recrutiment problems and (hopefully) solutions

[chief4102]

Greetings;
I see and agree that cliques CAN be a problem with retention and recruitment of members. I'm wondering.... What other problems have any of you encountered in recrutiment and retention of firefighters. Also, if you were able to overcome these problems, how were you able to do so. This is a universal problem for fire departments, but espically volunteer units. We should exchange ideas on what works so everyone isn't "re-inventing the wheel".

Be Safe
Dan

[Tiger]

We're addressing recruitment issues at the county level. With 94 volunteer fire departments and 101 common challenges - it has been proven to be a successful approach.

While we cannot do the hand-to-hand combat of recruiting for each department - we have taken on the task of first creating the public awareness, and then arming the departments with the tools and resources to do their own localized campaign.

These efforts include but are not limited to:

1. Expending about $40,000 of a legislative grant on a county-wide print, radio and outdoor ad campaign and leveraging corporate sponsorships to effectively produce a campaign worth about $125K.
2. Creating my position within the Division of Fire Safety as a Recruitment and Retention Specialist to assist departments in the hand-to-hand combat, and to create the tools and resources.
3. Create, promote and support recruitment opportunities for the local departments to have a captive audience from within their community to attract candidates from.
4. Providing local departments with the training and knowledge to identify the problem, discover the opportunities and capture the audience.

As my company slogan goes: Fight Fires, Save Lives - Do What You Do Best. Outsource the Rest.

Tiger [Earl] Schmittendorf
Fire Training Coordinator/Recruiter
Erie County Department of Emergency Services
Division of Fire Safety
(Buffalo NY)
716/681-7111
FAX/681-3645
schmitte@bflo.co.erie.ny.us


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Tiger Schmittendorf
tiger@onscenemarketing.com
OnScene Marketing Services
"Mutual Aid for Marketing Your Fire Department"
www.onscenemarketing.com
716.549.2885

[Chief Taylor]

I became a Volunteer Fire Chief for a newely formed Town. We have been operational for only six months now. with the new Town, there was not the numbers in the community at large to have enough qualified firefighters for our new dept.

I created a volunteer non-resident and a resident firefighter program to help answer my problem. I rely on the State fire academy graduates that are looking for an "INN" and want to gain some experiance while looking for that career job.

In exchange for getting thier certifications, I provide them with OJT and an avenue to maintain thier certs with training hours.

It has been 100% nonpaid thus far and I have had great results. I have 19 non-resident State certified firefighter/EMTS and get 3-5 new Resumes a week for positions with our dept.

I have now been approved to start some type of compensation program, and this will greatly help with retention of some of our volunteers, but I feel the #1 driving force is to make volunteering a fun experiance for your people and not a drag on them.

remember, you are competing against full-time jobs, familes and free time to get them to your organization for the community.

If you would like any additional info, please email me. I will be glad to talk more about it.

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