Service and professionalism, in our field, are at the heart of what we do, and we ensure that we meet the expectations of those who govern us and those who rely on us by assembling the best teams of people for the job.

The right people

Professionalism is a combination of performance, philosophy and preparation. With that said, how do you select the newest members to join your organization? Many organizations simply put together a job description, create an announcement, and advertise it via job boards and social media, and then hope the best candidates show up for the process. Sometimes a job fair is thrown into the mix, but sadly, that may be the extent of the effort.

While I applaud the effort (very slow clap), I would ask these organizations, could you possibly get any lazier in your approach to identifying and pursuing the best group of candidates? And to be clear, when I talk about hiring “the best,” I don’t mean hiring only white males but I'm also not advocating “giving away” positions to protected classes. 

I am so tired of hearing the same crowd always waxing poetic about the need to diversify the ranks without lowering standards. Of course, that group often does little to seek out the right people to test for the job—that’s right, seek out people to TEST and COMPETE for the job.

What’s more, the competition must be fair and have high standards for all involved—none of this watering down of requirements based on gender or body makeup that puts individuals and teams at risk when they are passed through at lower standards, with the potential that they can’t do the job when the heat is on! All positions should be earned; if you’re top rung, that’s all that should matter.

Finally, for all of you who think, “They don’t look like us, aren’t as strong as us, so why do we have to hire them?” please stop, you truly have no business talking because you’re only doing your part to the limit the quality of your force by excluding possible top candidates based on old assumptions.

We are no longer a good ol’ boys club. In fact, face the music, boys; it is time to diversify the ranks with top-rung folks, whoever they are. However (and I can’t underline this enough), diversification does NOT mean lowering standards. What it does mean is that we must do more to actively seek top-level candidates who fit our organizations.

Another key here is performing an organizational personality assessment to identify your culture or the culture you want to have, and what traits and characteristics you are seeking to further that goal. Once you identify those, go out and recruit those people who fit that profile, and let them prove to you that they fit your department’s needs. 

I offer this as a possible avenue forward: If you want functionally fit candidates who are intelligent, dedicated and who understand the value of hard work and teamwork, then it’s time to do more than simply attend the local job fair at the expo or community college. It’s time to actively recruit college-level athletic programs or high-level fitness centers. The military offers an excellent pool of talent, so don’t just scratch the surface in your recruiting. Consider conducting targeted selection to special ops associations, alumni associations for colleges, and military occupational specialty (MOS) schools. 

Set the standard

Leaders need to guard against being lazy hiring managers and instead step up their diversified recruitment programs without fear of accusations of lowered standards. There is a plethora of talent out there just waiting to be discovered—without lowering the bar! These hard-working people will raise the bar to such a level that the old couch-monsters who are no longer, or may have never been, functionally and mentally fit will have no choice but to sit up, pay attention and work their butt off to just keep up.

Set a high-quality standard of what you want your organization to be, and then go out and find those people who meet or beat that standard. In the end, you will have a stronger force that is not only competent in their skills and abilities, but also has substantial and varied experience, making it better prepared to serve our increasingly diverse communities.