events in your local area or mutual organizations are the easiest. You can find someone within your niche to conduct a podcast, write articles, or more. Find groups in your industry or area of interest and use the networking tips in this guide to maximize your time and impact. Connect with like-minded people and fellow entrepreneurs at one of our chapters or live events. 

You can also find ways to connect and collaborate using Facebook groups, like the MilSpouse Creative & Entrepreneur group). If you're a blogger who wants to write a guest post or a financial counselor seeking to put on a summit, you can find many other small business owners looking to establish their businesses in the market. Creating a campaign around your future collaboration can build up anticipation with your followers and theirs. Ultimately, you get introduced to their followers and meet new people, and the word-of-mouth results can increase your bottom line. 

Volunteer Your Expertise

Giving back to the community should be an aspect of every entrepreneur's business. It shows your goodwill and helps you impact the community. Volunteering can help you develop new skills and generate publicity. It can also help you jumpstart your networking skills.

If you want to turn networking into a thriving business, put yourself and your business out there. 

You only know the possibilities once you get involved and engaged with the community and your followers; networking events are a perfect way to achieve this. Once you start, it will be hard to stop reaping the benefits of your new and improved social networking skills.

💻 AMSE Action Item: Join the AMSE Slack channel to start networking today. Find events and advice, support other entrepreneurs, and socialize within your community!

Annette Harris

Annette Harris has been a noteworthy financial and human resources leader for over 14 years. She is a U.S. Army veteran and the Founder of Harris Financial Coaching. Annette can also be credited with volunteering with local and national nonprofit organizations that support the community through financial literacy education.

Being a Solopreneur Leader - It's All About Your Mindset

You’re a company of one. All alone in handling the day-to-day tasks and making the decisions that will build your brand and your business to profitability.  Does the word leadership apply to you?

Typically when we think about leadership, we think of directing other people or being a positive example and motivating employee productivity. It’s the “top dog” of a company or organization, the person in charge either by default or by the process of election.  

Leadership for a solopreneur is not going to be the same that you see exhibited in the typical corporate world.  

There’s no next level or succession ladder for you to climb.  You might think the concept doesn’t really apply to you or your business, but there is so much more to leadership than simply leading others. 

LEADERSHIP is a mindset.  

Here are 4 ways you will shine as a solopreneur leader:

• LEAD THROUGH SERVICE.  There are many opportunities to share your knowledge and expertise as a mentor or volunteer. Solopreneurs demonstrate leadership when they are serving others.

  Service can be spending time with students, a budding entrepreneur, or a non-profit organization that supports something you are passionate about. Service builds community around you and your business and is the foundation of loyalty. When you are willing to serve others, they will see you as a leader and honor your wins and accomplishments. Leading through service offers you a chance to share knowledge and surround yourself with others who find joy in your success.

  Organizations like AMSE offer us these connections and provide opportunities for service.   Consider someone within your AMSE network you admire.  Have they served you in some way?

• LEAD YOURSELF.  Always look for opportunities to grow your strengths and bolster your weaknesses.  This means accepting help and reaching out for advice in areas you do not excel.  Leadership is as much about recognizing when it’s time to follow others and provide them a platform to share their expertise as much as demonstrating your own.  

  Have you stopped and looked inward to evaluate your “lead yourself” health?  Nobody understands what actual level of success is found in your finance, marketing, public relations, or productivity departments better than you.  Take charge of your weaknesses and make changes to ensure you have assessed areas of improvement that can build your business profitably and grow your brand in the way you want.

• LEAD WITH STRENGTH. My guess is that you jumped feet first into the unknown at least once or twice or way too many times during your entrepreneurial journey.  Was every leap a success?  Probably not.  I know I’ve stumbled and failed along the way. The best advice has always been to learn from your mistakes, brush yourself off, and try again.  

  Leadership comes from your losses and your wins.   Recognize that others are watching what you do with each and every experience.

  Your example is setting the foundation for your children, family members, friends, and colleagues to see what is most important to you and learn from how you deal with disappointment and difficult situations. 

  Leading with strength is not winning all the time but still pushing on through the challenges that we face as solopreneurs and business owners. 

• LEAD WITH VISION.  Burning the midnight oil or waking up hours before everyone else - entrepreneurs are the first at work and the last to leave. We get done what has to be done because we see possibility, potential, and have a vision of an amazing future far beyond what our small business currently is.  

  Remind yourself not to compare.  Your journey is your own and to lead with vision means you forge your own path without trying to accomplish exactly what everyone else has.

Leadership as a mindset ultimately brings satisfaction in our work and pride in our accomplishments. 

We may not realize it at the time, but we are inspiring and motivating ourselves to be more productive with the ultimate outcome of greater profitability.  As a fellow solopreneur, I want you to know that we can and do shine bright as leaders.

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Anna Larson is a 15-year military spouse, entrepreneur, and homeschool mom of 2 amazing kids + 1 fur baby.  She started her own business after nearly 20 years in marketing and program management.  NomadAbout offers comprehensive marketing solutions, website design, copywriting and social media management.  

She contributes monthly to a number of publications, hosts a weekly podcast and livestream business show called 15ish Minute Coffee Chat, sits on a board as the Director of Operations for a non-profit that offers support to cancer patients, and co-leads the Fort Hood chapter of the Association of Military Spouse Entrepreneurs.

In her spare time, she likes to travel the world and have amazing adventures with her family.  She can’t decide if exploring glaciers in Switzerland, standing in the shadow of Burg Khalifa, or zip-lining at Victoria Falls is her favorite so far.  You can also find her with her nose in a book or sitting poolside for relaxation.

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