“We’re here to work with the departments and help them get staffed as easily as we can.” – Doug Larsen
Doug Larsen, the CEO of SAFEGUARD Recruiting, doesn’t mix words when he asked who the best recruiters are for a law enforcement agency.
Without hesitation, he says the agency.
That may sound strange coming from a company that is helping agencies across the country staff up but Larsen, a retired law enforcement officer, routinely says that SAFEGUARD isn’t the typical company.
Frustrated with what was being offered law enforcement, thrusted Doug and his team into recruiting for law enforcement and the successes have been unmatched.
“When I looked at what agencies were being told by some of these companies made me sick because I knew none of it would work and departments literally spent millions on a false promise,” Larsen recently said on an episode of the Police Recruiting Show.
The answer, according to Larsen, was to do it better, cheaper and more efficient.
Agency Referral Program
That is exactly what Larsen and his team have done with their newest offering to their clients. The program addresses a common issue within many law enforcement agencies. There is no doubt that existing law enforcement officers within an agency are the best voice forth agency on recruiting but they typically don’t have adequate resources and if there are bonuses attached to the referral, you have to rely on the applicant telling the agency.
Something that Major (ret.) Travis Yates said has always been difficult.
“I’m pretty sure I lost out on plenty of referral bonuses in my career and it wasn’t until I ran the program for my agency that I figured out why,” Yates said.
Using a referral form during the candidate background interview, recruiters would ask the candidate if anyone “referred” them to the agency. The answers ranged from no one to multiple officers and determining who got extra Christmas money was always difficult according to Yates.
SAFEGUARD has now fixed the issue and Larsen hopes it throws gasoline on the efforts by agencies.
How It Works
SAFEGUARD Clients now have the option to give a specific link to every officer to share with potential recruits. Once the candidate hits the link and completes the initial inquiry, they are tracked through SAFEGUARD’s existing Applicant Tracking System along with the name of the officer that referred them.
That would be a game changer alone but with everything SAFEGUARD tackles, they are taking it to the next level.
Doug’s team not only provides a customized link to each officer but sends them to a portal that has a ton of tools and content they need to become effective recruiters.
Whether it’s Facebook, Instagram, or any of the other social media platforms, the officer can easily copy and paste the text and photo directly to their accounts. SAFEGUARD has experts in social media that build the posts to attract maximum attention and engagement.
Yates says that “It’s low-hanging fruit because the best recruiter are those people in your agency that want to tell other people about it.”
Cost
The million dollar question is what does it cost and while Larsen didn’t ant to indulge the specifics, he said that they are rolling out the program for free to their existing clients and he expects that the program will be rolled into their existing recruiting packages with some packages giving the program away for free.
Get Started Today
If your department is ready to revolutionize its recruitment process and leverage the power of its current officers, the Agency Referral Program is the way forward.
Contact SAFEGUARD Recruiting through their website to learn more and get started.
