Volunteer FAQs

[jimmythompson]

Gathering a list of FAQs around volunteering for would-be volunteers will be a nice way for people to work out whether volunteering is right for them.

This would go on the Volunteer page, and would just list out some questions with their answers.

I have some initial ideas for questions, feel free to contribute some questions and answers.

• How much time do I need to give?
• Do I need to know about robots/robotics?
• Do I need a DBS (a.k.a. CRB) check?
• Is there an age requirement?

[PeterJCLaw]

Are you aware that we already have:

• Community Guidelines (https://www.studentrobotics.org/cgit/community-guidelines.git and srobo/community-guidelines)
• Volunteer Handbook (https://www.studentrobotics.org/cgit/volunteer-handbook.git/)

Given that we already have these resources, particularly the latter one, it would seem rather pointless to re-create them.

[Adimote]

the volunteer handbook is, in my opinion, much better than a FAQ, I'd recommend just linking to it instead of reinventing the wheel

[jimmythompson]

Thanks for pointing these out, but looking at them I'm unsure where exactly we're reinventing the wheel. The volunteer FAQ isn't for existing volunteers, it's for inform potential new volunteers. For example, telling people they need to be 18 years-old and that they don't need a DBS check should help people decide whether they want to sign up.

The Community Guidelines seem more about how we expect people to behave, and the Handbook seems more like something we'd provide in a "welcome pack" for people who have already signed up to volunteer.

Some parts seem relevant to the Volunteer page (e.g. your first mentoring session), but I'd rather merge them in. I don't want to link to them since they're completely separate from the rest of the website. They'd need to be brought in with the the Style Guide, with a consistent navigation, and provide a "Sign up to Volunteer" button, which doesn't seem right for those pages at all.

[rgilton]

Hi Jimmy -- this would be something to speak to the Volunteer Recruitment Coordinator about, who is currently Jeremy.

[richardbarlow]

To progress the ticket, it might be worth speaking to the new Volunteer Recruitment Coordinator, Georgina: [email protected]

[richardbarlow]

Also, having just had a quick scan over the Volunteer Handbook, my opinion is that it would be good to keep/use in some way. However, it certainly isn't the responsibility of the PR coord to handle this. I'll have a think about what role makes the most sense to deal with it.