Hire new Firefighters-Human Resources

You are the newly appointed director of human resource management for the fire department of a city in the northeastern United States. Your organization has struggled to hire new firefighters for some time. Your predecessor attempted to increase recruitment and selection of new firefighters by implementing an employee referral plan. However, the number of new hires through referrals has fallen short of hiring goals. The need for firefighters intensified when your city’s newly elected mayor promised to combat wildfires by increasing the number of firefighters in areas with higher wildfire risk. The fire department has met the need for increased staff by assigning existing firefighters the additional hours and paying overtime wages. As the number of hours worked and overtime payments increased over time, this practice—originally intended to be a short-term remedy—attracted unwanted attention.

A front-page article in your city’s newspaper has revealed that three firefighters earned higher annual salaries than the mayor, due to excessive overtime. Stung and embarrassed by this disclosure, the mayor fired your predecessor and put you in his place. Both the mayor and your boss have given orders to “reduce overtime by hiring new firefighters immediately!” This mandate requires you to plan and implement new strategies to hire 25 new firefighters.

Fortunately, the former director of human resources left behind several documents that will help you perform these tasks. Refer to the following documents in the “Supporting Documents” section as directed when you perform the requirements below: (1) “Memo on Proposed Employee Referral Plan,” (2) “Job Description of City Firefighters,” and (3) “Data on Recruitment Sources and Methods.”