Fast Track Application Process Speeds Hiring.

Today's fierce competitive climate demands that law enforcement agencies move quickly to identify and hire qualified applicants in the shortest time possible. If they do not, quicker, more aggressive employers will hire these scarce qualified applicants and place an even greater burden on departments trying to acquire and retain adequate staffs to serve the communities they protect. What can agencies do to speed the hiring process?

POLK COUNTY'S EXPERIENCE

One of the 10 largest police agencies in Florida, the Polk County Sheriffs Office (PCSO) employs 1,430 full-time employees. Sworn officers comprise 36.2 percent of the total; detention officers represent 29.8 percent; and nonofficer support, or civilian, employees make up the remaining 34 percent. [2]

Polk County is located in central Florida about midway between the metropolitan areas of Tampa and Orlando. Better starting salaries in those areas entice many PCSO officer applicants, as well as current sworn personnel attracted to the higher wages. Compounding this difficulty, large corporations in the area often lure civilian employees, adversely impacting PCSO's efforts to attract and retain 911 operators, computer programmers, clerical workers, and other support personnel. Such circumstances contributed to the agency's 9.5 percent annual attrition rate in 1999.

Besides offering higher salaries, private sector employers can make job offers to applicants in a much shorter time than law enforcement agencies, sometimes hiring applicants the day that they apply. Such speed is possible because the employers usually do not require extensive background investigations, nor do they normally use polygraph examinations or other assessment tools essential to the law enforcement hiring process. Moreover, Polk County, with a population rapidly approaching one-half million, faces its lowest unemployment rates in history, averaging less than 5 percent annually. While this represents a fortunate economic reversal, it further reduces the shrinking pool of qualified applicants seeking careers in law enforcement.

Examining the Problem

PCSO began the year 2000 with the challenge of fully staffing a new detention facility, designed to hold over 1,000 individuals, while dealing with normal attrition and lengthy applicant processing times. To obtain sufficient personnel to meet these needs, PCSO's Human Resources Division calculated that it must hire 304 applicants during the fiscal year. Because only about 24 percent of applicants succeed in gaining employment, the division estimated that this hiring goal would require processing more than 1,400 applications. The division based this figure on previous experience. For example, during fiscal year 1998-99, the division received 612 applications. Of this total, 24.3 percent of the candidates applied for civilian positions, 43.1 percent for officer positions, and 32.5 percent for detention officer positions.

Individuals seeking these positions submitted applications by a variety of methods. Some brought their applications in person; some had friends, relatives, or agency members submit them; and others sent the material through the mail or via the agency's Web site. Many of these applications arrived without the required documentation or complete information. This caused the agency to make time-consuming additional contacts with applicants prior to processing the application or resulted in the application remaining dormant while awaiting further action, sometimes for months.

Once the agency obtained all of the required information, it conducted a full background investigation, which included checking police records and verifying employment references, prior to conducting an oral interview. PCSO then issued a conditional offer of employment to those applicants completing this stage of the hiring process.

Following the conditional offer, applicants for support positions had to undergo a polygraph examination and urinalysis prior to hiring. In addition to these preemployment requirements, officer and detention officer applicants also had to pass a physical examination, physical agility test, and psychological evaluation.

Finding the Solution

Recognizing its processing times as unacceptable, the agency enlisted the Graduate Studies Division of the University of South Florida in Tampa to analyze its application and hiring procedure. A review of 20 deputy sheriff applications processed during the first 6, months of the 1998-99 fiscal year revealed that the average processing time took more than 256 days. An analysis of 12 detention officer applications showed an average of 200 days to hire. The fastest processing time stood at 72 days, while the most lengthy took 367 days. Scheduling a personal interview involved the longest waiting time for applicants.

Twenty civilian applications processed during the same period required an average of 85 days from the submission of the application to the hiring date. The shorter processing time reflected the fewer tests (psychological, physical, and physical agility examinations) required of nonofficer applicants.

Later that fiscal year, PCSO analyzed 91 applicants hired during a 6-month period. An average of 62 days elapsed from the time of application until the individuals joined the agency. Hiring an officer required an average of 72 days. Longer times often were required if difficulties arose with completing the background investigation or if the applicant did not complete final testing in a timely manner.

Alarmingly, the agency discovered that 24.2 percent of its total applicants withdrew from the process prior to PCSO making a hiring decision. Presumably, these applicants received offers of other employment opportunities prior to completion of the PCSO's lengthy application process. The agency hired only 18.2 percent of officer applicants, while it employed 24.3 percent of the total applicants. Clearly, PCSO needed to overhaul its application and hiring process, Consequently, in January 2000, the agency implemented its Fast Track Hiring Process and established ambitious goals to make a hiring decision within an average of 30 working days after receiving an application.

Implementing Fast Track

The first step in implementing the Fast Track process involved accepting only complete applications submitted personally by the applicant directly to the PCSO's Human Resources Division. [3] If an applicant submits an incomplete application, human resources personnel instruct the individual to complete the application, then telephone them for an interview appointment. The in-person requirement, even for applicants from, another state, initially raised the objection of being less "customer friendly." However, the sheriff felt that the new process actually would prove more customer friendly by enabling PCSO personnel to interview candidates the same day that they submit applications and inform them immediately of their eligibility for employment.

Once applicants submit a completed application to the Human Resources Division, a staffing specialist immediately completes preliminary qualifying checks while the applicant waits. Preliminary checks include driving, credit, and criminal histories, all conducted electronically. Applicants not meeting established standards receive immediate notification.

Applicants who meet the hiring standards on these preliminary checks are interviewed during their initial visit by a ranking officer or by a civilian supervisor if applying for a support position. PCSO initiated this step because the University of South Florida study reported long delays in the amount of time required for the agency to complete preliminary and background investigations prior to interviewing applicants. The study further revealed that such delays probably contributed greatly to the loss of nearly 25 percent of applicants who withdrew from the process prior to being hired.

The Human Resources director schedules ranking officers to interview applicants on a rotating basis. These officers receive training in the interview process and use manuals prepared by the Human Resource Division to ensure that they conduct structured, standardized interviews that establish a numerical score. Applicants receiving a passing score on the personal interview receive a letter at that time advising them that they passed the interview. The letter gives applicants tangible evidence that the agency is considering hiring them. It also informs them that they must pass additional qualifying steps, including a background investigation.

PCSO initiates the background investigation immediately. It also limits employment references to the past 10 years, unless applicants worked for a criminal justice agency before that time. The agency has found that private sector employers rarely maintain employment records more than 3 years after an employee leaves the company, usually making efforts to obtain references over 10 years old fruitless.

Empowering Human Resources

Upon completion of the background investigation, the Human Resources director reviews the application package for compliance with eligibility requirements, hiring standards, and employment laws. Prior to the Fast Track process, three ranking officers (a captain, major, and colonel) reviewed all applications, which proved time consuming and slowed the approval process unnecessarily.

Elevated to the equivalent rank of a sworn major, the Human Resource director now has the authority to issue a conditional offer of employment, eliminating time-consuming reviews by other command levels. The conditional offer details the final testing requirements. The applicant must complete all final testing within 10 days, or the agency may withdraw the offer.

Decreasing Hiring Time

With the Fast Tack process, the time elapsed from issuance of a conditional offer to final hire has decreased 45 percent. Although the final hiring decision still rests with the commander of the respective department that has the available position, Fast Track has streamlined the initial phases of the application process significantly. For example, an analysis of 697 applications submitted during the first 12 months of the new process revealed an overall decrease of 40 percent in the average number of days required to complete the procedure. Specifically, officer applications decreased 17 percent, from 72 to 60 days; detention officer applications declined 37 percent, from 60 to 38 days; and civilian processing dropped 49 percent, from 49 to 25 days.

Actual completion time of 50 percent of the applicants hired were processed in 30 days or less. Civilian hires, of course, scored the greatest reductions, with 76 percent completed within 30 days. Encouragingly, the agency experienced a 19 percent decrease in the number of applicant withdrawals during the initial 12 months. Moreover, the average number of hires remained steady at 24.2 percent, indicating that hiring standards have not suffered with a speedier process.

CONCLUSION

To remain competitive in the recruiting market for qualified employees, law enforcement agencies must develop new ways to speed the hiring process. Failure to do so will result in the law enforcement profession losing highly skilled potential employees to other occupations.

In the past 2 years, the Polk County, Florida, Sheriffs Office realized that time represented its main enemy when hiring both officers and civilians. Since implementing its Fast Track Hiring Process, however, the agency, in only 12 months, decreased application processing times an average of 40 percent. Primarily, the agency accomplished this by streamlining its process, interviewing applicants early, providing applicants with an initial acceptance letter immediately, and reducing processing time. Over time, the Polk County Sheriffs Office expects hiring rates to improve even more as it refines its new hiring method. This will enhance the agency's ability to attract and retain competent, motivated law enforcement employees who can ably serve and protect the citizens of their community.

Mr. Hulsey directs the Human Resources Division of the Polk County, Florida, Sheriff's Office.

Ms. Goodwin serves as a career development specialist with the Polk County, Florida, Sheriff's Office.

Endnotes

(1.) Richard Solie, "The Human Race: Speeding the Hiring Process," APC0911 Magazine, July 2000, 20-24.

(2.) Due to rounding, some percentages in this article may not total 100 percent.

(3.) According to the University of South Florida analysis of the agency's hiring process, the Human Resources Division should not track applicant processing time until it receives all of the required documentation to complete the application. Incomplete applications extend the time it takes to complete the selection process, making the hiring process appear less efficient.