Hi - checking in to see about the variety of titles for someone in a volunteer management position. In doing a quick search it appears the titles still most common are Volunteer Manager, Volunteer Coordinator, Manager of Volunteer Program. I have seen a few that include "Community Engagement" in the title. What are your thoughts about that?

Thank you,

Jan Milroy

Living History Farms

JMilroy@lhf.org

Hi Jan!

My previous title was "Member and Volunteer Services Coordinator". Membership and Volunteers were in one department - I was the primary manager/contact for our adult volunteers, but also served members. I think jobs in multiple departments are common, so some combined titles are necessary. It might have been more effective for my role to lead with with the word "Volunteers".

I feel like the word "Engagement" can be effective if it is not overused. I work at a University were our development department overused in position titles for development officers, and it confused some our our constituents. One of the roles was "Engagement Specialist"- that doesn't really tell anyone anything. The description of the title should be clear to the general public- you want anyone searching your website to be able to easily see who to contact, especially if they want to volunteer!

Samantha

I know this is months late, but my title is Associate Director, Volunteer Programs. We have a Volunteer Manager and Coordinator position as well, though the manager position is currently vacant and frozen. We too think of our volunteers as an audience in and of themselves and so what we do for this is fulfilling their desire for life-long learning opportunities, enrichment, training, and development.