Tiger Schmittendorf
Deputy Fire Coordinator (Ret.)
Erie County Department of Homeland Security & Emergency Services
Tuesday, April 24, 2018 8:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m.
Do your recruitment and retention efforts leave you feeling like you’ve lost the battle and the war? Do you feel outgunned in managing the friendly fire of human dynamics shelling your organization? Are you ready to call in reinforcements? It’s time to lead the charge and create the Call to Duty for your current and prospective volunteers. The fire service is a people-driven business. Without the proper quantity and quality of people, all of the equipment and apparatus we invest in is useless. Yet, we invest our time, energy and money in direct disproportion to the single most important resource required in every aspect of our operation. Using facilitated conversation, the workshop addresses the challenges of today’s public safety leaders and offers real-world solutions for attracting and retaining the appropriate quantity and quality of volunteers to support the delivery of emergency services in their communities.
This workshop utilizes facilitated conversation, PowerPoint images, flip chart/chalk talk and relevant videos that reinforce class objectives, specifically identifying the challenges and solutions presented in recruiting and retaining volunteer firefighters and EMS responders. While similar classes offer cookie-cutter one size-fits all templates, the showcase portion of the class highlights working examples and real-world solutions in target marketing key demographics such as females, already busy people, and former/active military. Examples include a “Define Active!” campaign that attacks the most-common response to why people can’t volunteer: time; a “Re-Define Yourself” campaign challenges female candidates to not be limited by their gender and celebrates the unique attributes that make them well-suited for fire/EMS; and “First Family First” highlights the benefits of the family tradition of serving in the fire service. Several other innovative and creative campaigns are showcased.
Learning Objectives:
- Scout Out Hostile Environments and Hunt Down “WMDs: Weapons of Membership Destruction” —Hot Wash the threats to volunteer recruitment and retention success
- Search and destroy “Leadership Land Mines” in yourself and your organization. Advance the whole team towards positive change.
- Map Out Your Organization’s Ranks for the Future: Define the desired traits, characteristics and attributes we’re looking for in today’s volunteers. Locate hot zones of effective troop selection in your community.
