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There are a number of goals in screening, on or offline, volunteers that are going to work directly with others at or through your organization:

• You want to make sure the volunteers have the skills, capacity and commitment to take on the volunteer assignment successfully.

• You want to make sure they truly understand the program and its goals, the commitment they will make as a participant, and all expectations.

• You want to make sure, if they are going to work directly and unsupervised with people you serve (clients, the public, children, etc.), if they are going to have access to sensitive information or systems, or if they are going to represent your organization, that they do not have a criminal or personal history that would make them inappropriate as a participant in your program.

The best screening methods are combined with training: as volunteers go through the screening process, they should also be getting an idea of what working with you and in this program is like.

What kinds of screening must you do for online volunteers working directly with students, other volunteers, clients, or others served by your organization? Based on the safety standards for face-to-face situations as defined by the National Collaboration for Youth's Screening Volunteers to Prevent Child Sexual Abuse, as well as the experiences of various online mentoring programs, we've created the following suggestions.

At minimum, these applicants should:

• express interest in participating via e-mail or an online form. Those who call or send in a postal mailing to express such interest should be directed to the online method. Otherwise, you have no proof that this person really, truly does know how to use basic Internet tools, or that this person has a reliable Internet connection.

• complete an online application. Doing so shows that they know how to perform the basics of web navigation; again, this is another test of their online abilities. It also shows their attention to detail, and how well they express themselves online.

  Here are sample three online volunteering applications:

  • Sanchez Elementary School Online Mentoring Program
    Volunteer Mentor Application

  • Cyberangels Volunteer Application

  • Telementoring Young Women in Science, Engineering, and Computing Mentors application

   
  
• receive an immediate online response (within 48 hours/two business days) after submitting the online application, that directs the applicant to a next step. This next step can be to subscribe to an e-mail-based discussion group or e-mail alert, or to answer additional questions.

   
  

• meet a deadline for submitting information via e-mail. Some programs have followup questions that are sent immediately upon receipt of a completed online application, or require applicants to subscribe to an electronic update, with a deadline for the volunteer to answer. This will demonstrate the volunteer's commitment to timely communications.

  It's one thing to answer "yes" to the question "do you reply promptly to e-mails and follow directions well" on an online application. It's another to SHOW it. This further screens out people who might not be appropriate for an online program.

• be subjected to a reference check. These should be personal references that can talk about how well a person works with others (specifically children, if students are involved in your program), how well they represent themselves online, etc. We have a list of sample reference questions for potential online mentors here on our web site. For other kinds of online volunteers, use questions similar to those you use for potential paid staff or volunteers who work in face-to-face situations, as appropriate.