Volunteer Services Production Coordinator, Cypress Center

About Second Harvest of Silicon Valley

Founded in 1974, Second Harvest of Silicon Valley is one of the largest food banks in the nation and a trusted nonprofit leader in ending local hunger. The organization distributes nutritious groceries through a network of nearly 400 partners at drive-thru and walk-up sites across Santa Clara and San Mateo counties. Due to the prohibitively expensive cost of living in Silicon Valley, the economic downturn caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, and the rise in inflation, Second Harvest is now serving an average of about 500,000 people every month. Second Harvest also connects people to federal nutrition programs and other food resources, and advocates for anti-hunger policies on the local, state and national levels. To learn more about how Second Harvest is responding to the incredible amount of need in Silicon Valley, visit shfb.org.

About the Position

You are energized by working with community volunteers and enjoy taking a leadership role in training and guiding them. You're comfortable communicating and thinking on your feet to solve problems as a team, and you're committed to providing a great volunteer experience while ensuring food and workplace safety guidelines are always followed.

This job might be for you if:

• You are energized by working with community volunteers.
• You enjoy taking a leadership role to train and lead them.
• You are comfortable communicating and thinking on your feet to solve problems as a team.
• You want to provide a great customer experience to our volunteers while ensuring food and work safety guidelines are practiced at all times.

Duties and Responsibilities

Volunteer Project Management:

• Establish and execute project plans for our daily warehouse food production volunteer events, and occasionally for special Food Bank events.
• Collaborate with peer Coordinator (s) Volunteer Specialist(s), Supervisor(s), and Manager to figure out how many volunteers will do each project, what product movement is necessary, and plan for needed supplies. Model appropriate safety and procedural rules to Specialists and volunteers.
• Set up project areas, including using warehouse equipment to move pallets of food and supplies into the work area. Abide by all food and warehouse safety protocols in designing volunteer food sort workflows.
• Bring volunteer groups onboard:
  • Orient them to our projects and to our facility
  • Provide safety and job training.
  • Establish expectations for volunteer conduct
• Set the schedule and rhythm of volunteer projects so that work is accomplished, volunteers have opportunities to take breaks, and they participate in cleaning up and breaking down the project at the end.
• Retain volunteers by supporting a fun and positive experience.
• Close out volunteer projects by thanking and appreciating volunteers, including reporting to them on the direct impact of their work to help us feed those in need in our community.

Volunteer and Product Database Management

• Salesforce:
  • Learn and follow procedures in Salesforce to support cohesive volunteer relationship management.
  • Access and manage shift and hours reports and records to plan production shifts, recognize and train recurring volunteers, and document incidents.
  • Provide on-the-ground management of our special food sort volunteer programs (Team Leaders and Super Sorters).
• CERES:
  • Use our INV database software to check on status of volunteer projects.
  • Manage inventory tags coming in and out of our area.
  • Look up and update item numbers related to volunteer production to ensure accurate hand-off of production data.

Volunteer Leadership

• Execute our volunteer launch process providing necessary orientation information while also conveying a sense of fun, joy, and gratitude.
• Ensure that volunteers are appropriately placed into project groups.
• Empower volunteers to take a leadership role on our projects, including recruiting and managing “Team Leader” volunteers who receive special training and allow us to leverage their skills to coordinate projects.
• Provide on-site management of special volunteer recognition programs including our Super Sorter program.
• Develop training documentation and signage to guide floor operations for staff, food sort volunteers, and Team Leaders.
• Listen to feedback from volunteers, enforce safety and volunteer conduct rules, and take action necessary to correct any behavior in the volunteer work areas that is disrespectful, unsafe, or disruptive.
• Represent Second Harvest to our community of volunteers; speak clearly and eloquently to groups about our work and our impact, and be prepared to give informed answers to volunteers’ questions to deepen their involvement with us.
• Prepare detailed reports on volunteer job performance, behavior, and feedback and share electronically with management.
• Document any sort project incidents thoroughly and escalate problems immediately to leadership.

Organization and Cross-Functional Support

• Willingness to travel to and work from any of our Volunteer Production warehouses (Currently 750 Curtner as well as 4001 N First Street) to support those operations or adapt to changing business needs.
• Establish and maintain good working relationships with our neighboring departments, including:
  • Work closely with Volunteer Engagement team and the MVP department to support a great volunteer experience.
  • Stay up to date and trained on all volunteer management best practices created by Volunteer Engagement team including onboarding, database management, communications, and documentation.
  • Show up to planning meetings prepared to represent VS Production team to internal and external partners.
  • Reporting daily metrics on production and volunteer participation via email, database forms, and spreadsheets to our Volunteer Engagement and Supply Chain teams.
  • Collaborate with our Warehouse and Transportation teams to support a smooth flow of product in and out of the volunteer production area.
  • Work cross-functionally to set up processes and solve problems related to volunteer food sorting projects.
• Write and send summary reports of volunteer activities for internal and external partners.
• Read and respond to emails daily, including requests for information from inside and outside of Second Harvest.
• Communicate and compromise with your peers on other teams as needed to uphold our organizational value of One Team.

Support Special Volunteer Programs

• Provide primary operational support for special volunteer programs like Super Sorter onboarding and recognition, Partner volunteer shifts, Donor Volunteer Events, Volunteer Recognition events, and other special events by:
  • Collaborating with partner teams within MVP to host and engage special VIP groups of volunteers.
  • Attending trainings and planning meetings to develop a project plan to anticipate and accommodate special needs of volunteers. Orient Production Specialists and Team Leader volunteers who will be helping you run the project.
  • Responding to volunteer inquiries by phone, e-mail, or in person
  • Creating general information signage, flyers, support documentation.
  • Producing a safe, fun, and engaging volunteer event including providing impact stats at the end of the project.

The ideal candidate will possess the following professional qualifications: 

• Strong written and verbal communication skills, including proven ability to engage and speak clearly to groups of up to one hundred people.
• Ability to work and interact constructively with individuals from a variety of socioeconomic backgrounds in a culturally diverse work environment.
• College degree or equivalent business experience; experience working with volunteers or service organizations that interact with diverse populations highly desirable.
• Ability to learn to safely operate forklift equipment and obtain an operator’s license.
• Strong customer service skills and commitment to a team-based management approach
• Strong understanding of technology as it relates to volunteer experience.
• Proficiency with Microsoft business suite including Outlook, Excel, Word, and file sharing tools. Ability to learn and use our database tools: Salesforce and CERES (Microsoft Dynamics NAV) to manage volunteers and product.
• Demonstrated ability to organize, plan and carry out activities independently to meet specific timelines with proven record of accuracy in completing and reviewing data. Dependable in maintaining assigned working hours.
• Proven ability to work steadily and independently with minimum supervision.

EOE

Second Harvest is committed to being an equal opportunity employer which values diversity.  Under-represented groups are encouraged to apply for all positions.   ­

Salary : $29 - $35