Police Recruiting Mindset: Focuses for More Testing Participants!

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Dreaming of an abundance of applicants showing up at your next police testing event just like it used to be?  Imagine how great that would feel.  How excited you would be.  Now, snap out of it and let’s get to work on making it happen... keep reading! 👀

Hey everyone, it’s Tom Sye your Police Marketing FTO and this week, let’s talk about police testing and how you can actually get people to start showing up for yours.  🙌

This has been a big issue for a few years now and agencies all around the country are struggling with testing participation numbers as they have dropped dramatically since 2016...but not all is lost...I’ve got the three areas you need to focus on to get people interested, applying, and showing up for your next police testing! 🏃‍♂️🏃‍♀️

Ok, first area... 👇

Mindset

If you’ve followed me for any amount of time this one should be of no surprise to you...mindset is such a critical area in police recruiting and it is one of the most difficult things to master...especially as the pressure of vacancies continues to mount and mount and eyeballs are looking at you to try and figure out where all the applicants are. 😣 

It’s really easy to jump off the belief highway and take a turn towards negative town, but just remember, as the saying goes, whether you think you can or you can’t...you’re right!  And that mindset will dictate exactly where your police recruiting is headed. 🧠

Look, I’m going to give you a little love shove here...but remember...I want to see you do well and succeed... 🙏

👉 You have to forget about how many people used to apply and show up in 2016.  Stop thinking about how you never had to do anything to recruit people in the past, how your city or your staff doesn’t support you, or why nobody wants to do this job anymore. 🛑

All of those things, whether true or not, are doing nothing but throwing a giant roadblock in front of you that is stopping you from seeing the applicants who do want to work for you.  Believe it or not...they still exist.  Yes, even in the places you read about or see on tv and say to yourself, ‘why would anyone want to work there’. 🤯

Listen, if you don’t believe you can, you never will...end of story.  And that’s on you...no one else.  Forget about the hurdles you will face, the procedures you must adhere to, or how hard it’s going to be.  Trust me, your potential applicants feel that from you...negativity is both a powerful beacon and a tremendous repellant.  💯

Stay positive and constantly remind yourself, just like the teach in the academy, that no matter what appears before you, you’re going to win. 🏆 

Next...

Make it easy

Before you lose your mind, no, I’m not suggesting lowering standards or giving free passes here...what I am saying however, is you have to make it easy for people to test with you.  😀

It’s been a long-standing philosophy in the police world that if an applicant wants a job, they should do anything they have to, to get it.  That was fine in the 90s or 2000’s...but it’s just not practical anymore. 🤷‍♂️

People are paying insane amounts in rent, gas, food, and other living expenses these days and are trying to get by with jobs that won’t even give them forty hours a week as companies try to slash their bottom line on full-time benefits to stay afloat. 😵

So, while yes, our career and the pay and benefits it provides would greatly improve a lot of people’s situations, they simply can’t chance losing their only source of income right now by missing multiple days of work to complete our long and tedious testing and background process. ❌❌❌

If you want more people showing up, you have to try and consolidate things as much as possible.  🤏

All in one day testing where an applicant can complete all of the initial steps of your process is a fantastic start.  This allows people to only have to miss one day of work to be able to complete a ton of things for you and will boost your overall attendance from start to finish.  Don’t worry about the fatigue of a long day... your applicants will get through it and be just fine. 👍

Another awesome way to make things easy is to offer more opportunities to test with your agency.  If you’re still opening, closing, and then opening again three months later you’re missing a lot of applicants along the way and should switch to an at least once a month testing date immediately. 📅

Again, we get stuck on this thought that if people want a job, they’ll come to us on our time.  That’s just not how recruiting works anymore.  People make decisions when they’re ready...and if that decision happens when you’re not accepting applications or have a testing date available, I guarantee you another agency does and they’re going to hire them. 🤲

And the third area...

Have a police recruiting plan

The Kansas City Chiefs aren’t back-to-back Super Bowl champions because they simply showed up and somehow won.  They had a plan.  They had a draft plan, a free agency plan, a training camp plan, and a game plan, which constantly evolved, each and every week. ✔️✔️✔️

Much in the same way, your agency can’t just open up and all of a sudden have a bunch of people at testing.  Success is not an accident.  Even if you have the luxury of a Patrick Mahomes or Taylor Swift cheering for you, you still have to do things on purpose to win. 🚀    

Plan out your entire testing calendar for the whole year.  Determine when applications will open, when they’ll close, and what date, time, and location your testing will be for each and every month. 📆

This way, when someone says sorry, something came up and they can’t make it this month, you can win them back by providing the exact next testing date, and not lose them with a I don’t know we’ll open, probably in a few months or so. 🎯

The same thing goes for getting the word out about testing.  Create a plan for how you’re going to tell everyone about your testing dates.  Where will you be announcing them?  How often are you going to remind people about it?  What exactly are you going to say when you do make a social media post or an advertisement? 📝

Get super specific with everything here, make changes to what’s not working along the way, and be intentional about filling your police vacancies.  😎

If these three focuses were eye opening for you...my Road to Better Recruiting course is going to be like drinking from a fire hose! 🌊

It’s packed with everything you need to start recruiting like it’s 2024, including how to use my recruiting MAP to get your agency headed in the right direction, how to sift through all of those recruiting solutions companies are pitching you so you can figure out which is right for you, and introduce you to the perfect vehicle that will get you flying down the road to hiring awesome people again. 💪

Join the waitlist at  www.forcopstraining.com/rtbr and I’ll email you as soon as it opens!  📨   

Know someone at another agency who really needs this information too?  Give this newsletter a like or share it with them so they can learn too.  Our profession is a lot stronger, together. 🤝

Have more questions about police recruiting, marketing or anything else you're struggling with? Don't hesitate to reach out...I’m always here to help. ⛑

Until next week my Police Marketing Squad, happy recruiting! 😃

Tom

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👋 I’m Tom Sye, your Police Marketing FTO. I founded ‘For Cops’ Training to teach Police Departments how to attract more qualified candidates through the same tried and tested methods I’ve used for the past ten years at my own department to keep up with turnover and stay ahead of vacancies.

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