Talking to Volunteers 101

I've been home for a week now and have had the chance to have life dates with friends whom I have not seen in ages, some of whom I haven't spoken to in ages. And of course, everyone asks the same question: How is life with VSC?

If you really want to find out about someone's life for the past 7 months, this inquiry is not the way to go. It is just too broad. Either I'll find a way to answer in a word or two, maybe a sentence even, or you're asking for the unabridged version of a turbulent, changing time of my life.

Here are some good questions I've heard:

1) Tell me about the other volunteers. What has been your experience of living in community?

2) Do you like your job at the school?

3) What's an average day like?

4) What was it like to transition from college to the "real world"?

5) Describe St. Louis.

6) What are you planning on doing next? [I hate this one, but it's good for me to think about.]

Some questions I haven't heard but would elicit good responses:

1) Who are your favorite students? Who are the toughest?

2) What were some of your proudest moments?

3) What's the other staff at the school like?

4) What have you learned? How have you changed?

5) What is God doing in your life right now?

6) What gives you hope?

If you're really brave, you could add:

1) What has been one of your hardest moments?

2) How had God challenged you?

3) What are the things you've had a hard time letting go? What's kept you up at night?

The key when asking questions to find out about the long-lost parts of someone's life is to elicit stories. If you've taken any sociology or anthropology courses, you learn how to ask open-ended questions that let the person answering take control. The encounter with a returning volunteer is very similar. As long as you provide the opening, she will talk, because she wants to share. But she can't necessarily just verbally vomit five or seven months of life to you.

Honestly, these same questions can serve as a guide for mid-term phone, email, and IM conversations as well. They say, "What you do sincerely interests me, and I want to hear more about it and you," and they offer a path to walk in the conversation. That's about all a volunteer needs, because she actually is bursting to talk to someone who wants to understand.