Main Responsibilities of a Manager of Volunteer Programs at Adler Planetarium
Grace's main responsibilities as Manager of Volunteer Programs at Adler Planetarium involve recruiting, training, and engaging volunteers, a role that requires a delicate balance of "personal relationship" and professional oversight. The work necessitates strong interpersonal skills to manage diverse personalities and ensure volunteers' contributions remain "fruitful to the museum," sometimes requiring difficult conversations to maintain organizational effectiveness.
Volunteer Management, Interpersonal Skills, Recruitment, Training, Staff Management
Advizer Information
Name
Job Title
Company
Undergrad
Grad Programs
Majors
Industries
Job Functions
Traits
Grace Souza
Manager of Volunteer Programs
Adler Planetarium
Loyola Marymount University
N/A
English, Writing & Education
Nonprofit, Foundations & Grantmaking
Human Resources (HR)
Took Out Loans
Video Highlights
1. Grace recruits volunteers, trains them, and keeps them engaged.
2. She balances personal relationships with volunteers while maintaining professionalism.
3. She has to have critical conversations with volunteers if they are not serving the museum's mission effectively, demonstrating the importance of effective communication and conflict resolution skills in this role.
Transcript
What are your main responsibilities within your current role?
If you were to look at the description of my job, it's pretty straightforward. I recruit volunteers for specific roles within our organization, train them to fulfill those roles, and keep them engaged so they continue to provide service for us free of charge. That is a pretty straightforward way to describe my position.
Another way I describe my position is that I'm very similar to an RA in a dorm, where I have this position of authority. These volunteers report to me, but it's not a paid position, and they don't technically have to do what I tell them.
However, they kind of do if they want to continue volunteering with us. So it's really about balancing the personal relationships I have with all our volunteers to get to know them, keep them interested, and find out what they like and don't like.
I need to understand what environments they thrive in and which ones they aren't suited for. But I also have to maintain professionalism. We aren't friends, though we are very friendly, as they serve a specific purpose within our organization.
If they're no longer serving us in a way that's fruitful to the museum and its mission, then we have to have critical conversations, more formal HR sit-downs. It's a combination of using a lot of interpersonal skills to balance all those personalities and the needs of the specific volunteers and the organization as a whole.
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