| The workshop, held during FRI, will address diversity recruitment in the face of budget cuts |
Diversity recruitment within the fire service is faced with countervailing forces whose impact will increase over time. As witnessed by the Ricci case, legal issues abound. However, the dramatic reductions in recruitment dollars and staffing are, by far, the greatest impediments to fire departments striving to realize their diversity employment goals.
This prevalence of resource limitations coincided with the arrival of the recession and firmly sets budgetary constraints as the new reality into the foreseeable future. By contrast, the levels of diversity within the U.S. population continue to increase at a rapid rate. The severity of this situation dictates the necessity for viable solutions being available to fire departments. Of critical importance is that new approaches to diversity recruitment must be able to be implemented both immediately and in a highly cost effective manner. These issues are the basis for the Firefighter Diversity Recruitment Council's workshop, "Developing Sustainable and Cost Effective Diversity Recruitment Programs".
During this workshop, we will address a range of inter-related topics, including:
- Why the quest for a diversity of candidates can feel as difficult as finding the proverbial "needle in a haystack"
- The importance of keeping your long-term pipeline of candidates filled
- The importance of expanding your geographical recruitment pool
- Increasing the effectiveness and cost efficiencies of your recruitment efforts through the Firefighter Diversity Recruitment Council and the National Recruit Database
The workshop will be held Friday, 28th August 2009 from 3 to 4:30 pm in room C - 141 during Fire Rescue International (FRI) 2009.