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Comment by Tiger Schmittendorf on November 29, 2009 at 5:10pm

Sounds great Alan -

Please e-mail me a copy of your new members guide. I'd like to see it.

If you like, I can share it with others at www.firerecruiter.com.

I created a new member kit too. It is somewhat different from the Prospective Member Guide although some of the content is similar.

Stay safe. Train often.

Comment by Alan Shaw on November 28, 2009 at 10:15pm

We have a new members guide, it was started by a past Assistant Chief, then I got the project to finish his work, currently it is in the hands of one of our Captains. It is constantly evolving. Another thing we do is an internal "probie" school which is often done before Firefighter 1, so that we get the chance to see the probies in a training environment, and they get exposed to a formal training session.

Comment by Tiger Schmittendorf on November 27, 2009 at 9:12pm

Alan -

Stand by. Stop back and visit www.tigerschmittendorf.com or www.firerecruiter.com in a little bit as I'm uploading the R&R Toolkit article I wrote about the value of the Prospective Member Guide. It was published in the February-2008 edition of FASNY's The Volunteer Firefighter magazine.

Perhaps that will provide even greater insight and motivation to take a shot at creating one for your fire department.

Comment by Tiger Schmittendorf on November 27, 2009 at 8:42pm

Alan -

Thanks for the feedback. You are right on the mark with your discussion of quantity vs. quality. We've sacrificed one for the other for too long, and we wonder why our turnover rate is more than double the unemployment rate.

I created a prospective member guide for my fire department a few years ago for the same reason you speak of - to give the candidate a clear and fair understanding of what they're getting into. If it helps them realize it's not for them - it has done it's job and it only cost you a few pennies worth of paper. If it further motivates them to join your ranks - the document has done the job you had hoped it would do. Either way - you win.

You can download it from the "Toolkits" page at: www.firerecruiter.com. Let me know what you think.

And like I told Wes, when you're done there, visit www.runtothecurb.com and share your story of how you got into this crazy business or what keeps you here.

Let me know how I can help.

Stay safe. Train often.

Comment by Tiger Schmittendorf on November 27, 2009 at 8:29pm

Wes -

From your background and comments about being a "tweener" I think we were born at the same time, or at least share the same perspective.

And you're absolutely right about one thing - it is the 21st century and not only can we change the way we recruit and train but we must change the way we recruit and train if we have any hope of the volunteer fire service being around for another century.

I'm glad you liked "Fortune Tellers." I think it's one of my best pieces although I'm a bit biased. Visit my new site www.firerecruiter.com and let me know what kind of resources would help you in your R&R endeavors.

When you're done there, visit www.runtothecurb.com and share your story of how you got into this crazy business or what keeps you here.

Thanks for the comments.

Stay safe. Train often.

Comment by Alan Shaw on November 27, 2009 at 4:57pm

While the first thing is to get new members, we have to concentrate on quality NOT quantity. How do we do this, by giving a real explanation of what is required in a positive way. Be honest with prospective members but do not discourage them. If a candidate seems wrong, then think carefully before admitting them, just to have a new member. I have seen members come into my department who were severely inappropriate for the fire service, thankfully they usually leave on their own, but sometimes they do not.

Another thing, and our department is sort of guilty, why are we still charging dues to people in order for them to give us their time and effort as volunteers? We have dues in our by-laws but most members are exempt from them and the rest never seem to get bills. I am currently working on eliminating them from our rules, but I wonder why in this day and age of complaining about lack of recruits, we are still charging dues and application fees.

Comment by Wes on November 27, 2009 at 1:25am

Thanks for the post. Somehow missed it until now. Not a great job selling the Volunteer Fire Service by the news agency or the officials. Of course they were speaking many truths, but problem solving, not. Hey it's the 21st century, we can change the way we train and recruit. On-line courses for college, work and fire service are available and they work; I have successfully completed my fair share. Portions of training need qualified instructors, facilities and mentors of course; why not replace 2 hours of round trip driving 2 nights a week only to read from a book with 21 st century media? Can you say generational gaps! I'm stuck between groups; barely a X'er instilled w/ BBoomer mentality. OMG WTH m I? :-O What did we expect to do when we jumped into fire service? A dramatically different generation has arrived with new expectations and us of them.

It's not easy being an upstate NY'er and you can really tell as we lose more talented men/women to other places. Population drops, older demographic increases dramatically and those who stay have to travel farther to support their families on less; I'm there. Every trip from Massena to Albany reminds me why I stay though. Awesome.

My 2 cents: The message that should have been (needs to be); our volunteers are vitally important to our communities and going forward we are supporting them 110%, most importantly by adapting local/regional training programs to the lives of both our current and future community volunteers. Volunteer for your local fire/ems agencies and you will be trained better than ever, period. You volunteer, we'll commit.

Nov R&R Toolkit was great in TVFF Tiger. always look forward to it. Thank-you.

Comment by Tiger Schmittendorf on November 25, 2009 at 10:02am

Got it. Thanks for the feedback.

Sometimes the silence is deafening, if not at least disheartening.

Comment by Art "ChiefReason" Goodrich on November 24, 2009 at 6:15pm

My bad; I posted here: http://tigerschmittendorf.com/2009/11/18/reversal-of-fortune/#disqu...

Comment by Tiger Schmittendorf on November 24, 2009 at 5:49pm

Sorry Art but I didn't see the comment at www.tigerschmittendorf.com.

It's not pending or posted? Did I miss something?

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