New Chapter Guide: Recruitment

Written by: Hannah Miller
Editor-In-Chief
Marketing & Recruitment Manager
Starting from scratch in a new community can be very exciting, but also a little overwhelming. It’s easy to find your first 20 mentors, but what happens after that?
That’s why the TeamMates National Office is here! For the last 7 years, I’ve dedicated my life to creating materials, making presentations, and researching why safe, caring adults become mentors.
Step 1: Who are we recruiting for?
Our mentees are our greatest customers, so let’s find mentors specifically for them. Before you go out to recruit new mentors, think of those kiddos waiting.
First, create a list of kids who have asked for a mentor.
How many boys and how many girls are waiting?
What are their grade levels?
What are they interested in?
The goal is to create a small pitch based on that one particular child.
Example: I have a 4th-grade boy who LOVES to play with LEGOS. I know you used to have boys running around your house who probably loved to do that too. I think you’d make a great match.
This helps ease anxiety for prospective mentors because it shows three things:
1. There is a student actually waiting to be matched.
2. It’s a pretty simple task (you don’t have to be an expert).
3. You have confidence in them.
Step 2: Work with your board
If you are a board member, GREAT! You’ve come to the right place! If you’re a coordinator, please stop what you’re doing and grab the nearest board member!
Our coordinators are the heart and soul of TeamMates, but they have A LOT of things to do to keep their program running. Board members are great cheerleaders. Let them go out and recruit mentors for you (unless you LOVE recruitment, then by all means, DO YOUR THING!).
HOMEWORK
For your next board meeting:
Ask each board member to bring 1-3 names of people who would make great mentors. Compare those names with the list of kiddos and “assign” a kid to each potential new mentor. This will give board members everything they need to start instilling confidence in those prospective mentors.
Step 3: Market the program
We have tons of resources available to you to start marketing your program around the school and your community. You can check out our Dropbox Toolkit here.
Other Recruitment & Marketing Blog posts you can check out now!

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Back to Basics: Reigniting Your Match
After summer and other school breaks, as a TeamMates volunteer, it is important to remind your mentee that even though you were apart for a while, you always thought of them and looked forward to reconnecting.