That’s a good question. And the answer is long. It’s fully covered in the book. But here is the short answer: Many departments are using ineffective techniques in their recruiting. Many are just posting information on social media. Did you know that when you place a post on social media, it’s throttled? That means that Facebook or Instagram (all of them) limit how many people can see the post. That is because they want you to place an ad instead. If you could place posts on social media, no one would pay for their advertising. So, your post is severely limited. Also, the only people who see your post are a fraction of the people who have liked or followed your page. They already know about the fire department; you must show your job information to a new audience.

Our recruiting division was founded in 2024. Our parent company, Smith Companies, LLC, has been in digital communications since 1996. Chris, our Chief Visionary Officer, has served over 20 years in public safety, specifically in the fire service. He serves as a public information officer for a large department in metro Atlanta. As such, he interacts with the Department of Public Safety frequently and is exposed to their recruiting needs and efforts.

Digital recruiting is much more cost-effective than what you are doing now. Most departments waste a tremendous amount of budget on things that are not working. Digital recruiting works and the data shows how effective it is. Rather than throwing money into space and hoping it works, digital recruiting will show you exactly what it costs to recruit a new employee. Then, moving forward, it’s just a math problem. If one successful recruit that joins the force costs X and we need 120, it will cost X*120. It solves the long-term solutions and helps you get the political approval and funding to solve the problem permanently. It is also much more cost-effective than what you spend on overtime.

Digital recruiting is a very complex and extensive recruiting program where we create effective messaging to target your demographic (Gen Z and millennials), and we then place that message everywhere they are in an omnichannel strategy. Social media ads, internet search ads, video game ads, and every internet source they consume. It’s also about artificial intelligence and personalized messaging automation that dramatically increases your communication and touch points with the candidate. Digital recruiting is a very sophisticated, highly effective target isolation and capture formula that’s proven and works. When you see behind the curtain, what can be done with our technology is incredible. It’s also the future of fire department recruiting.

The digital messaging program uses highly sophisticated computer software that takes time to gather the information it needs through successful recruiting. It learns what works and what does not, and then it improves. This takes some time to get it tuned into an exact system. We also build teams that are fully dedicated to your department. In the beginning, the team is more extensive. As the system learns and becomes highly effective, we drop team members off until you have a highly functioning and efficient recruiting system. Due to these factors, we do require a contract. We have a significant upfront cost in getting your recruiting system built. But in 6-9 months, you will begin to experience the power and efficiency of the system.

We partner with you to create a highly effective digital fire department recruiting system. We build teams on our end, and we help you build teams on your end. We become an integral part of your recruiting efforts with almost daily communication. We know that the world of public safety is small and that our long-term success depends on your highly effective digital recruiting. Chiefs and directors across the US talk, and we always want it to be about how good we are performing, not that we let you down. We will give you 100% every time.

The first step is to schedule a Zoom and let us introduce ourselves so we can get to know you and your needs a little better. We are not always the best fit; we will let you know if that is the case. It takes commitment and investment to make digital recruiting successful. Not all fire departments have both. During Zoom, if we feel it’s a good fit and we can add value to your process, we will put together a proposal and then reach back out to schedule a time to present it. Sometimes, it’s over Zoom; some elected officials want to see it in person. We can do either.