Recruit your replacements. Train them well.

Given the national decline in experience-building fire load (aka-the work we do as firefighters), I’ve written before about the challenge of today’s fire service leaders to dig in and invest more in their firefighters than ever before to prepare them for success – and succession.

While my first passion lies in recruiting the brightest and the best, training your replacements is one of the most important steps in retaining their valued services. A well structured, disciplined approach to company training is a proven incentive for your firefighters to invest more time and energy in learning their craft and “responding to the call.”

I encourage you to read “Train Your Replacement. Bob did. Paul does.” from my flagship site: TigerSchmittendorf.com and reap all the benefits of digging in and proliferating the TrainYourReplacement.com attitude.

Stay safe. Train often.

JOB OP: Senior Editor-FPP

JOB OP: SENIOR EDITOR

Senior FPP Editor

Fire Protection Publications (FPP), the world’s leading publisher of high quality and technically accurate fire and emergency services training materials, is accepting applications for the position of FPP Senior Editor. FPP is an extension of the College of Engineering, Architecture, and Technology (CEAT) at Oklahoma State University (OSU) and is the headquarters of the International Fire Service Training Association (IFSTA).

The FPP Senior Editor’s primary responsibility is to manage the project development of fire service training manuals from chapter drafts through final publication. This responsibility includes coordinating the review of draft materials with a committee of subject matter experts; researching, writing, and/or revising original drafts; and selecting and assisting in the creation of photos, artwork, and tables for use in final publication.

The Hiring Pool is Open – Leland NC

Advertisement for Hiring Pool

Leland Volunteer Fire/Rescue Department, Inc. is accepting applications for our 2013 hiring pool. This pool of applicants will be used to fill any part-time or full-time hiring that the department may need for 2013. Once the pool is created it will be used for all vacancies in 2013, until all qualified applicants are exhausted. The applicants shall possess one of the following:

NC Fire/Rescue Commission Firefighter II, Emergency Vehicle Driver, and Hazardous Materials Level I (Operations) and NC Office of EMS Credentials as an EMT- Basic or EMT-Intermediate.

Draft Choices

Volunteer fire departments, whether they realize it or not, compete for recruits. Sometimes with other volunteer fire departments but most often with a busy home life, other community organizations, volunteering opportunities and a wide array of social activities.

What if our recruits, like in college recruiting, were in competition with other recruits wanting to be selected by our fire departments? Would we see more or less candidates? More or less qualified? Or are they already in competition with each other?

More importantly, what can we learn from college athletic recruiters like the NCSA who set up this registry for potential recruits? Do you use language like: “SEIZE the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity – and change your life” to describe the benefits of joining your volunteer fire department?

“VetNet” To Help Military Veterans Re-Enter Civilian Life

Sgt. Don Keuck is a Citizen-Soldier-Firefighter with the Doyle Hose Co. 1 Volunteer Fire Company in Cheektowaga NY and the NY National Guard

As we’ve shared before, recruiting veterans into the volunteer fire service can be a great solution to our staffing challenges.

They might just be the perfect candidate as we don’t have to teach them discipline, respect, honor, loyalty, chain-of-command or teamwork. In return we offer the camaraderie, adrenaline rush, teamwork and sense of value that they miss from active duty.

Check out this article at our sister site and think about the “VetNet” we could create in the Volunteer Fire Service. There’s an army of volunteers out there just waiting to be asked. Recruiting a Soldier|Firefighter may be the perfect fit for your volunteer fire department.

Read: “VetNet” To Help Military Veterans Re-Enter Civilian Life

The Jury is Out on Criminal Background Checks

What you should and can ask an applicant about their criminal history is a smokey issue. What you can legally do with the information you receive can obscur your visibility even more.

As happens pretty frequently, I had a fire chief call recently to ask for some advice on what has become a bit of an arresting matter in his volunteer fire department.

It appears that a prospective candidate for membership was being honest when they checked off the little box on their fire department application that asks whether or not they’ve been convicted of a felony or misdemeanor offense. Essentially, they were being honest about being dishonest — now that’s what I call irony.

What to do? Deny the application. Case closed. Simple as that. Right?

Where is Recruitment on your list?

I just visited a volunteer fire department’s web site based on a referral from Facebook and was disappointed, if not dismayed, to find that “Recruitment” was listed at number 11 out of 18 options on their site’s sidebar menu.

I did a double-take just to make sure I wasn’t missing anything obvious, like perhaps that the menu items were in alphabetical order and that’s why recruitment fell lower on the list. Nope. Not the case here.

Now in their defense, I don’t know too much about their fire company other than what I learned from their web site, and maybe they’re flush with members and recruitment doesn’t need to be their number 1 priority. Or, perhaps that’s simply the order in which the pages were added to the site and that’s how they fell. Intentional or not, there appears to be no rhyme or reason as to the order of the links, which is apparent in this list: Home, Apparatus, History, Archives, Events, Downloads, Guest Book, Members, Members Zone, Photos, and finally: Recruitment.

Engage: The Xbox Generation

As I’ve shared previously in “From the Xbox to the Box Alarm” and “Dig In!” — I’m continually conducting my own observational research of the people who are already, or soon will be our replacements in the fire service: GenY.

My personal research of what I’ve dubbed the “Xbox Generation” is supported and enhanced by more formal research conducted by folks a lot smarter than me (not that it takes a lot to qualify for that! LOL). As I often do when faced with a challenge, I look outside the fire service for resources from other disciplines to gain a fresh perspective and see how I can apply their solutions to the industry I love. For as two of my favorite authors Chip Heath and Dan Heath say, “Find a bright spot and clone it.” These resources may include books, magazines and other media outlets — especially if they mention the importance of storytelling as a means of conveying our message!

One such resource I regularly rely on to get a clue about these Millenials and their unique attitudes and attributes is a periodic eNewsletter titled “Engage: GenY” from MediaPost Publications. The short articles offer a variety of perspectives from a variety of contributors and you don’t have to read far to find titles that quickly grab your attention and correlate to our efforts to learn more about these young people infiltrating our fire service.

DHS Announces Veterans Hiring Program

In an effort to increase the number of military placed back in the workplace after active service, the US Department of Homeland Security has announced it’s latest initiative as part of the SAFER grant program for recruitment, retention and hiring.

FireRECRUITER.com previously shared our thoughts about the opportunity to not only hire veterans into paid fire departments, but also the huge opportunity to recruit them into the volunteer fire service as a means of offering them a step-down and reintegration process that few other outlets offer.

Time to get SAFER!

The application period for the US DHS SAFER grant program for the recruitment, retention and hiring of firefighters opened today: July 16, 2012.

Applications are due by August 10. “SAFER grants provide funding directly to fire departments and volunteer firefighter interest organizations in order to help them increase the number of trained, front-line firefighters in their communities,” according to this article on the National Volunteer Fire Council’s website.

The FireRECRUITER has been extremely successful in assisting fire departments and county-based fire service organizations in securing significant SAFER funding when acting as a clearinghouse on behalf of the volunteer fire service in their region.