Opportunities that come every day....

How many opportunities a day do you have to make a new friend? How many of those opportunities give you the chance to recruit a potential new applicant for your department? Let's just cover some of the day to day places you meet people:
The local drive-thru! How often do you mention to the person who is taking your money or giving you your food if they have ever considered a career in law enforcement? I mean heck, they are working in a fast food place, I’m sure this is not where they are looking to spend the rest of their lives!

How about the person in the drive-thru behind you? Have you ever bought the food for the car behind you? Maybe not to recruit but as a good gesture? Yeah, I know, it cost money. But what about telling the cashier that you are covering that person's food and ask them nicely to tell the person "This is from your local police officer. Have you ever considered making a difference in someone else's life? We are taking applications!" I know this comes across very corny, but it works. I’ve done it about four times and each time the person, or a family member of that person, has applied.

What about when you are out with you family doing that family stuff that we all do? I’ve recruited four people from my daughter’s gymnastics classes (parents, not the kids!) to apply and one gymnastics instructor. Or what about at their school? We all go to school plays, sports functions, etc. Why not strike up a conversation there with someone?

The point I’m making is that you are a police officer 24/7. So why are you not recruiting 24/7? Isn’t recruiting someone who might change the world for the next 25 years or so is as important as helping stranded motorist or working that motor vehicle accident that you happened upon on your way home? How dedicated of a recruiter are you really?

RECESSION…is it helping us or not?

Well, by now if your department is taking applications you have probably already noticed a spike in your applications. I personally give the recession at least 10% of the credit for my current spike in applications. But does this spike and increase in applications help?

To appropriately answer that question you must look at the applicants who are applying. So far, I believe the current recession is only bringing good looking numbers but more unqualified, less dedicated applicants to the table. When people begin job hunting they are hoping to find a stable position that will “bring home the bacon” no matter what it takes. Law enforcement is typically, not always, but again typically one of the few jobs that you don’t normally have to worry about layoffs. Therefore, the job is appealing and very attractive to most. Unfortunately this brings out the person who really is not aware of what the job truly entails.

Recession therefore equals good stats but questionable applicants!

Research, Research and MORE Research....

Research is one of the most crucial elements of a good recruiter. If your agency is like mine, you have set standards that a person must possess to even qualify to apply. For example, my agency requires a minimum of 60 college “semester” hours. Therefore if I want to recruit people that fit this particular demographic I need to do some research and find out exactly where would be the best place within my city, state or surrounding states to recruit.

Last year, I decided to recruit heavily in Kentucky. Louisville, being the largest city, I believed would have the largest educational workforce within the state. To my surprise, my research showed that the majority of educationally driven members of society between the ages of 21-31 resided in Lexington, Kentucky (home of the University of Kentucky). Thereby making this the target of my major recruiting for the 2007-2008 recruiting year.

Did this work? My college educated applicants did increase 10% with 8% of those applications coming from the Lexington region.

So remember, research, research, research! Don’t be lazy when recruiting. Be effective, be efficient, and do your research.