Recruitment, Staffing, and Retention Strategies for the Rosemount Fire Department

Abstract

This project was completed as part of a year-long partnership between the City of Rosemount and the University of Minnesota’s Resilient Communities Project (http://www.rcp.umn.edu). With an all-volunteer Fire Department, daytime staffing of fire responders—when most residents are at jobs outside of the community—has regularly posed a challenge for Rosemount. The goal of this project was to identify areas for growth in the recruitment and retention of firefighters available during work-week hours. In collaboration with city project lead Rick Schroeder, Fire Chief for the City of Rosemount, a team of students in PSY 5707: Personnel Psychology examined national, statewide, and local volunteer fire departments to identify strategies for more successfully attracting, recruiting, and retaining firefighters. A final report and poster from the project are available.