BY RICHARD B. GASAWAY
At The Volunteer and Combination Fire Officer’s Symposium in the Sun in Clearwater, Florida, I spoke with some fire chiefs about the challenges we’re all facing with recruiting quality firefighter candidates. During the discussion, one chief said something that left me absolutely dumbfounded. Like many departments throughout the country, his department had been having some difficulty finding candidates who meet its standards. There’s nothing extraordinary about this. What was extraordinary was the response he got when he went to his city manager with the problem.
The city manager’s response was, “Lower your standards.” The manager’s reasoning was that if a person wants to join the volunteer fire department, nothing should prevent him from doing so. At first I thought this chief was exaggerating. But the more I talked with him, the more I realized his account of the city manager’s view of volunteer firefighters was accurate.
Imagine for a moment that you’ve embraced this city manager’s philosophy. Your recruitment flyer may as well read, “We’re hard up and desperate. We need warm bodies, and we’ll take anyone. Y’all come join now.” Are you going to attract quality candidates or losers? Don’t answer. The question is rhetorical. Clearly, this manager is worried more about the quantity of volunteer firefighters than the quality. And why not? It’s not the city manager who’s going to have to deal with the problem children day in, day out. That’s the poor chief’s responsibility.
We all want to have the right number of firefighters in our departments, but lowering our standards is not the way to achieve it! And if you succumb to the “Y’all come join now” strategy, you’ll need to prepare yourself for two things that are sure to happen. First, you’ll attract people who should not be put into positions of public trust, which will become painfully evident when you have to spend inordinate amounts of your time dealing with the problems they create. Second, your good people (the highly talented and motivated professionals who enjoy being part of a winning team) will become very frustrated and may even leave the organization.
When this happens, you’ll be left with an organization staffed with people who should have never been recruited, and the few good firefighters who do remain will become cynical and disobedient. If you ever get to the point where you’re willing to hire anyone, the city manager would be happy because the fire department is always at full strength. As chief, however, you’ll be miserable; you’ll feel like the headmaster on the Island of Misfit Toys. You can bet the city manager will do nothing to help solve the problems these misfits create. In fact, he’s more likely to criticize you for being unable to handle your department’s personnel problems.
I remember studying in college a theory on decision making called “GIGO” (“Garbage In, Garbage Out”), meaning if we gather bad information, we’ll make bad decisions. We shouldn’t be surprised when that happens. The same holds true for hiring firefighters: “Garbage In, Garbage Out.” If we hire inferior people, we’re sure to fail in our mission to successfully serve our customers; we shouldn’t be surprised when it happens.
Here are some suggestions for how to attract quality candidates.
- Send the right recruitment message. The message should be that we’re interested only in candidates who really want to be firefighters (for all the right reasons) vs. those who just want to wear the gear and brag to their friends or are bored or unemployed and are looking for something to do. At a high school career day I attended years ago, an army representative stood before the senior class and spent 10 minutes telling them all the reasons they should join the army. The navy recruiter did the same thing. The third presenter, a crisply dressed marine officer, approached the podium and said, “There are about 250 of you in this auditorium; there are only two of you who have what it takes to be a marine. You know who you are. I’ll be in the hallway; when you’re done in here, stop by and see me.” Although his words were few, his message was loud and clear. We’re looking only for the best. If that’s you, we have a place for you in our organization.
- Set higher standards, not lower. Don’t be shy or apologetic about setting high standards even if it means having fewer firefighters. It’s better to have a department with only 10 members if they are all top quality than one with only five quality members and 30 misfits. You’ll get more done with less, and you won’t lose your sanity dealing with the endless problems created by people who should not be firefighters.
- Cut the dead weight. If the department has the wrong people, get rid of them. Don’t be afraid to let misfits go. Sometimes it’s in the best interest of the organization and the community to help a nonperformer find a new way to volunteer his time. Better to lose a misfit than to alienate your good firefighters because you won’t deal with a problem child. You have all seen people in fire departments who are there for the wrong reason, or people you can honestly say should have never been recruited in the first place. Once they’re in the department, you have an obligation to help get these misfits back on track. However, you cannot afford to dedicate all of your time and effort to them. Once you’ve given them a reasonable amount of your time and effort, you’ll need to cut your losses.
- Educate the city manager. Firefighters are entrusted with a tremendous responsibility in their communities. More than any other public service job, firefighters have the greatest access to the valuable personal possessions of your residents. Firefighters routinely work in homes while the residents are in the street, trusting they’re doing the right thing and not stealing their possessions. The success of saving lives and property is significantly affected by the quality and professionalism of the firefighters. I’m quite certain the city manager mentioned above doesn’t feel the same way about hiring police officers. If he does, then he’s the misfit.
Recruiting standards should involve a thorough process that includes an application, an interview, reference checks, a driving record check, a criminal history check, a physical abilities test, and a drug screening. The process may also include a physical exam, a psychological exam, and a polygraph test. Before embarking on developing a comprehensive recruiting process, check with your city’s human resources director or attorney. There are some definite dos and don’ts at every step of the process you’ll need to know to avoid liability. Setting high standards for recruiting will ensure you attract only those qualified to be firefighters and will help to ensure that you spend your time in a positive way—developing those quality recruits.
RICHARD B. GASAWAY is the chief of the Roseville (MN) Fire Department and has been a chief officer for 16 years. He has a master’s degree in business administration and is a graduate of the National Fire Academy’s Executive Fire Officer Program. Gasaway lectures on management and leadership topics throughout the United States and Canada.
