Overview

The answer is one rule on the opportunity's recruitment workflow. Not a second form.

By default everyone who presses Apply gets the same treatment, which means the person you screened last year fills in the full application again. A rule that recognises people you already know, placed above your catch-all, sends them straight through while strangers still get the long form.

The legacy funnels no longer apply to opportunities. The General application funnel and the Direct opportunity funnel are retired, so building a second "Current Volunteer" form and linking both forms to your opportunities is no longer how this is done. Recruitment workflow rules replace them, and no new opportunity can use a funnel. If one of yours still shows the legacy banner, we recommend moving it across: How do I move an opportunity off a legacy recruitment method?

1. What is actually wrong with the default?

Nothing, until you have returning people.

A single path treats a complete stranger and somebody who finished your onboarding a year ago identically. The stranger needs the full form. The returning volunteer sees a form they already filled in, and a good proportion of them simply do not bother. That is the loss you are trying to avoid, and it is a routing problem rather than a forms problem.

2. What does the fix look like?

Two rules on the opportunity, in this order:

1. A narrow rule for people you already know. It carries a condition identifying them, and its action is Auto-approve opportunity if you are happy for them to be in immediately, or Request approval if you still want the final say.
2. A catch-all for everybody else. No conditions, action Form + request approval. This is your normal intake.

That is the whole design. One extra rule, and the second form disappears from the problem.

3. Which condition identifies an existing volunteer?

Four are available, and they differ in how much they actually prove. Pick on evidence, not convenience:

• User is in the Active list in the database. The loosest. It says they exist and are not archived, nothing more.
• User is approved for any opportunity. They have been through your process at least once.
• User is approved for the same category. Stronger, because they have done this kind of work for you before.
• User is marked finished for a sequence. Strongest. It means they completed onboarding, not merely that they applied.

If the opportunity involves vulnerable people, "is in the database" is not the same assurance as "finished the onboarding sequence". Choose accordingly.

4. How do I set it up on one opportunity?

1. Go to Opportunities and open the opportunity.
2. Open the Recruitment tab.
3. Click Add Rule.
4. Give it a name you will recognise later, such as "Returning volunteers".
5. Add your condition from question 3.
6. Set the action to Auto-approve opportunity, or Request approval if you want to review them.
7. Check the Fallback (no rule matched) underneath. That is your catch-all, and it should be Form + request approval.

Order is the whole trick. Rules are evaluated top to bottom and the first match wins. A rule with no conditions matches everyone, so if your catch-all sits above your returning-volunteer rule, the catch-all always wins and your new rule never runs. This fails silently: nothing errors, and every returning person still gets the long form.

5. Can I apply this to every opportunity at once?

Yes, and you should if your opportunities all screen people the same way.

1. Go to your Opportunities page.
2. Tick the opportunities you want using the checkboxes.
3. Click Actions, then Edit recruitment workflow.

Leave out any opportunity that deliberately screens people differently, because that difference is the reason it exists.

6. Do I still need a second form for returning volunteers?

No. That was the old approach and it is no longer necessary.

A rule that auto-approves somebody asks them for nothing at all, which is better than a shorter form. If you do want to collect something from returning people, give that rule the Form + auto-approve action and point it at a short form, so they answer two questions instead of twenty and are still approved immediately.

7. What does the returning volunteer actually experience?

• Not yet approved for this opportunity. They press Register, the workflow matches them against your rule, and they are approved on the spot. They can reserve shifts straight away.
• Already approved for this opportunity. They bypass the recruitment workflow entirely and see a Reserve shifts button instead of Apply.

Summary

• Add one rule above your catch-all, with a condition that recognises people you already know.
• Give it Auto-approve opportunity, or Request approval if you want the final say.
• The four conditions differ in strength. Finished a sequence proves the most, in the database proves the least.
• Narrow rule first, catch-all last, or the rule never runs.
• Apply it across opportunities in bulk from Opportunities, Actions, Edit recruitment workflow.
• No second form is needed. The General application funnel is retired.

Where to go next

• How do I move an opportunity off a legacy recruitment method?
• One workflow, two kinds of applicant
• Recruitment Workflows on Vome
• Should people apply through a form or through an opportunity?