The Retention and Recruitment Officer’s Role in Organizational Success | FASNY St. Paul
Instructor
(Ret.) Chief Tiger Schmittendorf
Phone
+1 716-777-0205Tiger Schmittendorf has dedicated his life to the survival and success of fire and emergency services in the United States. He is a writer, recruiter, emergency manager and frequent presenter on the subjects of personal and organizational leadership, connecting generations, responder safety, and large-scale incident and event management. He is considered a national subject matter expert on Fire/EMS retention and recruitment. He collaborated with other leading professionals to develop and deliver MissionCIT’s Retention & Recruitment Officer Development Course, which is a two-day retention-first focused workshop, after creating and teaching the “Recruitment & Retention Coordinator” certification course for the IAFC-International Association of Fire Chiefs for several years. Thousands of fire-rescue personnel and other industry professionals across the US and Canada have participated in his flagship conversation titled: “From the Xbox to the Box Alarm-Connecting Today’s Firefighters” since he introduced the concept in 2007. He is designated as an advocate for the National Volunteer Fire Council and delivers their “Essentials of Volunteer Retention & Recruitment” and “Culture & Leadership” series across the country. He is actively serving as a firefighter with the Evans Center Volunteer Fire Company in Angola NY since 1980, having served as Chief of Training, Public Information Officer (PIO), Recruiter and as his department's first-ever junior firefighter. He developed a local recruitment campaign that doubled his volunteer fire company membership in just four months. He served the County of Erie (Buffalo NY) Department of Homeland Security & Emergency Services as Deputy Fire Coordinator for more than 25 years before retiring in 2018. There he led 50 instructors and the training and mutual aid operations of 97 fire departments and more than 6,000 first responders. He created a county-wide recruitment clearinghouse that netted 600+ new recruits each year for Erie County Volunteer Fire Departments. He collaborated with the New York National Guard to form a joint-recruitment partnership which focuses on connecting veterans with their local volunteer fire department and created the web site: SoldierFirefighter.com. He brings 15 years of experience in engineering, sales, marketing, and management to marketing the product he loves: fire and emergency services. Connect with him at: [email protected], at FireRECRUITER.com or on social media.
The Retention and Recruitment Officer’s (RRO) Role in Organizational Success
The challenges of recruitment and retention have never been greater, requiring a full team effort to sustain and grow our fire and emergency services organizations.
While recruitment marketing efforts tend to get all the hype as that’s typically the most visible part of a membership effort, the relationship between retention and recruitment is so interdependent that it is difficult, if not impossible, to discuss one without the other. Being successful at member retention can reduce the need to recruit as often, and when you do recruit, there’s no more powerful marketing tool than happy members. Successful recruitment can also improve morale and reduce individual burnout and attrition.
This two-day workshop takes a retention-first approach to help the participants evaluate the type of environment they’re inviting potential members into and offers keen insight and process improvement from the moment of inquiry, to application and acceptance, through the onboarding phase, to becoming contributing members with the ultimate goal of maximizing each member’s legacy of service.
This immersive learning experience offers real-world experiences and solutions from leaders and subject matter experts working in your field. It shares processes and best practices that can increase your success at generating prospective volunteer interest, identifying and screening quality candidates; closing the deal on your next recruit committing themselves to serving in your Fire/EMS organization, and keeping them supported and engaged once you’ve got them hooked. This interactive encounter will identify and help address barriers to recruitment and retention in your volunteer agency.
This comprehensive and impactful training will be accomplished through participation in a three-hour pre-course live webinar conducted with our team, followed by this exercise-focused, instructor-facilitated, in-person workshop.
Class Objectives :
- Participants will collaborate to outline the reasons people join, don’t join, stay, and don’t stay in their Fire/EMS organizations.
- Participants will gain an understanding of the need for, and opportunities to create a cohesive and collaborative environment in and outside the firehouse.
- Students will learn and exercise proven processes for conducting needs assessments, environmental evaluations, stakeholder meetings, and action plans for effecting change in their organizations.
- Students will learn validated and emerging strategies and tactics for identifying target audiences and attracting prospective members through in-person recruitment interactions and relevant marketing channels.
- Participants will develop a cohesive recruitment and retention action plan customized for implementation in their home agency.
Seminar Location :
This seminar is hosted by St. Paul Boulevard FD & FASNY, and takes place at St. Paul Boulevard Fire Department.
Please Note :
Departments may be limited on the number of attendees should the class reach the maximum capacity of 24.
Department Representatives: Please fill out the information for all attendees separately when booking the event.
Please Sign up Below
Registrants will receive a free membership for the National Volunteer Fire Council (new members only). You will also receive a 10% off code to use for a MissionCIT course!