However, once we have enough small stuff for people to do, we can refer them to finish the small stuff and establish a track record. If someone has done a good job, say, running a fundraiser, than chances are that they’ll also do a reasonable job at some other task. You can build from there.
Peter talked to me about this recently. I think that it’s good to get people to do something that’s low/zero management overhead first, as a filter. I think running a fundraiser might be too harsh a filter though—significant numbers of promising people won’t do that. The other small things don’t really provide filters that we can test to see who’s promising—so it would be great if we can come up with something that does, though none are springing to mind. I’ve asked if his suggestion is that they’d tell us about a few of the small things that they’ve done before we try hooking them up with volunteer opportunities.
Right now, we don’t really have that much readily available work to give to those people who are proven.
I don’t think this is true, I think there’s a shortage of proven volunteers who’ll spend reasonable amounts of time.
How much of this work is unskilled? I think unskilled work is probably best handled by virtual assistants rather than EA volunteering. What do you think?
Wasn’t one of your suggestions to find small/unskilled work for EA volunteers to do, to see if they’re ready for a bigger task? I think it’d defeat the purpose of getting EAs involved in a small way to just hire virtual assistants for unskilled work.
Yep. Good point, I can definitely see the tension between those two statements and you’re correct to point it out.
That being said, I think I’d prefer VAs over EA volunteers when the task is easy, long, and unskilled, because then skilled EA labor can be used somewhere where it’s a better fit that VAs can’t do. This could even include getting and coordinating the VA, which itself does take some work.
Of course, if it’s faster to just use a volunteer, then it could be worth it. And, I suppose it might be better in the long-run to draw people in via unskilled VA-able tasks if there are no other options.
Peter talked to me about this recently. I think that it’s good to get people to do something that’s low/zero management overhead first, as a filter. I think running a fundraiser might be too harsh a filter though—significant numbers of promising people won’t do that. The other small things don’t really provide filters that we can test to see who’s promising—so it would be great if we can come up with something that does, though none are springing to mind. I’ve asked if his suggestion is that they’d tell us about a few of the small things that they’ve done before we try hooking them up with volunteer opportunities.
I don’t think this is true, I think there’s a shortage of proven volunteers who’ll spend reasonable amounts of time.
What kind of work do you have in mind?
To take just a couple of examples, work on the EA Hub and on local groups.
I’m up to help do both of those. Of course, how much I can help with the former will depend on what exactly needs to be done.
Work on the EA Hub might be good for learning how to program? I don’t know.
How much of this work is unskilled? I think unskilled work is probably best handled by virtual assistants rather than EA volunteering. What do you think?
Wasn’t one of your suggestions to find small/unskilled work for EA volunteers to do, to see if they’re ready for a bigger task? I think it’d defeat the purpose of getting EAs involved in a small way to just hire virtual assistants for unskilled work.
Yep. Good point, I can definitely see the tension between those two statements and you’re correct to point it out.
That being said, I think I’d prefer VAs over EA volunteers when the task is easy, long, and unskilled, because then skilled EA labor can be used somewhere where it’s a better fit that VAs can’t do. This could even include getting and coordinating the VA, which itself does take some work.
Of course, if it’s faster to just use a volunteer, then it could be worth it. And, I suppose it might be better in the long-run to draw people in via unskilled VA-able tasks if there are no other options.
There’s some of each. I think you’re right about VAs, but I don’t know if everyone’s willing to pay for them.