We are on part four of our series on effectively recruiting firefighters into your organizations. We talked about the need to look inside your fire department to ensure you are prepared to receive new members in part one. Would your organization be seen as a club or a professional organization? Clubs tend to have fewer expectations and may be less inclusive. A professional organization seeks new things and is open to the inclusiveness that pushes them to make needed changes. We talked about new ways to attract people to your organization in part two using modern marketing platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube. The days of placing a sign in the front yard and expecting a pile of applications are long gone. Most people cannot even imagine becoming a firefighter. The firefighter is on the top shelf of society, so the public thinks it is outside their scope of capabilities. Today, you must highlight your fire department and let the community see the team's faces using multiple platforms. Let them see their neighbors and how they make the fire department fit into their own lives. People need to know the fire service as a community investment that allows residents to serve and gain the training they currently do not have. And finally, part three talked about the hiring process and our need to develop a "plan" for those wanting to join our team. Your department should have a strategy for hiring. If someone applies for the position and is hired into a cluster, they will walk away. And I don't blame them. They see our firefighters doing amazing things outside, so we don't want them to come inside and experience a reality TV show. Be prepared! People expect it.
I am sharing this information from my research and analytics managing nearly three million dollars in r