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Remember when you were a kid on a long road trip and all you could think about was ‘are we there yet’, ‘are we there yet’ and ‘are we there yet’? 🤪
Well, when it comes to the police officer hiring process, applicants can feel that same exact way...and will start asking the frequently asked trap of ‘how long is this gonna take’. How you answer this question will either send your applicants running for another agency or keep them settled comfortably in the back seat. Wanna know which is which? Keep reading! 👀
Hey everyone, it’s Tom Sye your Police Marketing FTO, and this week, let’s continue our frequently asked police recruiting trap series with the mother of all frequently asked questions. If you haven’t been asked this yet during the hiring process, simply start talking to one of your potential applicants and surely it will come up...it’s that’s common. 💯
But the way you answer this very unassuming and seemingly harmless question can often times be the difference between someone actually following through and entering your hiring process or giving up because it’s simply going to take too long. ⌛
A Reminder
Now...we can argue about the viability of someone who wants to give up because the process is too long all day long...but that’s not what this lesson is about, nor is it going to help you. 🙅🙅♂️
Remember, our mission with this series is to help you de-copify your police recruiting, so you can get out of your own way and find those quality applicants you’ve been searching for. 🔎
Without further ado, here’s this week’s question, again, complete with a breakdown of how most people respond to it, and then, how to de-copify your answer so you can avoid falling into the trap. 💪
Frequently Asked Trap 2: How long is this going to take?
Before I get into how to answer this question, let me set the stage for you... 🎬
Ladies and gentlemen, this may come as a shock...but it’s 2024. Things have changed. People have changed. We are living in a world where most of your typical police officer recruit aged applicants have had technology and easy access to anything they could possibly want or ask for, at their fingertips...twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week, for their entire lives. 🤯
So, if you’re outside of that age range, like most people working in police recruiting are, your level of patience and theirs are on two completely different spectrums. Speed and timeliness are a way of life for them and when they hear how long it will take...it’s the equivalent of spending another hour in the car on that long road trip as an eight-year-old! It’s a long time! 😫
This doesn’t mean that they don’t have patience or can’t wait that long, mind you, it just means that you have to keep that in mind and couple it with the sales approach we’ve talked about in the past if you’re going to be successful in keeping applicants in your process. ✔️
When this question is asked, most people give the standard ‘anywhere from four to six months’, maybe throw in a ‘it’s very involved and long for a reason’ statement and move on to the next question. Again, like I explained last week...we’re cops...we solve problems...ask a question, get an answer. 🤷🤷♂️
But if you want to keep people engaged and interested in your agency you have to realize when it comes to police recruiting there is a time to be direct and there is a time to be a little more vague. 🤔
Let me clear it up
When this question is asked during the process and of a more specific event such as ‘how long will the medical exam take’ that is when you should be more specific with a more exact time frame saying something like “the medical will take approximately one to two hours depending on how busy they are when you go”. 🎯
When this question is asked at the start or before one enters your process, you have entered one of my favorite time zones; vague standard time, and you should answer accordingly. This allows you to provide a typical timeline of the process for your applicant without making any big verbal sudden movements that’s going to scare them away like saying four to six months and moving on but also affords you an opportunity to explain some things and normalize the time frame. 😃
Here’s exactly what I say based on my agency’s two-to-four-month timeline to get someone through our process
🗣️ “Well, the whole process itself, from time of application to time of hire, can be anywhere between two and four months, depending on the background. Sometimes it’s faster, sometimes it’s longer, it really just depends on each individual...so, for example if you’ve lived in one place and have had one job in your life that’s going to be a lot quicker than someone who’s lived in fourteen states and has had forty-five jobs...
I’ve seen people speed through in four or five weeks and I’ve seen people take eight or nine months...it doesn’t mean that one’s better than the other it just means it’s going to be quicker or take longer to work...but typically it’s two to four months and we work you as quickly as we can without skipping any steps...this way you can rest assured that every single person who’s out there has gone through a full background, are high quality, good people, and you can depend on them to be there for you”.
By taking the time to explain the time frame in this manner you allow your applicant to understand what is ahead of them, while realizing the reasons for the length of the process and gaining buy in from them with the reassurance statement in the end. After all, who’s gonna object to dependable co-workers in this line of work, right? 😎
There you have it! The ‘how long will this take’ FAQ trap. Start working on your answer now for the next time this one comes up...spoiler alert: it’s not gonna be long! ⏱️
Next week we’ll wrap up our three-week series with the very serious ‘will this disqualify me’ FAQ Trap, but in the meantime, make sure to head over to my website and check out some other editions of my Marketing for Cops newsletter. 🙌
They're loaded with recruiting tips and tricks just like this and is a forever free resource for you. Continue your journey towards recruiting like it's 2024: forcopstraining.com/blog.
Have a friend at another agency who’s been falling into this trap as well? Share this newsletter 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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