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Our insurance carrier is fine with the porn and hookers, as long as we leave the alcohol out of it.
In all seriousness, recruitment is going to be a huge issue for all Long Island Departments in the next few years (if it isn't already). As the price of living on the Island increases, and fewer young people stay here to live, along with the aging of our current Department workforce, the numbers of active members will be at risk for significant decrease. (Add to that an increasing volume of calls, training requirements, etc.)
Ride-alongs is a great idea. We have also geared up for recruitment of "older" members (folks in their 30's and 40's -- still young if you ask me but it's all relative).
The key is to get them while they're young.In my dept and I know of a few others the juniors program helps out a lot for recruitment. In addition to the juniors, recruiting at fire prevention day and at the local schools also helped out a lot. We give presentations and show videos of our dept in action.
There has to be a way to recruit and retain college kids. These are the guys and girls that become interested in high school and join but most will go away to school or stay around but be busy with school. We have to find better ways to recruit and retain them WITHOUT making the VOLUNTEER fire department their top priority over school. Unless we change our "this is how we always do it" approach we will be left with two possibilities for these kids. First, they quit the department because they make school their top priority and are hassled by members who can't understand that. Second, they make the fire dept their top priority, especially if they stay home, and end up leaving school and hanging around the firehouse all day between their ever changing part time jobs. Some departments have some good systems for college kids, and others don't see the special circumstances and lose out on potential members. Remember, most college kids who go away will not be around sept-dec and feb-may usually, but they are around in the summer and Christmas break, especially during the DAYTIME when we need people the most. Related to older members joining, it is important to remember that someone who joins at 45 is different than the 18 year old and officers must remember this. There will be no retention if a 45 year old is constantly being bossed around by a 22 year old for no other reason that he has a power trip as the new lieutenant.
Practically, for the older members we need to publicize the tax breaks available. With the rising cost of everything, a few hundred dollars may make a difference. Also for the younger members that 250 NYS tax credit could make a difference on their taxes, especially if they are working part time jobs. Job connections also could be a big thing for the younger recruits. How many members in the County are working jobs that they acquired due to a connection from the firehouse? This is not even counting Civil Service, where senior guys will often give out applications and push tests for the younger guys to take that they never would have thought of on their own (Town jobs, etc). Anyone on any of the public service jobs knows that help is always good when being assigned.
Last edited by underthedome : 07-08-2008 at 11:25 AM.
I always feel like the high schooler’s are under utilized. Many times during the year the Army, Navy, Air Force, Marines, and ROTC recruitment come into the high schools and set up tables in the cafeterias. Why not do the same with the fire department? Chances are a local firefighter would be a more familiar face then an Army guy who doesn’t even live in the village. If you get a group of 5 guys to come down and 1 or 2 stays with it, it’s worth it, it seems.
Also, I believe some companies allow membership at 17 which allows them to get their core training done while they are definitely still at home. Additional, how many departments work with students going away? If someone is turned down because they go to school three hours away and are only in town for 3-4 months a year, but will return after 4, they might have just lost someone for a life time.
Our insurance carrier is fine with the porn and hookers, as long as we leave the alcohol out of it.
In all seriousness, recruitment is going to be a huge issue for all Long Island Departments in the next few years (if it isn't already). As the price of living on the Island increases, and fewer young people stay here to live, along with the aging of our current Department workforce, the numbers of active members will be at risk for significant decrease. (Add to that an increasing volume of calls, training requirements, etc.)
Ride-alongs is a great idea. We have also geared up for recruitment of "older" members (folks in their 30's and 40's -- still young if you ask me but it's all relative).
I was thinking that to get local college kids involved, get some of your guys that own companies to offer internships to college students with top priority to students in the firehouse.
I'm going to start approaching some of our guys asking if they'd do that.
It makes me feel a little better that the recruitment squeeze isn't just affecting us up here around Albany. We've thought about offering housing to college kids, housing an engine company on the college campus(the college recently acquired NYSP troop G HQ and will just be revamping the current building...the maintenance garage would be perfect for us), trying to get the college to start a fire science curriculum, and offering tuition assistance.
However, there is a lot of in department resistance to this because people view college students as a "flash in the pan" and not worth the money it would take to make them firefighters...something I don't understand because it's not like they create sunk costs besides 2 physicals and 4 fit tests...Anyone wanna help me understand this logic or help me defeat it?
Well if this new law passes then you can take volunteers from the Island and around the state going to Albany and neighboring schools and use them. Already trained and ready, plus with the cost of college I would take the free room and board.
We currently allow members of other fire departments to ride with us as Associate Members. They're basically full members that can't vote in monthly meetings and don't have to pay dues.
The problem is, there aren't enough of them.
We end up having to recruit college students as full members.
Recruitment Techniques
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