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Looking for some ridiculously easy ways to boost your agency’s appeal to police officer applicants so you can hire more of them? Of course, you are...and here are my top five tweaks to help you do exactly that......keep reading! 👀
Hey everyone, it’s Tom Sye your Police Marketing FTO, and this week, we’re hitting the easy button for your police recruiting efforts with five simple tweaks that you can implement immediately to help you start attracting, retaining, and getting more police officer applicants through your process and into new hire status. 🙌
Sounds awesome right? Well...that’s because it is! So, without further ado...here are the five ridiculously easy and simple tweaks that you can make to your police recruiting process right now that will help you hire more people! 👇
1. Show more diversity
This is kind of a hot topic button these days with the letters D, E, and I being at the forefront of many news stories, social media arguments, and human resources trainings alike...but that’s not what I’m talking about here. 🙅♂️
Yes, you should be showing more ethnic and biological diversity in the people that you are using for your recruiting materials, but what I’m talking about is showing more diversity in the jobs your department offers as a whole. 💡
So many times, we get caught up in everything that we think Police Officer applicants are interested in, SWAT teams, range training or DT sessions for example, that we forget about the golden rule of police recruiting...you’re not recruiting cops...you’re recruiting people! 🤯
Here’s a Quick fix: Make sure your social media posts are showing a multitude of positions in your agency. From Fraud and Forgery Detective to Property Room Custodian and anything and everything in between...show people doing all kinds of jobs within you agency and you’ll attract more people! It really is that simple. 🤷♂️
2. Teach people how to get through your process
If you want more people to be successful in making it through your process...you should teach them how to do it! Crazy, I know. 🤪
Unfortunately, many still believe that having to show people how to do things is akin to lowering standards. And besides, if an applicant is going to be successful later, they should be able to make it through the process now, on their own. Believe you me, I used to think the exact same way...but just like it was for me...it’s costing you some really good applicants. 😳
Here’s a Quick fix: Create a series of posts and videos that give applicants tips for making it through your testing and hiring process. Oral board pointers, fitness routines, the importance of being honest, and even a 'here’s how to fill out your packet' instructional will go a long way in seeing more applicants make it to more stages of your process. 💪
3. Be nice to people during the testing process if you want to hire more Police Officer applicants
If you’re still treating your physical fitness testing as if it’s a military style boot camp, yelling and screaming at people to line up, hurry up, or get up...it’s time to start doing things...well, differently.
Look, I get the thinking behind it...they’re going to be getting yelled at in the academy and we need to get them used to the stress they’re going to encounter when the hit the streets is usually the first things out of people’s mouths in defending it...but that line of thinking is failing to take these two really important facts into consideration... ✌️
👉 Your applicants will get plenty of that when they’re actually in the police academy
👉 People choose an agency based on whether they believe people like them work there
If they’re not the kind of people who go around yelling and screaming on a normal basis, you know, like most human beings, they’re never going to make the connection with your testing staff. 🤐
Here’s the Quick fix: Have everyone involved in the testing process start showing off those awesome and friendly personalities of theirs. From joking around with applicants to being encouraging when they see people struggling, make this small and easy change and watch how your applicants respond! 🚀
4. Talk as if you’re having a conversation and not an interrogation
This can really be true of any step in the process, but when it comes to Background Interviews, in particular, if you really want people to tell you things...they have to trust that you’re on their side. Being straight forward, direct, serious, or mean, isn’t the way to accomplish that and if someone feels they can’t tell you things...guess what...they won’t. It’s basic psychology. 🧠
Quick Fix: Spend at least the first half hour of every Background Interview getting to know your applicant and finding common ground. Then...keep the mood light throughout the interview. Whenever they tell you something bad, react as if it’s the most normal thing on the planet and you’ll keep the lines of communication flowing and more disclosures coming. 🗣️
5. Give regular updates
Lastly, if you want to keep applicants actually in your hiring process longer and not out there searching for other opportunities, you need to keep them informed of what is happening! 💯
The Quick Fix: Emails. Emails are great for keeping your candidates in the loop. Send an update at least once every two weeks that let’s them know how things are going, what documents or pieces you may still be missing, and what is coming up in the process for them. When you do this, your applicants remained engaged and are less likely to start looking elsewhere. 👍
Well...there you have it. Five redonkulously easy tweaks that will help you hire more people. Give them a try starting with your next post, testing event, or background interview and let me know how it went! I can’t wait to hear the good news! 😀
Need some more tips on how to turn your mindset around and start recruiting like it’s 2024? My Road to Better Recruiting course is just weeks away from launching and is going to be loaded with the knowledge you need to start improving your police recruiting right away! You can learn more about the course and everything that is included by visiting my website at forcopstraining.com/rtbr.
Have a friend at another agency who could use a few tweaks to their recruiting? Share this newseltter with them, so they can learn too! Remember, we're all in this together! 🤝
Have more questions about police recruiting, marketing, or anything else you're struggling with? Don't hesitate to reach out...I’m always here to help. ⛑
Until next week my Police Marketing Squad, happy recruiting! 😃
Tom
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👋 I’m Tom Sye, your Police Marketing FTO. I founded ‘For Cops’ Training to teach Police Departments how to attract more qualified candidates through the same tried and tested methods I’ve used for the past ten years at my own department to keep up with turnover and stay ahead of vacancies.
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