A clear theme in the fire service in this day and age is the decreasing number of volunteers as well as the lack of qualified applicants for career positions. Volunteer departments are increasingly calling upon automatic aid from neighboring departments, while career departments have to “brown-out” units. This has affected—and continues to affect—our staffing levels and our safety. What’s more is that it is very costly to lose staffing, whether career or volunteer. Needless to say, the recruitment of qualified candidates and the retention of current staff are vital to our operations.
Recruitment vs. retention
With this in mind, let’s first talk a little about the differences between recruitment and retention. Recruitment is the process of marketing open positions, determining which candidates are the most qualified, and choosing the best person for the position. This is the manner in which we get them involved in the department. Retention—an often-overlooked and under-used part of human resources—includes the actions taken to retain employees as members of the department.
Identify a coordinator
So how do we implement a positive recruitment and retention program? The first step is to name a recruitment and retention coordinator. This person can be an officer already in place or a volunteer who wishes to have more responsibility, or it could involve hiring a person/company to handle this work.
The coordinator should be outgoing, open to public speaking and new ideas, and willing to work. The coordinator will be the backbone of the program. As such, this person needs support from the chief and board. As part of this support, there should be a discussion as to what funding the department can allocate for recruitment and retention. At first this may be minimal at best. Continue to work to find funding for this program as it is needed.
There are several overarching duties that this coordinator must perform:
- Work with the chief or supervisors to create objectives that will drive the recruitment and retention program
- Oversee the recruitment and retention committee (see more below)
- Devise new strategies to recruit new members (e.g., hold an open house for volunteers or host an employment fair where the job, as well as the application process, is discussed)
- Determine the needs of the current staff/volunteers and how the department might be able to meet those needs
These are not all of the duties that the coordinator will encounter, but they do cover the main priorities that guide the position. Additional duties will arise through the process of building the position into the department and the work of the recruitment and retention committee. This process is important, as it will tailor all the work directly to your department.
Take action
So how does one person go about getting this work done? Without a doubt, it isn’t always going to be easy.
First and foremost, if you are the coordinator, you have to work to achieve buy-in from administration AND the career/volunteer firefighters. This is done by being open and honest. Do NOT promise them anything that you cannot deliver. Listen to both sides. Sometimes we like to bash the administration when something doesn’t go our way; however, we need to acknowledge that sometimes their hands are tied or they simply do not know about our needs. I am sure that every department would love to have the nicest and newest rigs and a huge workout facility to aid in retaining staff, but that is an unrealistic expectation.
Secondly, be creative. Sometimes we can do little things that make tremendous differences. For example, most departments like to have a patch to show their individualistic nature. Yes, these patches cost money. However, they instill pride in the members. So the cost of 100 patches may be $500, but the benefit you may get in terms of retaining staff/volunteers may be much more.
Also, work with local businesses. They may be willing to cover the cost of food for a special occasion or provide you with something that may not be justifiable in a budget but that the business can donate for free. Another possibility is to contact other agencies that have been successful in your area in their recruitment and retention program. They may be able to advise you on some very important information that will lessen your struggle.
Finally, do not stop the train. Once you get momentum, let that fuel the process. Now do not go around the administration or do things that are unethical or wrong. However, keep the recruitment and retention committee working on tasks (do not think you have to do this alone), work to find grants or ways to get funding through the budget process, etc. The more you keep the momentum going forward, the better the success will be.
One issue to mention here is that the coordinator will not always be successful, and the administration should understand that. During one of my tenures as a recruitment and retention coordinator, I had periods where we would go to events and set up member drive booths and we would get 50-60 people interested. How many of those applied to be members? Sometimes there were many; other times there were none. So the success should be viewed in the light of circumstances. We want to increase our numbers, and a good coordinator will know if they aren’t meeting goals. However, we also need to look at the work that they have accomplished in trying to meet that goal. It is the “you can lead a horse to water but you cannot make them drink” mentality.
Form a committee
The second part of the program is to form a recruitment and retention committee. This will help in multiple ways, including getting ideas, providing buy-in from members, and sharing the workload. The members should be a good cross-section of the department (e.g., if you are a combination department include career and volunteer).
The committee will aid the coordinator by being advisors. The coordinator should ask the committee to meet and discuss ideas, such as what makes them want to stay a member, what influenced them to become a member, etc. This should aid in developing recruitment campaigns and find unique ways to bring the membership together to continue their want to be part of the department.
In sum
Identifying a coordinator, determining the right action plan for your department and forming a committee are vital steps to building the foundation of a good recruitment and retention program.
