#10 How we attract and keep better F2F fundraisers – Pt.2 Defending against outside influence
Following advice from last week, your organisation has now produced a range of adverts tailored to the specific needs of your future fundraisers, and have attracted a batch of new talent. Many of our applicants will apply en-masse from the safety of their mobile device, and after the first-round phone interview, your potential recruits will introduce the idea of working for you to their friends and family.
The odds of your interviewee arriving for their face-to-face meeting can depend on the feedback given to them from their loved ones, the media and online reviews. So how do you protect against negativity?
The hardest but most important opinion that you need to guard against is the potentially negative advice from the applicant’s inner circle. It is no secret that agencies and in-house teams exert a lot of time and energy to welcome their new-starts into the fold once they’ve commenced employment, but to make sure that your future superhero gets that far we need to do two things:
A structured call with a professional follow-up. As with your fundraisers, your recruiter needs to communicate the USPs and interact with the aspirant in a professional and structured way. Work on a call strategy with your recruiter and role-play until you are content with their performance. Mystery shop your recruiter by inserting a friend or colleague’s contact details into their call list, and record all calls (with their consent) and listen to them regularly.Send an invitational email follow-up with FAQs and an SMS reminder after the call. Be sure to include a ‘reasons why I love the job’ section in the FAQs with a photo of a fundraiser. This can double-up as a recognition device for a leading fundraiser.
Reduce the time between application and interview. As with the period between sign-up and first debit, the sooner you convert the more likely you are to get the result you require. Encourage your recruiter to contact the new applicant the same day as the application, and if the new applicant is successful in their phone interview, get them to the office the following day. The likelihood of your candidate attending an interview reduces with every day that you do not meet them.
To date, no fundraising organisation has published a positive piece about any charitable act or community outreach program that they have run. Is this because no F2F agency has ever done any extra-curricular charitable act or they just haven’t made it public? This could be an area for us all to discuss later.
Finally, you can defend against online criticism by investing in a professional website; publishing Fundraiser testimonials on your website; encouraging your employees and ex-employees to leave positive reviews on Glassdoor and other review sites; and, using professional services to maintain a positive online presence, will reduce the risk of your interviewee getting a less than favourable view of your endeavour.
This extra effort can immunise against undesirable opinions and increase your pool of potential employees.