The board game Guards! Guards! has a system of recruiting volunteers which have various effects on the players who recruit them. These effects range from permanent bonuses to stats (e.g. +1 charm to help recruit volunteers, or +1 magic) to bonus dollars, or immunity from the pox, or a number of others.

at the beginning of the game, each player starts with 3 volunteers.

Do your starting volunteers give you the bonuses printed on the card?

The rules do not seem to clarify anything about this, so I was wondering if anyone here had a convention or house rule, or if a clarification had been released.