Police Recruiting Reality Check: Having Enough Applications!

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Quick question…how many applications is enough to fill your Police Officer vacancies? 🤔

Whatever number that just popped in your head is likely wrong…would you like to me to explain...keep reading! 👀

Hey everyone, it’s Tom Sye your Police Marketing FTO, and this week, we’re talking about Police Officer applications and how many is it that you really need to fill those vacancies of yours. 🙌

Now…what got me thinking about this topic was when I recently saw an agency proclaim on social media that they had to close down their application period after a couple of days of being open because they had an ‘overwhelming response’ to their job posting and now had more than enough applications to carry them through. 🙄

If you’ve ever done this in the past, you already know…unless you’re only looking at a couple of them, you never have enough applications in one round to fill all of your vacancies. 💯

And here’s why…

The police recruiting rule of half. 

The police recruiting rule of half you might ask? Yes…the police recruiting rule of half.  After eleven years in police recruiting I can tell you this about it…this rule is as consistent as the sun coming up every morning, setting every night, and you…having to pay taxes every year.  This thing is solid. 💪

So, what’s the rule?

Glad you asked…the rule of half, which is cleverly named mind you, is exactly that and works like this…

If you have, I don’t know…whatever number…200 applications come in…cut that in half right off the bat.  Yep…what a blow...but half the people who have applied have no intention of ever working for your agency. 🤷‍♂️

Why did they apply then…is the next question you’re going to ask, and I’ll answer it for you.  Because they’re the kind of people who like to apply and have no intention of working for you.  You can beat your head against a wall trying to find a better answer than that or you can just accept this as the reason and never stress about it again. 👍

OK, so you have 100 applications now…that’s still good right?

Well, think again…apply the rule of half to this number and that represents the number of people who will actually show up for your testing.  Just like that {SNAP} you’re at 50.  And what did we learn about those other 50 and why they’re not going to show up?  That’s right…they’re the kind of people who don’t show up for testing.  Don’t fight it, don’t try to figure it out…and you’ll be much happier, trust me. 😉 

After all that, surely, we’re not applying the rule again are we?  

Yeah…we are. ✂️

Out of the 50 who actually show up, only half of those are going to pass everything in your initial testing process leaving you with 25 applicants.  I hate to be the bearer of bad news here…but yep…apply it again because only half of those will make it into your hiring process because of standards, disclosures, and DQ’s elsewhere, leaving you with 12 or 13 on your eligibility list…half of which will actually make it through all the steps leaving you with 6 or 7 potential new hires out of 200 applications. 🤯

The rule of half…not an exact science, there’ll be plus or minus a few either way during each step…but at the end, for your estimations…it’s a consistent as gravity. 👨‍🚀

OK…so how do you use this rule to start looking forward and create a realistic recruitment plan?

Simple…just apply the rule of half to everything in your hiring process and that will give you a great idea of where you’re at and what you need. 💡

So, the next time the boss or somebody over at HR says you can shut down the application period because you have more than enough to cover you…you now know you better keep that thing open and get as many in as you can. 📈 

When some outside company starts telling you they’ll get you this many applicants for this amount of money…you can now realize you only have a legitimate shot at around a quarter of those applicants for the same amount of money. 💸

And now…when you start feeling bad after hearing some other agency bragging about how many applicants they’ve been getting…you can rest easy knowing how many they’re actually hiring. 😌

Now…wanna know how to start getting better applicants into your hiring process…you know the ones that will be on the plus side of the rule of half and will actually show up and make it through? 🙋‍♂️🙋‍♀️

My Road to Better Recruiting online training course is open right now and will teach you the exact strategies I’ve used at my own agency for the past decade plus to attract, retain, and move applicants through the Police Officer hiring process so you can keep up with vacancies and ahead of retirements. 🚀 

Check it out now on my website by visiting forcopstraining.com/rtbr. 

Know someone in recruiting who’s been overestimating their applications?  Share this newsletter with them so they can learn too.  It’s going to take all of us, working together, to change the future of police recruiting. 🤝

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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