2019-129 Fire Recruitment MarketingDate: June 21, 2019 Report No. 2019-129
INFORMAL STAFF REPORT TO MAYOR AND CITY COUNCIL SUBJECT: Background and information on Fire Department recruitment activities. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY: On March 20, 2019, Council Member Hudspeth requested information on fire recruitment, including information on the cost of engaging a communications and/or advertising firm to assist in our efforts.
BACKGROUND: The Denton Fire Department is primarily regulated by three bodies of law. The City adopted the regulations of Chapter 143 of the Texas Local Government Code to apply civil service procedures to all public safety personnel, including firefighters. In addition to other requirements, this law outlines general hiring practices. The City’s Rules and Regulations of the Civil Service
Commission establish additional instructions on how testing and hiring is handled by the City. Finally, the Fire Department’s Meet and Confer Agreement, an agreement between the City and the Firefighters’ Association, allows for changes to some hiring practices that are mutually agreed upon by both parties.
The City of Denton requires that all firefighters, as an application requirement, are Certified Firefighters and Certified Paramedics within the State of Texas. Firefighter applicants generally follow these hiring process steps: 1. Written entrance exam 2. Background investigation
3. Polygraph exam 4. Physical agility test 5. Oral interview 6. Conditional job offer (as vacancies are open) 7. Psychological testing
8. Physical examination 9. Drug screening 10. Start of employment The City has recently increased its efforts to attract firefighter applicants in greater numbers and
greater diversity. These efforts include:
• Advertising our position openings with the Texas Commission on Fire Protection, www.firerecruit.com, trade publications, and the City’s website and social media outlets.
• Outreach at local schools through the DISD ATC Program, DISD Career Fairs, TWU
Kinship Fair, and the UNT Emergency Management Program. Additionally, Fire staff have made frequent recruiting trips to Fire Schools throughout the state of Texas. These recruiting trips involve the direct promotion of the Denton Fire Department through
Date: June 21, 2019 Report No. 2019-129
speakers and print materials. Interested students are also kept up to date on department job openings through email outreach. The graphic below shows illustrates the number of schools visited by the Fire Department within the last year.
The following data was presented at the March 4, 2019 Council Luncheon. When compared to 2015, the fire department has not only increased its applicant numbers, but also made moderate increases to the diversity of its applicants.
Date: June 21, 2019 Report No. 2019-129
DISCUSSION: Fire Department staff will continue to grow its recruitment and outreach efforts, including the
Home Grown Program in conjunction with Denton ISD and North Central Texas College (NCTC).
Efforts will focus on attracting “exam-ready” applicants who possess the necessary firefighter and paramedic certifications. Those efforts will include promoting Denton as a career opportunity that offers excellent quality of life, competitive compensation, and professional growth opportunities.
Initiatives supporting these objectives include:
• Denton ISD Fire Academy for students
• Fire Department Explorer Program for teenagers
• Denton Fire Camp for 5th graders
The Fire Department has also created the Denton Fire Department Diversity Advisory Group. This group will open lines of communication with key stakeholders in the community, collaboratively explore opportunities to diversify the Fire Department, and build partnerships to achieve diversity
goals.
The Fire Department has also worked with the Public Affairs to make improvements to their digital messaging, website presence, and the creation of a recruiting video.
The City inquired with several local cities to determine if they have engaged marketing,
communications, or recruiting firms to increase diversity of their firefighter applicants. None of the cities that were contacted reported that they had engaged a professional to assist in the marketing to prospective firefighters.
Staff was unable to locate a firm that specialized in public safety marketing and/or the recruitment
of front line firefighters; however, a recruiting firm and a communications firm were contacted regarding what services could be provided. While they indicated that marketing/recruitment services were adaptable to the needs of the City, their services focused on the following activities:
• Overall campaign coordination
• Production of digital and print materials for use in outreach
• Development of digital and campaign messaging
• Development of multimedia (video, presentations, etc.) content
• Outreach on behalf of the city with prospective students
• Coordination of paid advertising through trade publications, schools, etc.
With both firms, the cost was variable depending on the level of services, with a general estamiate
of $25,000 – $50,000 for a 3 to 4-month campaign. These figures would increase if the duration or complexity of services increased. While engaging a marketing firm is an option, staff believes its current activities will positively
impact interest in our firefighter positions and that this will be reflected in the applicant statistics
in the next round of firefighter testing. Additionally, many services offered by marketing firms, can or are already being performed in-house. Going forward, staff recommends: 1. Continuing our new activities within and outside the community
Date: June 21, 2019 Report No. 2019-129
2. Continuing our engagement of the Fire Department Diversity Advisory Group 3. Thorough benchmarking to confirm best practices at other cities 4. Continued cooperation between Public Affairs and the Fire Department to continue our
recruitment and outreach activities including updates to print materials and the Fire Department webpages. Staff can re-evaluate the need for additional consultant-based services in the fall, when applicants are more likely to begin to register for the January Civil Service Exam. This may include the
issuance of a Request for Proposals to more effectively select the best available firm and services. CONCLUSION: While marketing, communications, and/or recruitment firms may offer marketing and recruitment
services, many can be or are already being performed in-house. Staff recommends continuing our
enhanced recruitment efforts, with an additional emphasis on researching and benchmarking best practices. The need for a consultant can be further evaluated in the fall. STAFF CONTACT:
Ryan Adams Deputy Director of Public Affairs/IGR (940) 349-8565 Ryan.Adams@cityofdenton.com
Kenneth Hedges
Fire Chief (940) 349-8830 Kenneth.Hedges@cityofdenton.com