Custom Volunteer Interview Preparation Guide

What a good one includes

• A clear statement of the role's mission and the spiritual or community values the candidate needs to embody.
• Tailored behavioral questions that explore how the candidate handles difficult interpersonal situations or volunteer burnout.
• Safe ministry and boundary questions designed to ensure the physical and emotional safety of vulnerable populations in your care.
• A set of ideal answers or green flags that indicate genuine alignment with your community's unique culture and ethical standards.
• Red flags to watch out for, such as signs of a savior complex, inflexibility, or a lack of personal self-care practices.
• An easy-to-use scoring rubric that standardizes evaluation across multiple interviewers to remove personal bias.

Common mistakes to avoid

• Relying on purely technical or skill-based questions while ignoring the candidate's character, alignment with your mission, and emotional maturity.
• Failing to ask direct, clear questions about safety, background checks, and physical boundaries out of a desire to keep the conversation polite.
• Forgetting to clearly outline the exact time commitments and physical demands of the role, leading to volunteer burnout or early departures.
• Neglecting to use a standardized rubric, which leads to placement decisions based on personal likability rather than objective role fit.

Frequently asked questions