volunteer firefighter recruitment and retention strategy

RECOMMENDED INITIATIVES1. Involve current volunteer firefighters in planning formal recruitment drives.The importance of current volunteer firefighters can not be underestimated or underappreciated.The majority of new volunteer firefighters generally come from direct referrals of existingmembers of the department (National Volunteer Firefighter Council).Existing volunteer firefighters should be asked and encouraged to contribute to the planning of arecruitment campaign. This secures a higher level of “buy-in” from existing volunteers; if theyhave helped plan the recruitment drive they are more likely to participate in it and believe in it.This also enables the department to benefit from the ideas and perspectives of existingvolunteers and what they think will work. It demonstrates that the department values theirexperience and views. It also ensures that the realities of being a volunteer firefighter will beaccurately communicated to potential recruits.Meaningful involvement from existing volunteers also reduces the risk that existing volunteerswill feel underappreciated. A campaign drive planned and dictated from “on high” canunintentionally leave existing volunteers with the feeling they are “not good enough” and need tobe replaced.The campaign should be positioned to current firefighters as helping the department gain moreresources in order to continue a standard of serving the community with excellence. It shouldalso be communicated that recruiting more firefighters will result in a better firefighting-lifebalance for current firefighters. Informing current firefighters of the recruitment drive should takeplace at a regularly scheduled meeting.An incentive program can be attached to a recruitment drive as a means of encouraging existingvolunteer firefighters to act as recruiters for the department. This takes advantage of thepowerful role each volunteer firefighter plays an ambassador of the department and of volunteerfirefighting generally. It also provides a means of involving all department members inrecruitment. For example, an incentive could be offered for the department member who refersthe highest number of applicants or informational event attendees. This could be combined witha provincial incentive (see “Centralized Initiatives”) that awards the department with the highestnumber of applicants or new recruits per year.Accompanying Tools:Dialogue Guide for Informing Current Firefighters of the Recruitment DriveFire Department Climate EvaluationVolunteer Firefighter Recruitment and Retention Strategy & ToolkitPrepared by Volunteer Alberta for the Alberta Fire Chiefs’Association10