In their quest this winter to attract a diverse pool of firefighter applicants, St. Paul officials have made recruiting pitches at high schools, colleges and churches plus a "Diva Riot" in Minneapolis that featured a women's arm-wrestling tournament.
Fire Chief Doug Holton said the recruitment drive, including visits to some unorthodox places, highlights the city's commitment to increasing the number of female and minority firefighters in St. Paul.
"This is the biggest initiative the city of St. Paul has ever undertaken to recruit people of color and females," Holton said. "Our statistics on diversity aren't terrible, but our department certainly doesn't reflect the diversity of the community we serve."
Holton is helping oversee the department's first round of hiring in five years, and his first since arriving from Milwaukee in 2003. Mayor Randy Kelly kicked off the recruitment drive in November and has declared that increasing the fire department's diversity is among his top priorities.
The department has a long way to go, particularly in hiring women. Of the department's 390 firefighting personnel, 16 are women and 71 are members of a racial minority group. Holton said St. Paul ranks in the middle of the pack nationally for the percentage of women in the ranks but lags far behind the Minneapolis department.
Attracting a diverse applicant pool is key to the city's effort. The names of candidates who meet the cutoff on upcoming written and physical tests will be put on a list from which the department will fill vacancies for at least the next three years. Officials expect to hire nearly 60 firefighters from the list.
As of late last week, the recruitment drive had attracted 701 applicants. One in five are minority candidates, and about one in 10 are women. The application deadline is Feb. 14.
Success won't hinge upon raw numbers. The candidates will be ranked based on their test scores and, for the most part, hired in that order. Although the city's affirmative action rules give officials a limited ability to pass over higher-ranked white men to hire people in targeted classes, an applicant pool packed with women and minority candidates won't do much to diversify the department unless those hopefuls score well.
All applicants take the same exams, so women don't get a break on the strenuous physical test. That fact has prompted officials to focus this year on attracting highly fit female candidates.
Thus Holton and Angie Nalezny, the city's personnel director, made a visit Friday night to an arm-wrestling event at Intermedia Arts in Minneapolis. Recruiters also went to a women-only dance on New Year's Day in Minneapolis. Those types of visits have supplemented more traditional stops at athletic departments, fitness centers and military offices, Nalezny said.
"It's just another way for us to reach into female communities," Nalezny said. "Hopefully that helps attract strong women, and that's the market we're looking for."
The city's focus on finding women who can score well on the physical test has a legal impetus. During the 1999 hiring process, several female applicants complained about the instructions for the physical test, prompting the city to offer a second exam. The state Department of Human Rights later found probable cause that test discriminated against women.
At a recruiting event last week, the department turned to two female St. Paul firefighters to make a pitch to female University of Minnesota athletes. Firefighter Jane Thompson extolled the benefits of working one 24-hour shift two or three times a week.
"I see my kids more than parents who do 9 to 5," said Thompson, who has three sons. "A lot of firefighters have a side job, but I always say my side job is my family."
A video showing the rigors of the physical exam did not scare off Jacki Gazvoda, a college sophomore and swimmer who attended the recruiting seminar. She said she would consider applying to the fire department after graduation and would not feel intimidated working in a predominantly male environment.
"You take the same test and perform in the same way," Gazvoda said.
