This training will explain how to prepare yourself for the calls and collect the responses that will help us to evaluate our impact.
How will I know what to do?
As an impact volunteer, you’ll be in a team with other volunteers and a team coordinator. Our coordinators are experienced impact volunteers and they’ll arrange to call you as part of your onboarding. You can chat to them about the training and any additional needs you have; they’ll share their experience with you and offer support with your first survey call. Your team coordinator will keep in touch regularly and be your first port of call for support.
We use a platform called Volunteero to manage all the calls and tasks that impact volunteers are involved in. You’ll be added to our list of volunteers on Volunteero, and then receive an automated email from Volunteero to help you set up your account. You can download Volunteero as an app on your smartphone, or you can use their website if you prefer.
Either way, whenever you login, you will be able to see:
- your profile
- group chats (one for all volunteers, one for your team)
- a list of available ‘missions’ – this is what Volunteero calls any task undertaken by volunteers
When you login as a new impact volunteer, you will be able to see several dummy missions; these are not live, but look the same as live missions so that you can get a feel for things. Each mission contains a description which explains what the task is and the context for it.
For example, if the mission is to complete a telephone questionnaire, or conduct an interview, the mission description will include a link to the relevant form which should be completed online. You will also find links to relevant training and support materials for your reference.
Before making any calls, please make sure you have completed the GDPR training and read our guidelines for keeping data safe as part of your onboarding process. As well as protecting our older people, we want to ensure that you are confident about handling their information.
How long will the calls take?
It is difficult to say how long each call will take – some people will talk quite openly while others may decide not to answer all the questions – but it is best to estimate around 15-20 minutes per phone call for questionnaires.
As most calls won’t have been arranged for a specific time or date, you may find it takes a few calls before you reach somebody. That’s why we recommend putting aside at least an hour at a time for volunteering in this role. Ideally, we ask for around two hours of your time each week.
We also advise you to make sure you have the form open and review the information you have before you dial.
Where should I make the calls from?
It’s essential to plan for these calls. Make sure you have a quiet space and privacy; put your other devices or phones on silent mode; and make sure no one can disturb you or listen to your conversations. The information you will collect is personal, sometimes sensitive and should be treated with respect and safely.
It is also important to protect your own personal information, including your phone number. Before making the calls, please make sure you’ve hidden your phone number.
How to hide your number
To hide a number from a landline dial 141 and then the number.
From an Android device: go to the "phone", press the vertical 3 dots for a drop-down menu and select "settings", select "supplementary services", select "showing caller ID", click "hide my number".
From an Apple device: go to "settings”, select "phone", select "show my caller ID", slide the circle to the left to hide number and back to right (green) to show number.
If you use the Volunteero app on your smartphone, you can initiate the call from there, with your number hidden. The call will still be connected via your mobile service provider, not through Volunteero.
If you are using Volunteero on a desktop computer, clicking ‘Show number’ will open a pop-up showing the person’s number, minus the first 0 and preceded by the UK dialling code (and 141 if you’ve selected the ‘hide number’ option).
For example, if the person’s phone number is 0115 234 5678, you might see 141441152345678 or 441152345678.