This chapter keeps the three recruitment phases separate. It answers: How do we attract, understand and choose the right volunteers fairly and realistically?
Chapter 4 — Recruitment, Selection & Matching
This chapter turns a designed project into matched volunteers. Chapter 2 defined the roles; Chapter 4 finds the people, sets honest expectations and matches them well. It covers five phases: the infopack that manages expectations, promotion that reaches the right candidates, the application procedure, interviews, and the selection and matching decision. The chapter begins from the role criteria set in Chapter 2 and ends when volunteers are matched to named roles and both sides have accepted. The whole chapter should be planned against a realistic recruitment timeline, which in turn should sit inside a project-level timeline for the entire model.
Two programme rules govern the entire chapter. First, recruitment runs through the European Solidarity Corps Portal: young people register on the Portal (from age 17; participants must be 18–30 at the activity start, or up to 35 for humanitarian aid), and organisations holding a Quality Label must use the Portal database to search for and select participants. Second, selection is bound by an open-criteria rule: volunteers must be selected fairly and without discrimination, and no previous qualifications, educational level, specific experience or language knowledge may be required, unless justified by the nature of the tasks or the project context. Participation is always free of charge to the volunteer.
Creates the main information document explaining the project, tasks, living conditions, support, money, rules, local context, challenges and learning opportunities.
Publishes the opportunity through the Youth Portal, partners, alumni, social media, newsletters, networks and local/international channels.
Collects motivation, eligibility, availability, support needs, accessibility needs, skills, expectations and possible barriers.
Checks understanding, motivation, readiness, expectations, communication style, comfort with tasks and support needs.
Selects and matches volunteers based on role fit, motivation, inclusion, learning potential, project needs, support capacity and partner input.
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