Job applications at law enforcement agencies are plummeting nationwide:
Seattle: down nearly 50%
Nashville: down 64%
Even the FBI: down 39%
New Mexico State Police: up 75%
How did Captain Jesse Williams, in charge of recruiting for the New Mexico State Police (NMSP) make that happen? By choosing to do something different. Seeing the national trends and their own challenges within their agency, Captain Williams knew that it was going to take innovation to solve this problem. Law enforcement agencies don’t have large marketing budgets for recruiting. Instead, you have to be efficient and know where to make the right investment.
The first step is to get in front of the right audience. People just don’t read as much anymore, and when your target audience are millennials, it’s all about video. We used Facebook and Instagram for demographic and geographic targeting, reaching several hundred thousand prospects per month.
Next step? Taking them to www.joinnmsp.com a video-driven tour through their career options with the NMSP, including aircraft, search & recovery, K9, bomb squad and CSI. Explaining the full compensation, including benefits, and lifetime pension really changes perspectives on the dollars and cents of this career choice.
Captain Jesse Williams leads their recruiting effort: “We have to think outside the box, we have to do things differently. Old approaches we were using simply weren’t working, and a big part of that, a huge part of that, which boomtime has gotten really good at, is telling the story, and engaging people throughout the application process.”
The results for the NMSP site were so amazing, that they were featured for their recruiting efforts in the January/February issue of Officer.com
The New Mexico State Police uses targeted marketing to reach out to potential candidates. The agency utilizes video, imagery and content to show recruits what a life as a NMSP officer looks like.
Do you have a tough audience that you need to get your message through to? Email me at ceo@boomtime.com or call our team at (866) 305-5064.
All the best,
Bill Bice
CEO
