Renfrewshire county growth coordinator Elaine has got you covered…

The idea to run a local recruitment event started when I had a meeting with my county commissioner and development worker Reann. We thought of different ways to grow guiding in the area and that’s when we came up with getting a stall set up at Braehead Shopping Centre.

We thought of a few different places we could get set up but the shopping centre won out because it’s really big and draws in people from a larger geographical area. This meant we could spread the word about volunteering to even more people beyond just our own county. It’s useful to brainstorm a few location ideas before settling on one, so you’re able to pick the place that’s the best fit.

To prepare, Braehead Shopping Centre sent me some paperwork to complete including a risk assessment, and I also needed to send on a copy of our public liability insurance. We also had to account for some restrictions the venue had in place, for example, we weren’t allowed helium balloons and we had to provide evidence that all of our electrical equipment had been PAT tested. So, it’s always good check what’s needed and what you can and can’t do ahead of time.

I spoke to all division commissioners in the county beforehand and each of them chose a time slot for their volunteers to cover the stall. Development worker Reann is the one who organised for us to have the promotional resources we needed, including balloons and badges, which was great.

Everything ran smoothly on the day! We decided to display some Pencil Express artwork local girls had done to give our stall a more personal touch – there were even some Brownies and Rainbows giving out balloons at one point. The shopping centre staff were really helpful too. There was no need to bring any tables because they provided us with a stand. Make sure you check what equipment your venue already has on site before so you don’t end up taking stuff you don’t need.

It was really good having a variety of volunteers helping at the stall, all with different guiding experiences/roles, and all different ages – this showed the diversity of volunteers in our organisation.

We made our presence known on social media by posting on our county Facebook and Twitter, and Braehead retweeted us – they have a far bigger following than us so it helped us reach even more people. It’s good to check if the venue you’re at can do this if they have an online presence, but if you tag them in your posts they may share your content anyway without prompting.

My biggest regret was that we didn’t have more balloons to give out, we ran out! However, the best news from the day was that a unit which faced closure some 20 miles away from Braehead will be able to stay open because a volunteer came forward at our event, an amazing result!

The day was a big success and I’d be happy to organise another event like this! If you’re thinking of running a recruitment event then please don’t be afraid to drop even the biggest venues a wee email. Wherever you have in mind may be happy to support local community groups.

Find out more here

There’s more information on recruitment available on our website.