After hundreds of recruiting campaigns for first responders and meeting multiple recruiting teams a week, we’ve seen just about everything there is to know about recruiting within the first responder industry. From one client making website visitors click around 12 times to find the application to another not advising applicants when the test is, we work very hard in the beginning of our partnership with agencies to remove the obvious barriers to entry for candidates and applicants.
But there is one barrier that is almost always there and it is most certainly hurting every agency that has it.
THE LOG IN BUTTON!
I’m not trying to scare you but let’s be honest…how many times have you been scrolling the internet, get interested in something and start down the rabbit hole and BAM!
The registration box comes up.
If you are like me, a lot goes through your mind at that point.
Is the information I want worth giving my e-mail, phone number, or whatever else is about to be asked of me? How many calls or spam emails will I have to put up with just because I want what is behind this registration box. Will I have to remember another password?
You get the point.
And like me, I bet you walk away from your fair share of registration or log in pages.
The private industry figured this out years ago. Approximately 50% of shoppers will hesitate or abandon any registration process required to purchase an item and if they have to log in to an account later, the stats get worse.
In 2017, Amazon patented the “one click” buy button, which bypasses the numerous touch points that were typically required to purchase an item. It immediately improved conversion rates 35% and it is estimated that it has increased profits in the billions.
What About First Responder Recruiting?
I get it, you aren’t Amazon and you aren’t selling anything…but are you? Recruiting is absolutely about selling something and it is much harder to sell a job than a product. That’s why a marketing approach to recruiting is rarely effective and it’s the same reason that barriers such as a registration process will hurt your recruiting.
Our data tells us that agencies that require a candidate to register an account prior to application, will lose approximately 40% of those candidates. If the goal is to become fully staffed, this cannot occur.
In addition to creating an unnecessary barrier and reducing applicants, this one process also hurts the agency in other ways.
- Every aspect of the recruiting process reflects the agency culture. If a candidate isn’t happy about having to register or the process is too complex, they may assume that the agency is bureaucratic or difficult to work in.
- There are two types of potential applicants. Those with the intent to work in the industry and those we call passive job seekers. Passive job seekers are why agencies hire us to partner with them and if you can acquire those, you will be fully staffed. But, passive job seekers must be motivated to apply and continue through the hiring process and any barriers to that process will make recruiting much more difficult.
- Barriers such as a registration requirement will also disproportionately affect underrepresented groups who are already hesitant about entering the first responder industry. Any agency that wants to seek a more diverse candidate pool (and they should), must seriously consider simplifying the overall process.
Set Up For Failure
We have had an incredible partnership with the Philadelphia Police Department for over a year and I have become quite fond of Captain John Walker.
In my first meeting with him, he said something that resonated.
“We are trying to make candidates fail.” Captain Walker
Unfortunately, his words have become all too true throughout first responder recruiting.
What Can You Do
The majority of first responder agencies are requiring registration and subsequent log in from the application and beyond. Frankly, this is typically not a decision they made nor is it one they can easily fix but if we truly want to enhance recruiting, we must address it.
And why is that a mandate? It’s certainly not for the agency but it is for the software typically being used by Human Resources. If any software can grab registrations, they can then use that information for further marketing and even worse, selling that information to others.
One popular software company is charging agencies $20,000 a year for access to all of those registrations. If you are trying to recruit for your agency, why would you send those candidates to a software system that then sells those same candidates to other agencies?
It doesn’t make sense and it is hurting your efforts to become fully staffed.
What We Do
We built SAFEGUARD Connect for agencies to overcome this barrier. It’s an all-in-one recruiting platform that will supercharge your recruiting team and set you on the path for success. SAFEGUARD Recruiting has had tremendous success in correcting the barriers that often exist within the recruiting and hiring process and we want to help you do the same. Reach out today and schedule a free consultation with our team and begin the road to becoming fully staffed.
Dr. Travis Yates is the Vice-President of Operations for SAFEGUARD Recruiting. He retired as a commander with a large municipal police department after 30 years of service and is the author of “The Courageous Police Leader.”His risk management and leadership seminars have been taught to thousands of professionals across the world and he also leads training for SAFEGUARD Recruiting.
