Effective Public Safety Recruitment Plans

When developing a recruitment plan it is first important to recognize that "recruitment" is a comprehensive employment process term.This means that "recruitment" includes strategies to attract candidates, procedures for managing the selection process, mission-driven direction for candidate selection, and ensuring all post-selection requirements are completed. The best recruitment plans acknowledge this concept and approach recruitment as a continuous plan that engages resources across all levels and components of the agency. Effective plans also recognize that leveraging community resources is essential to success and supports the development of community trust.

The following are key concepts for recruitment plans as prescribed by CALEA®.

Objectives:

Recruitment plans must first establish objectives. In short, what the agency wants to accomplish through the plan, and these should include temporal terms.The following are examples of effective recruitment plan objectives: 

• Reduce the statistical difference between the percentage of ethnic minorities in the available workforce and the percentage of ethnic minorities employed by the agency, each year. 
• Increase the number of qualified female applicants for the position of police officer each year.

These statements focus decision-makers, process coordinators, and all agency personnel on what is important to the agency regarding recruitment. They are measurable objectives and they can be impacted directly by agency actions or strategies.

Strategies:

Often referred to as action steps or tactics, strategies are specific activities designed to accomplish the objectives of the plan.The recruitment strategies to meet the objectives need to be very specific and provide tasks to be accomplished by those involved in the implementation of the plan.The strategies need to say what is going to be done, who is going to do it, and when it will be conducted.  There are generally multiple strategies to accomplish each objective.  The following are examples of strategies related to the first objective denoted above: 

• Recruiters will attend career day events at six colleges/universities in the region between September and May that are consider minority institutions.
• Chief Executive Officer and Managerial Staff will consult with the minority faith based community and other community leaders/groups/organizations to explain recruitment priorities and solicit assistance prior to the end of the year.
• The Personnel Commander will develop advertisements with a consulting firm to target the attraction of minority applicants by May.
• The Community Outreach coordinator will contract with minority regional publications and radio stations to run advertisements by July.
• The Training Division will develop and deliver diversity recruitment strategies training to the recruitment team by October.
• The Deputy Chief will develop and distribute key speaking points for staff to utilize during speaking engagements that support minority recruitment by January.

A key to developing comprehensive strategies is to first develop a strong list of resources. Often agencies overlook resources that can provide substantive assistance for successful recruitment plans.The following is an example of recruitment resources typically found in most communities:

• Faith-based community
• Agency staff/Retired police personnel
• Special interest service organizations/community leaders
• Colleges and Universities
• Special events such as parades and community fairs
• Newspapers
• Radio/Television Stations

Data Collection:

Good recruitment plans have measures included to serve as the basis for determining the strategies that work. And, the adage of "what get's measured gets done" applies. That is to say staff will accomplish tasks assigned to them if they know it will be reviewed, denoted in reports and considered by the management team.  Subsequently, part of measuring is periodic review.  However, meaningful reviews cannot occur without relevant data. Data collection can occur through meetings with recruitment staff to explore new options of accomplishing the objectives, discussions about what has not been accomplished, and anecdotal accounts of the effectiveness of efforts.Most importantly, feedback from those recruited should be conducted. This is the agency's best resource in determining the penetration and impact of efforts designed to meet the objectives. Surveys should be conducted of this group to determine specifically which recruitment efforts attracted them to the agency, what agency controlled impediments they encountered, and any suggestions they have for better market penetration. The key is to collect information on inputs and process throughout the recruitment campaign to isolate elements within the effort. The following are key data points that might be collected during recruitment campaigns: 

• Number of applicants by race/gender/age indicating they heard radio advertisements.
• Number of applicants by race/gender/age indicating they saw recruitment billboards.
• Number of applicants by race/gender/age indicating they were recruited directly by other employees.

This type of data provides substance for those having to make decisions regarding where to place resources, which resources to use in the future, and which activities should be used to attract specific groups. Some marketing agencies can provide detailed information through highly technical assessment instruments. However, the number of viewers based on race/gender may be less important than the impact.

Measurement and Evaluation:

Collecting the data from recruitment efforts is extremely important. However, the collection of information alone falls short of determining its impact. Measurement and evaluation is the process of applying statistical computations to the recruitment efforts to put the information into context. This information becomes critically important to decision-makers, who must review recruitment plans for future considerations. An example of basic measurement and evaluation might include a simple cost benefit analysis of utilizing radio advertisement on minority radio stations in the region of the agency.  

• Between June 1 - September 30 four different radio advertisements were developed at a cost of $2,000 per advertisement.
• All four advertisements were run for 17 weeks on three different minority radio stations in the metropolitan area at a cost of $1,000 for one weekly announcement.  
•  Forty-three minority applicants (six hired) surveyed indicated they heard the advertisement on Station A; no minority applicants  surveyed indicated they heard the advertisement on Station B; and 23 minority applicants (three hired) and 64 Caucasian applicants (three hired) indicated they heard the advertisement on Station C.

A significant amount of analysis can occur from the above data.  For example: 

• Radio advertisements on minority radio stations cost $917 per applicant hired and $1,223 per minority applicant hired. 
• Of all applicants reached by minority radio advertisements, 9.2% were hired by the agency and 13.6% of minorities reached by the same medium were hired.
• Radio Station B was not effective in attracting any candidates at a cost of $1,000.

Agency staff responsible for recruitment efforts should meet regularly to examine these data and determine the need for additional data collection points.The key to good decisions regarding recruitment is having good data to evaluate.

Plan Review and Revisions: 

With the evaluative data developed, the recruitment plan should be revisited to assess the need for changes in recruitment priorities, amendments to strategies to meet defined objectives and to remap resources to apply to future recruitment efforts.

It is important to recognize that no one recruitment plan will work for every community, and efforts that simply duplicate the strategies of other organizations will typically not be as successful due to dynamic differences between communities. However, there are sound principles to recruitment plan development that can be gleaned from reviewing the strategies incorporated by other agencies.