South Carolina State Firefighters Association EACH ONE REACH

South Carolina State Firefighters’ Association EACH ONE, REACH ONE Volunteer Firefighter Recruitment and Retention

Challenges & Expectations • How do you attract new volunteers? • How do you keep the members that you have? • Where would you like to be? • Successes? • What doesn’t work? 2

Observations and Insights Youth programs work! FD role awareness is low Media alone won’t make it happen Enough Volunteers, Wrong Mix Community outreach is the biggest opportunity and weakest area Professional firefighters are not professional recruiters Recruitment & Retention are tightly linked

The Five Key Strategies Revitalize a Sense of Purpose Be Approachable & Inclusive Compete for Discretionary Time Assure Incentives Meet Individual Needs Adapt Training to Fit Volunteers

The 9 “M’s” of Recruitment • Mindset • Map • Meet • Mentor 5

The 9 “M’s”- continued • Momentum • Messenger • Medium • Message 6

The 9 “M’s”- continued • These 8 add up to make up the campaign • The final “M” is…… • Measure • We must determine if what we are doing is effective 7

The Strategy The Plan Implement • Strategic Leadership – Provide ongoing direction for the overall recruiting and retention effort for South Carolina. • Support and Reinforce the Each One, Reach One program – Sustain and grow the initial enthusiasm and accomplishments achieved through the Pilot Project • Expand the Five Core Recruitment and Retention Strategies – Develop a statewide network of skilled recruiters and leaders who collaborate to solve recruitment and retention problems at the local, regional and state level. 8