How Do You Spell RecruitNY Success?

RecruitNY 2013 is coming up April 27-28: Here are some creative open house ideas courtesy of FASNY Public Relations Committee Vice Chair Gordy Kotars

How do I spell RecruitNY success? After talking to numerous fire chiefs since the  RecruitNY campaign on April 21 and 22, 2012 as well as recruitment officers, members of the FASNY Recruitment and Retention Committee and FASNY’s Public Relations Committee, I’m convinced that it is spelled i-n-g-e-n-u-i-t-y.

Certainly there are exceptions – many departments had success just by following the guidelines and tools provided on FASNY’s special microsite, www.recruitny.org.

You can bet that there was probably some success at departments who just opened their doors. But for the most part it appears that the general rule of thumb was, “You get out of it what you put into it.”

In the May/June 2012 issue of The Volunteer Firefighter, our story, RecruitNY 2012: Bigger and Better the Second Time Around, touched on a few scenarios mentioning specific recruitment ideas, events, or I suppose you could even call them gimmicks that would fall under that description shown above, ingenuity. We talked of Chief Smith in Nedrow who convinced a school group from his community who were doing Earth Day activities to end their day at his station where he would have refreshments for the children and just coincidently a recruitment open house, because with all those children came what? PARENTS! Five new recruits…Brilliant!

I really liked the ingenuity that the RecruitNY committee from the Monticello Fire Department used in having their local radio station, “Country Thunder 102 FM,” broadcast live at their RecruitNY event. Paid radio time other than PSAs is expensive. The cost here…zero, zilch, 100% free!!

So, since that article went to print and the magazine was published and distributed, I learned of a few other specific strategies that were very creative and ingenious. A guest at one of my county association meetings, a regional sales representative for VFIS, Gary Guigino, had mentioned one department in particular who really planned out their recruitment strategies well. The Harris Hill Volunteer Fire Company in Williamsville. (He is also the President of Harris Hill.) One look at their website (www.hhvfc.com) told me I had to talk to their Chief Scott Switzer.

The chief got back to me rather quickly and told me about his medium sized (46 members), 600-calls-a-year department located in a community with a mixed occupancy of mercantile, commercial and bedroom type residential. Like most fire departments and fire companies, they are always in need of new members and he and his committee saw RecruitNY as a great opportunity to also utilize a couple of other tools in their toolbox, so to speak. He told me that they planned three events on two consecutive weekends to “spark interest within their community for the volunteer fire service and to recruit new members.” On Friday, April 13th, one week prior to RecruitNY’s Open House event, his department, in conjunction with Pesci’s Pizza & Wings, a good local eatery in town, held an event called “Operation Special Delivery.” For the duration of the evening, he and members of his department took care of delivering pizza and wing orders to residents in their district. This was done with firefighters in turnout gear and department apparatus, and what made it really special was if the resident/pizza customer could demonstrate working smoke detectors, their food order was free! (Courtesy of Pesci’s!) If they didn’t work, the firefighters installed a free detector or new batteries. They also received a free dry chemical fire extinguisher. Obviously, this also gave them the opportunity to throw a pitch for recruitment or set the table for a visit to the station. The idea here was to plant the seed. Keep in mind, if you didn’t actually sign up a recruit on your open house day, it doesn’t mean that you didn’t succeed. Exposure to the public of your needs and your activities is part of the cultivation. Just don’t forget to water your garden down the road.

Step two in their strategy came on the very next day. Utilizing proceeds from the Clarence area volunteer firefighters golf tournament, they conducted a free babysitter education seminar at their station which was attended by approximately 25 teens, mostly girls, with about five boys. They spent a day learning fire safety, basic first aid practices, CPR and were instructed by not only the firefighters but a New York State trooper. Did I mention that all these teens were right around the age for explorers or junior firefighters? Hmmmmmmm!

What it also accomplished besides setting the table again for the big weekend, was more positive community service by the members of the Harris Hill Volunteer Fire Company. The coup de grace was the weekend of RecruitNY. Saturday, April 21st was the day the department had selected to have their open house. Chief Switzer explains that they had a need for a professional shredding service company to take care of some departmental documents as well as those belonging to their members, and after doing some thinking, figured, hey, why not offer free shredding to the residents of the fire district if they stopped by the fire station for the open house. They advertised it as “The Shred-it Event at the RecruitNY Open House.” Over 2800 pounds were shredded that day which means the community responded well, and they also ended up receiving numerous monetary donations as well. As far as their recruitment success, two new members, a father and son, as well as a prospect who has future interest. Great ingenuity for sure by the leadership and recruitment committee for the Harris Hill Volunteer Fire Company.

Here’s a few basic but effective and noteworthy efforts made by some other departments: In Orange County, the Cronomer Valley Fire Department utilized one of the flyers off of the FASNY RecruitNY microsite and developed it into a mailer which went out to all the residents in their district. Great idea… And the St. Remy Volunteer Fire Department held their open house at their Union Center Rd. fire station. Their station is not equipped with a signboard, either manual or electronic, so they made up their own RecruitNY open house sign, fastened it to a pole, hung it horizontally from a tall A-framed ladder and placed it roadside at the front of their apparatus parked in front of their station.

Here’s a great example of simple but outstanding ingenuity by Assistant Chief David VanSlyke of the Southwood Volunteer Fire Department in Onondaga County. His department utilized FASNY’s RecruitNY.org microsite and had two VolunteerNY banners printed on heavy white vinyl with grommets around the perimeter. He then purchased a variety of 1½” vinyl pvc piping and fittings and constructed a framework that would allow the two signs to be fastened by plastic electrical ties attached to the grommets. A few
sandbags on the base and they had a very impressive RecruitNY sign that was portable and sturdy.

Finally, we bring you one more good success story from the north country that not only included some ingenuity, but it involved just about complete utilization of the ideas and tools on the RecruitNY microsite. I spoke with Fire Chief Steve Mott of the Brownville Volunteer Fire Department in Jefferson County. He told me he really believed in FASNY’s RecruitNY campaign and felt it could work, so he approached one of his newer recruits from last year and asked if he would chair the recruitment and retention committee. He felt this young man had a reason to join the fire service when he did and wanted to utilize the enthusiasm and ideas he had so far demonstrated. After reviewing RecruitNY.org, his committee arranged to hang the large printed banners, post yard signs, distribute posters, letter their sign in front of the station and set up a Facebook page dedicated to RecruitNY. On their posters they bulleted all the benefits of being a volunteer firefighter including those provided by FASNY as they have had a full department membership since 2005. Their open house was advertised for Saturday, April 21 with hours of 08:00 – 16:00. Early in the morning as they were setting up they happened to look out the windows of the overhead doors in the engine room and noticed a young man walking slowly by the front of the station. He would stop, then continue on by, but then come back. Turns out, he was a little bit early, but anxious to stop in because he had seen the advertising that Brownville had done, so he had taken the day off of work to come down to the station and become a volunteer firefighter.

Thank you, Brownville Volunteer Fire Department, for giving me the perfect ending to this article on how to spell RecruitNY success. It is extremely clear that you understand the concepts of this unified statewide initiative and have also provided your own ingenuity to make it a success….by the way, Chief Mott reports that they signed up six new recruits that day. Nice.

Be sure to get your department ready for the next RecruitNY event, April 27-28, 2013. When you’re planning your open house, use some inspiration from those mentioned in this article and remember to insert a little ingenuity.

Note: A reminder to chiefs and designated recruitment officers to please track and report  any new members you have recruited the past two years and for the following year that can be attributable to the efforts of FASNY’s SAFER grant program involving the recruitment and retention of volunteer firefighters. This is easily done by filling out a Volunteer Profile  Form and submitting it to FASNY.