Recruitment Strategies

[Zippy]

Should we re install our fire sirens and start using them alot more so the community knows that we are short on crews??

If anything,  it will get them thinking about what the loud noise is   which may lure them to investigate joining.

Oh and also the grumpy old retired city dwellers who moved away from the city for some peace and quiet will complain in the local papers editorial section once again 

[jaff]

Maybe CFS or SES needs to take advantage of situations like the KI fires and while public interest is at a high place prominent recruitment adverts in newspapers or other media. This obviously wouldn't help in the short term , but we need as organisations to make use in a positive way of any publicity that comes our way.
So a prepackaged recruitment promo sitting on the shelf waiting for an opportune time to surface might help. Any of you old farts would have seen it, that the new members tend to appear soon after large threatening incidents stir the loins, whether its the front loin or more likely the back loin, thats up for conjecture

[6739264]

Any of you old farts would have seen it, that the new members tend to appear soon after large threatening incidents stir the loins, whether its the front loin or more likely the back loin, thats up for conjecture

Yep, its nearly always after a big state wide incident or in November/December that people rock up to the station. Its mighty disheartening to then be told - 6 months. A good recruitment drive initaiated by the CFS, statewide in about March would be ideal.Perhaps think about lifting the membership caps on brigades - a bigger pool to have at hand is always a good thing and it lets people be 'summer specials' if they want and they're not taking up valuble SFEC spots.

[pumprescue]

Ahhh the old after a big fire recruits, god bless em, they really are a waste of space. After 6 months of no real action they soon leave.

[rescue5271]

I dont know why some brigade's have this 6month rule,You should be able to join do your police check and BFF1 all with in 8 weeks if the ssystem was done better...

[Zippy]

A police check done within 12 days, true story!  I think good re-recruitment worked!

[Katrina]

How do you get one of those done so quickly, ours seem to get sent off and come back via slow camel to Timbuktoo

[Zippy]

Ill let you know soon, it was quite remarkable...

Wish we could sack those Camels

[6739264]

I dont know why some brigade's have this 6month rule,You should be able to join do your police check and BFF1 all with in 8 weeks if the ssystem was done better...

I think its only in some of the Brigades that are a little uppity about "new" members. I was left hanging for about 3 months, without gear. I then got and old pair of overalls, old wollen turnout coat and helmet. Managed to scrounge L3 gear after about 6 months, got a pager and declared active after 9 months, got a pair of boots issued somewhere around the 12-18 month mark. It was only the fact that I was a youngun' and really enjoyed what was going on that I stuck around.

Admittedly things have gotten better, but you still see the people who get drinking with the boys club rushed through BFF1 and get a pager but others get shafted just because they dont have a taste for booze

I dont see an issue with things operating like this (although its not how my brigade works):

Join -> Police Check -> L1 Gear -> BFF1 -> Pager -> Selected Jobs -> 6 Month vote

Simple.

[rescue5271]

I had a Federal police check done and it was back with in 10days....That also sucks how you join a brigade and they hand you out second hand gear and get away with it...I would like to see the gear handed out before the BFF1 starts.....

[6739264]

I had a Federal police check done and it was back with in 10days....That also sucks how you join a brigade and they hand you out second hand gear and get away with it...I would like to see the gear handed out before the BFF1 starts.....

I can understand 2nd hand gear for the first 6 months, as this allows both the person to see if they really want to be a part of the brigade, and also allows time for orders to be placed for the gear to arrive by the time they are voted in.

[Zippy]

Interesting Numbers,  The "start-up" time is really a testing time for a new member ey..

Heres the process a new firefighter goes through, in my local brigade.

Sign up -> Police Check -> Induction Night -> L1 Gear/Pager -> Trains with Brigade until next available -> BFF1 -> Active Firefighter

Takes anything from 30-90 Days to complete the process.  A vote isnt done, nor is there a probationary period. Any Issues get addressed as soon as possible.

Its a reasonable process and seems to be quite comfortable for new members.

[rescue5271]

Sound good Zippy,so does it work well??

[Zippy]

Does indeed.

Katrina in regards to the Police Checks, i think it may have been a Federal Police check.  SAPOL take ages to do paperwork.

[Pipster]

A "federal Police Check" and a SAPol police check are all the same thing - a National Police Clearance certificate.....

Pip

[Zippy]

it just seemed strange the difference from 6 weeks to within 2 weeks.

[mattb]

Heres the process a new firefighter goes through, in my local brigade.

Sign up -> Police Check -> Induction Night -> L1 Gear/Pager -> Trains with Brigade until next available -> BFF1 -> Active Firefighter

Takes anything from 30-90 Days to complete the process.  A vote isn't done, nor is there a probationary period. Any Issues get addressed as soon as possible.

Hey Zippy, As per the volunteer admin and finance manual - once an application is received it must go to a vote through the brigade. This was re-inforced to us last night by Andrea Haigh (VSO) at a recruitment and retention workshop.

We don't get anyone to fill out an application form or sign anything because of this, all they do in our brigade is complete an 'expression of interest' form, that means our operations and management committees can still do some vetting prior to taking any applications to the brigade (we get around 30 - 40 applications a year - dealing with them all at brigade meetings would be impossible).

The other interesting point is that all members are classed as being on probation (according to TAS) until they have completed their BFF1, there is currently some re-working of the application process being discussed with a draft workflow diagram currently floating around of how it may work. There is a proposal to have to vote people in the first time (as it is at the moment) and then have them do BFF1 etc and then re-vote that they stay in the brigade after six months - good luck if the brigade decides that they don't want them. You have already signed them up as a member, imagine then being told we don't want you, that's going to go down well - especially in a small town.

If this all sounds crazy and far fetched then check with your VSO, we found it hard to believe as well - luckily it is only being discussed as a draft at the moment but they want to get feedback from brigades on this so please let your VSO's or the Volunteer Management Branch know your thoughts on this.

[rescue5271]

Matt,I can't see that going ahead what a slap in the face that would be...Like so many other drafts that CFS do they never get of the ground...I would hope that once the brigade has voted you in once and you have done BFF1 that should be it,the brigade can deal with someone who is not pulling their weight in other ways...I could see that draft as a good court case for unfair dismisslie....

[Katrina]

Hmm, mine was good you know how to use a radio and are organised, quick police check (have you done anything bad? No! good then that will get clearance - everyone wants your help so here's your radio training, boxes all ticked, start talking and writing on that there radio NOW as bush fire season has started early!!!!

[CFS_Firey]

The other interesting point is that all members are classed as being on probation (according to TAS) until they have completed their BFF1, there is currently some re-working of the application process being discussed with a draft workflow diagram currently floating around of how it may work. There is a proposal to have to vote people in the first time (as it is at the moment) and then have them do BFF1 etc and then re-vote that they stay in the brigade after six months - good luck if the brigade decides that they don't want them. You have already signed them up as a member, imagine then being told we don't want you, that's going to go down well - especially in a small town.

Matt,I can't see that going ahead what a slap in the face that would be...Like so many other drafts that CFS do they never get of the ground...I would hope that once the brigade has voted you in once and you have done BFF1 that should be it,the brigade can deal with someone who is not pulling their weight in other ways...I could see that draft as a good court case for unfair dismisslie....

We currently do the vote after 6 months.  You need to be able to work with someone before you can vote them in or out, no point voting on them when you've just met them.  We've never voted someone out, but all the recruits accept that there's a probation period after which they will be voted on, and they could be voted out.  Isn't that normal for any workplace or organisation?

[Zippy]

Isn't that normal for any workplace or organisation?

That would be Performance Development Review's...Positive Negatives..Address the negatives, come up with ways to create new positives...done, Next.

We're a volunteer Service, providing equal opputunities,  but it does come down to: "are you continually doing foolish things (aka being a filtered) or arent you"

Is it just Behaviour, or Capability  that influences these votes?

Can i safely say 99.95% of volunteers dont need a Vote

[mattb]

No worries, I guess if it works for your brigade then all is good, I wonder what would happen if someone kicked up a fuss after being booted out of the brigade after six months though, given that this is only a new policy in draft mode at the moment - would CFS back you up ?? Having said that the lady from Seaford that did the training with us on Monday said they also do the second vote as well, obviously it is not a completely new concept.

[6739264]

Perhaps some clarification is need regarding the vote.

We have had issues in the past with people being voted into the brigade only because the "Decline" and "Defer" votes have been split, hence giving the "Accept" vote the majority.

Go figure.

[CFS_Firey]

No worries, I guess if it works for your brigade then all is good, I wonder what would happen if someone kicked up a fuss after being booted out of the brigade after six months though, given that this is only a new policy in draft mode at the moment - would CFS back you up ?? Having said that the lady from Seaford that did the training with us on Monday said they also do the second vote as well, obviously it is not a completely new concept.

I think having a vote is CFS policy, (Part of the standard constitution perhaps?), but when that vote is taken is up to the brigade.  I would personally prefer a brigade specific competency based test, to remove the "popularity contest" side of the voting process, but that would require much more work for brigades to develop and update.

Isn't that normal for any workplace or organisation?

That would be Performance Development Review's...Positive Negatives..Address the negatives, come up with ways to create new positives...done, Next.

We're a volunteer Service, providing equal opputunities,  but it does come down to: "are you continually doing foolish things (aka being a filtered) or arent you"

Is it just Behaviour, or Capability  that influences these votes?

Can i safely say 99.95% of volunteers dont need a Vote

Equal opportunity means everyone is given a fair chance - it doesn't mean you have to let everyone stay.

Obviously throughout the 6 month probation period, any problems will be addressed, so by the time you get to the vote, everyone should be happy.

Everyone needs a vote, but perhaps you mean 99.95% will be voted in...?

[Zippy]

No worries, I guess if it works for your brigade then all is good, I wonder what would happen if someone kicked up a fuss after being booted out of the brigade after six months though, given that this is only a new policy in draft mode at the moment - would CFS back you up ?? Having said that the lady from Seaford that did the training with us on Monday said they also do the second vote as well, obviously it is not a completely new concept.

I think having a vote is CFS policy, (Part of the standard constitution perhaps?), but when that vote is taken is up to the brigade.  I would personally prefer a brigade specific competency based test, to remove the "popularity contest" side of the voting process, but that would require much more work for brigades to develop and update.

Isn't that normal for any workplace or organisation?

That would be Performance Development Review's...Positive Negatives..Address the negatives, come up with ways to create new positives...done, Next.

We're a volunteer Service, providing equal opputunities,  but it does come down to: "are you continually doing foolish things (aka being a filtered) or arent you"

Is it just Behaviour, or Capability  that influences these votes?

Can i safely say 99.95% of volunteers dont need a Vote

Equal opportunity means everyone is given a fair chance - it doesn't mean you have to let everyone stay.

Obviously throughout the 6 month probation period, any problems will be addressed, so by the time you get to the vote, everyone should be happy.

Everyone needs a vote, but perhaps you mean 99.95% will be voted in...?

Yeah i did mean that Mel, 

RE: voting, popularity contests....  Yeah...I agree, Removing any possiblity of a Popularity Contest definately would improve things.

We have a Volunteer ethos to follow.

In regards to 2 yearly elections, i recently read a discussion paper regarding Voting etc, idea of Competency/Merit based Positions within a Brigade was brought up...but obviously this doesnt follow the Volunteer ethos.