Recruitment in a Social Distancing World

 

As with many areas of life, the coronavirus pandemic and integration of social distancing will change how we interact with people and recruiting fire and EMS personnel will be affected. We only need to look at changes taking place in other aspects of life where contacting people is critical to success. Political campaigns (door to door canvasing), military recruiting and college recruiting have all struggled to adjust to the new realities of recruiting in a time of social distancing and shelter-in place orders, becoming almost 100% media and social media driven.

Community activities being curtailed are another scenario which will modify recruitment. With protracted periods of social distancing, these in-person interactions may no longer be viable from a public health standpoint. How then, can we engage people in such a world?

1. Leveraging pre-existing personalized social connections is one option that involves contacts between people who belong to the same social network, such as friends, families, acquaintances, or neighbors. In this model , individuals called “captains” commit to identifying and encouraging at least 10 people they know to join. The captains, in turn, recruit other captains, thereby increasing the reach of these efforts even further. Research demonstrates that this approach can be substantially more effective than traditional efforts.
2. We can take this to today’s world and expand the approach to social medial applications using emails, tweets, text messages, and facebook posts to motivate engagements.

The concept that a person is more likely to be swayed by friends than strangers is very compelling. This is very much consistent with a “word of mouth” effort and the “Everyone Gets One” program promoted in the FASP Resource Center.

What Do You Want In a Member?

 

Like any business or group of people, your members have to serve a purpose and therefore, must have certain interests, skills, knowledge, capabilities, or be willing to engage in those attributes. That means you need to develop a job description and performance expectations for members so that they understand what is expected of them and you don’t waste time and resources developing a member that may not have the critical capabilities to help you.

What are you looking for:

• Firefighter
• EMS responder
• Administrative help
• Fundraising help
• Other

Develop a list of requirements from the candidate:

• Age range
• Education
• Background clearances
• Citizenship & residency
• Physical and mental capability and capacity
• Valid driver license
• Etc.

Then search locations in and around your community, where you can find these types of potential members. Don’t just advertise for members and expect them to flock in and meet specific needs.

FASP SAFER Grant Program Offers Local Grant Opportunity

 

The Firemen’s Association of the State of Pennsylvania’s SAFER Grant to enhance recruitment for Pennsylvania’s fire and EMS community was renewed. As a part of this program, a local grant opportunity is being provided. The Fireman’s Association of the State of Pennsylvania (FASP) is offering recruitment grants to fire and EMS agencies in Pennsylvania as part of a comprehensive SAFER Grant. The grant request must be in the hands of the Grant Review Committee by October 31, 2020. The Grants will be awarded by November 30, 2020.

 

 

 

Details include, by accepting this grant, the agency hereby agrees to provide a report to the Fireman’s Associations of the State of Pennsylvania Grant Program Administrator or funds will be returned to the Association. The grant request and the grant report shall be submitted electronically at www.becomeapafirefighter.com.   THE FUNDS MUST BE EXPENDED/COMMITTED BEFORE YOU SUBMIT YOUR REQUEST. RECEIPTS MUST BE PROVIDED FOR FINAL PAYMENT, AS WELL AS RESULTS OF YOUR RECRUITMENT EFFORT.

 

 

 

The report form for completion is within the grant request. The maximum amount of the grant is $5,000. Grants will be awarded for fire/EMS agencies who want to customize and implement the core recruitment marketing materials and programs in use and/or developed by FASP. The funds can be used to customize the materials based on local recruitment issues as well as to pay for printing costs associated with the materials, enhance your website, etc. The first fifteen QUALIFIED submissions will receive funding. The expected goal is that you will be able to recruit at least one qualified person for specified purposes. To qualify THE AGENCY (FIRE/EMS DEPARTMENT) MUST BE A MEMBER OF THE FIREMEN’S ASSOCIATION OF THE STATE OF PENNSYLVANIA.

 

 

 

Applications are available on the FASP website www.becomeapafirefighter.com.

 

 

 

If you believe you have a great program, PSA, or recruitment and retention tool in use today, that you think is worthwhile to place on the website for others to use, send a copy and related info to bjenaway@comcast.net for review and possible inclusion in the PA Fire/EMS Recruitment & Retention Website.

 

Understand Your Culture and Its Relationship to Staff

 

It is critical for us to understand why we are losing members, or cannot get new members, before we begin any recruitment or retention process. Like any organization people drive a culture and that culture becomes something members are content with and can work within, or cannot work within it and decide to leave or join another organization.

This concept of cultural impact was assessed during research into fire service volunteerism over the last decade. The concept was reinforced in the symbolism found in two texts, Collapse and Bowling Alone. In Collapse, by Dr. Jared Diamond, he relates five components to collapse or failure of a culture, including:

• Climate change (such as relationship with elected officials or the community)
• Hostile neighbors (such as other fire departments or groups seeking members or funds)
• Trade patterns, (such as how service is delivered, consolidations, mergers, etc.)
• Environmental problems (such as politics in the community, labor-management conflicts, and external strife), and
• Society’s response to environmental problems (such as positive or negative support to fire and EMS agencies).

Each society and the volunteer fire and EMS system will choose to succeed or will choose to fail.

In Bowling Alone, Dr. Robert Putnam warns our stock of social capital, the very fabric of our connections with each other, has plummeted impoverishing our lives and communities. More Americans are bowling than ever before, but they are not bowling in leagues. Putnam shows the corollary of how changes in work, family structure, age, suburban life, television, computers, women’s roles and other factors have contributed to the decline of social capital; which affect volunteers in general and specific to firefighting.

Recruitment and Retention Tip of the Month #5 of 50

Developing an “Everyone Get One” Program

 

Multiple research projects have identified that one of the most common and effective methods used to recruit members is by ”word of mouth”. This technique has long been used successfully in a variety of organizational initiatives to grow the membership ranks. Each fire/EMS agencies can use such a program to have each member or a percentage of its membership reach out to friends, neighbors, family, co-workers, and the general public to join the local fire/EMS agency.

 

Key Steps to implementing such a program include:

1. Appoint a project or committee chairperson – Such a program can increase your membership. It takes leadership and a plan, with one individual constantly promoting such a program. A non-firefighter, (business person, spouse, parent, community leader) can easily be used in this role.
2. Set a realistic goal – This way you can monitor success, but avoid being too aggressive in your expectations. If you are conducting this type of program for the first time, under-estimate your potential success so that everyone can share in the sense of accomplishment when it is achieved.
3. Keep the campaign period short – In this way you can concentrate members efforts and avoid burnout. You may want to also strategically analyze the time of year that will maximize participation and related success. Don’t conflict with major initiatives or typically busy persids of the organization.
4. Use incentives – Introduce some value and competition to the process by rewarding individuals for their recruiting efforts and to incent those joining the organizations. Determine the most appropriate incentives by asking the individuals that will be involved in the program, what would motivate them to be aggressive in the activity.
5. Keep the program as simple as possible – This will encourage participation and minimize workload of the staff. Do not use any special applications or forms. Simply have the referring member sign their name at the top of the application being submitted.
6. Constantly communicate the program’s goals and success – Create an engaging and meaningful theme and keep it in the forefront of the members.

 

These steps can be used to develop, update and revitalize your “Everyone Get One” membership recruitment drive.