Commitment...

How is your commitment? I don’t mean commitment as in your marriage or in a relationship...I don’t even mean committed like you need to be put in the “nut house”. What I’m talking about is the type of commitment the people working in your office need to have. How committed are they to the cause?

So first things first...what is your cause? Your cause is recruiting the best applicants for the job with the best diversity which reflects your community. Easy enough right? Wrong if you don’t have the commitment if your staff. This is where the rubber meets the road. How dedicated and committed are the people who work for you?

I will be the first to say that I couldn’t have done half the things I’ve done in the world of police recruiting had it not been for the people who work for me. Each one of them is special in there own way and have their own specialities as well. I will always be in their debt.

To begin, starting with the highest in seniority, I have my wise old owl, or like some people in the unit call him “old and busted”. He is the one that handles everything while I’m gone and he is also the one person that if he complains I know to really listen. Next comes my “investigator”. She is the one person in the unit that takes the background investigations to a whole new level. She turns every investigation into a full blown crime scene investigation and has the best judgment to go with it...can’t get any better than that! The next person in seniority is my artist. He is the person who thinks “out of the box”, although he would probably hate to hear me say that. Next we have the last person to join the unit. No matter what is going on, she is always willing to be there. I like to think of her as the “rock”. Always vigilant and always strong, always ready to take on more than she should. Finally, we have our personnel specialist in the unit. Without her the office wouldn’t function. Not only is she my right hand but handles all the scheduling for the unit.

So, there you have it...the team. Now I’m not saying that each of them doesn’t have their share of negatives, but they are truly the best group of people I’ve ever worked with. Notice I didn’t say “...have ever worked for me?” That’s because in the unit we work together. The unit is not run like a typical police unit, but more like a private family owned business. When we need to pull together we do, but I trust everyone to do their job without having to be micromanaged.

But what makes the team the best I’ve ever been a part of is their commitment to the job. Even on days where we are all at each other’s throats, the team stays committed to the job, the focus of finding the best applicant’s for the job. This is true commitment. Just like a family the team is committed to each other but also to the greater goal...the greater purpose.

So, do you want to make a difference in your recruiting? Find a team of people who are committed to the task at hand. You can’t get any better than that.