Membership/recruitment

[LVFD15]

We only have four members and within the next year it will be dropping down to just two of us. We have tried many things but nothing has really worked. We need new members. I guess the biggest problem is keeping kids interested. We have had many members come and go over the two years that I've been in the post. I am now the president of the post and I'm trying to get more people involved.

A few questions for you:

How many members do you have in your post?
What do you do for recruitment?
How do you keep members intrested?

[FDNYexp6012]

We only have four members and within the next year it will be dropping down to just two of us. We have tried many things but nothing has really worked. We need new members. I guess the biggest problem is keeping kids interested. We have had many members come and go over the two years that I've been in the post. I am now the president of the post and I'm trying to get more people involved.

A few questions for you:

How many members do you have in your post?
What do you do for recruitment?
How do you keep members intrested?

1. In my post we have 8 explorers, every week its usually ranges to 3 to 5 explorers that show up.
2. We do presentations in schools, hand out fliers and spread the word.
3. In my opinon you shouldnt have to keep the explorers interested, if they really want to be firefighters and want to learn a thing or two about the fire service then they ill show up every meeting and be willing to learn.

Good luck with getting new members and keeping them! also what Dept. are you in?

[pfdcadet]

I think we've got about 20 that are currently cadets.


I just got on with the Cadets and there 21 of us that made it out of 60 or so applicants.



From time to time you'll see a flier but really everything is word of mouth. I agree with the above poster, if they are really interested in becoming firefighters you shouldn't really have to keep them interested. But we do a lot of cool things hose lays, throw ladders, lots of ride alongs, school presentations, etc that keep us busy/entertained.

[Delta107]

1. In my post we have 8 explorers, every week its usually ranges to 3 to 5 explorers that show up.
2. We do presentations in schools, hand out fliers and spread the word.
3. In my opinon you shouldnt have to keep the explorers interested, if they really want to be firefighters and want to learn a thing or two about the fire service then they ill show up every meeting and be willing to learn.

Good luck with getting new members and keeping them! also what Dept. are you in?

What he said. Mostly word of mouth, fliers, and our website for recruiting.

[rawbff15]

we get some of the guys from the reserve program (the program you go into after your to old to be an explorer) to go to the local high schools in uniform at lunch time and pass out flyers that usuall brings in about 10 people at a time

[FFawunsch]

My post is pretty much nonexistent. I am the only explorer at the moment. I've tried going to schools, but the "uncool" factor plays a big role. I know some kids that have come up to me in private because they are afraid of the opinions of their peers. We are going to try different types of media i.e. radio, newspaper, local news. Word of mouth is how I got into the program and I think word of mouth will always be the main source of people interested.