The under representation of women and minority groups within corporate America is mirrored within the fire service. While great strides are being made, a continued and focused effort must continue.
Against this backdrop, Firefighter’s ABCs formed the Firefighter Diversity Recruitment Council. We firmly believe that full representation of all societal segments, within the fire service, can and will be achieved. However, solutions will require heavy doses of creativity, ingenuity, new strategic initiatives and, broad alliances to offset the many challenges that abound.
We all recognize that the desire to become a firefighter is typically incubated at a relatively early age, especially when a young person relates to the uniformed person as a role model. However, this is less prevalent among minorities and women who might harbor the attitude of “If I don’t see any that look like me, then it’s probably not meant to be.”
Added to this dilemma is the cost of Emergency Medical and other training requirements for prospects that typically come from lower income households. There is also the need to earn an income throughout the lengthy process of getting hired for one of the few available positions. Lastly, the education disparity is reflected in lower high school test scores.
These issues, among others, represent significant impediments among fire departments seeking ample numbers of diverse recruits for current openings. The situation can literally seem like finding “the needle in a haystack”. Added to this is the need to build a viable pipeline of qualified and motivated candidates for recruitment in future years.
We believe that by coupling the Firefighter Diversity Recruitment Council with the National Recruit Database along and our 100% Free Firefighter’s ABCs Online Internship Program provides a strong foundation to successfully address the pressing requirement for fuller diversity within the fire service. This will be accomplished through the Council’s combination of “Best Practices”, collaboration and cooperative efforts among fire departments nation-wide.
Learn More: firefightersabcs.com/candidate
