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Recruitment and Retention
One of the biggest challenges for volunteer fire departments today is recruitment and retention of volunteer fire fighters. This has led to many challenges for volunteer fire departments in every state. Some states, such as Pennsylvania are considering regionalizing volunteer fire departments, due to the manpower shortages which exist. As just one example, see PA study regarding feasibility of consolidating volunteer fire departments on a regional basis (Clicking on link will open a new browser window). As these regionalization consolidations and mergers occur, this may make more grant money available to make mergers and consolidations of departments occur, but will add some challenges in how volunteer fire departments retain existing members and recruiting new firefighters. It will also effect the grant writing and awarding process. At VFD-Funding, we can help you develop and implement your retention and recruitment strategies, whether your department may be one considering merging with others, or if this would be an internal process. We help you identify the methods of recruiting and to implement the strategies necessary for retaining volunteers, certainly those who are new members and need training and other forms of integration and assimilation into the department. As active volunteer fire-fighters and EMS personnel ourselves, we know the challenges that exist in recruiting and retaining members. We've dealt with the egos, threatened egos, fragile egos, petty politics and general "bovine feces" (nice word for bullshit) some members and officers project onto others, as the result of the fact they are feeling the need to protect their turf, because their membership in the fire department is their magnum opus event in their lives. Of course some of these types of members do far more damage and deleterious harm to the company, beyond discouraging other members and emphasis new and younger members. We help you identify those who act in this way, which is really deleterious to the harmonious and effective operations of the fire department. We help you find remedial solutions for this type of behavior or to develop the strategies and methodologies to bolster your new members or existing members in recognizing that "Joe Big Ego, Little Brain, and Little Use" is a jerk and how to look past them and focus on the job and those members more stable and reliable. We also help you write the press releases you can have published in your local newspaper declaring the need for more volunteer firefighters and the benefits of being a member. We can also help you put together Public Service Announcements (PSA), which can be broadcasted on your local radio or television station, declaring your need for volunteers. What we have found to work as general themes is: "Homeland Security begins at home"! Making the public aware that most firefighters and EMS services in the United States are volunteers and therefore ultimately, without volunteer fire departments and EMS services, "HOMELAND SECURITY WOULD GO UP IN SMOKE!" is an important point to motivate members to join.
Last modified: May 05, 2007
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