It’s That Time of Year…Again!
September 6, 2011
By: Nick Bailey
FDLiveIn
It’s that time of the year for live-in programs across the country! Veteran students are gearing up for another semester while young, wide-eyed freshmen are enjoying brand new experiences every day. This is a time of the year for departments with live-in programs to seize the day and get new live-ins off on the right foot.
Some of the most successful live-in programs from across the country bring in most of their live-ins on a semester basis, sticking to the school calendar for recruitment. The recruitment process itself is year around, however many have found it very efficient to move-in their new live-ins just before each college semester begins. It is a process that must be planned with great detail and thought, and should be tweaked from year-to-year based on lessons learned and your previous years’ successes and shortfalls.
If you want new live-ins for winter and fall 2012, your recruitment and planning must start now! Getting the word out about your program now will give current high school seniors a chance to learn about the opportunity and plan their transition from high school to college and into your department’s live-in program. Encourage potential live-ins to visit your department this school year to get accustomed to the environment and meet the members of your department. Allowing them to spend a few days with your current live-ins will increase their comfort level and decide NOW whether a live-in program is right for them. You have to understand that going off to college, away from home is stressful for most young people. Therefore, if you have them accustomed to your fire house before they deal with the new school environment, it will make the transition that much more successful for them and your department.
Encourage potential live-ins to bring their parents. Many families take college tours the year before heading off to school. Take advantage of the family being in the area and invite them to visit the firehouse, learn about where their child will be living, working, and studying. Have them stay for dinner with the crews and ride along if possible. This will again make everyone involved more comfortable and this major transition in the young live-ins’ life that much more successful.
So you have a fresh batch of new live-ins for the fall semester, “Now what do I do with them?” There are some very simple, subtle measures that you and your department can take that will define the rest of that new live-in’s career. First and foremost you must be their superior and friend at the same time. They must know that you expect them to wash the dishes, train, clean and perform fire house duties with efficiency and regularity; on the other hand it is important that they feel comfortable coming to you for your advice or with a question. And the questions will be plentiful; everything from “How much laundry detergent do I put in here?” to “Is this the correct way to pack this hoseline?” to “Does this chicken look cooked?”. As a leader in a live-in program you become their operational leader and their parent away from home. They will look to you for everything so it is important that you make yourself available to them to answer those serious, and not-so-serious questions about the fire service and life in general.
Many departments bring in their new live-ins several weeks before college classes begin and there are many benefits to this practice. We do not want to overwhelm them by piling on responsibilities such as moving to a new home, starting college classes, living in a new area, training with your department and getting their school work completed all at the same time. We all know that training, education and learning in the fire service never ends, however it is wise to bring your live-ins in early to get them accustomed to the firehouse and give them the basic training required to operate as a member of your crew.
Hopefully this will get you thinking about how you will work with your new live-ins to make them the most successful and productive members of your department that they can possibly be. In upcoming articles we will discuss your new live-ins in much more detail as well as going forward during the semester once the classes are in full swing when live-ins are busier than ever. What does your department do to make the transition for new live-ins successful? What do you do when they arrive so that they can hit the ground running as a brand new college student and live-in firefighter?
Nick Bailey is a live-in Sergeant with the Hyattsville Volunteer Fire Department in Hyattsville, MD and Co-Founder of FDLiveIn.com.
You can follow Nick on Twitter @nmbailey1 and on Facebook: facebook.com/baileynick
