Recruitment Strategies to Increase Minority Representation in the Fire Department Having been presented with a golden opportunity to recruit approximately 1000 firefighters, the Fire Commission is bound improve its performance significantly. However, past recruitment practices cannot be applied this time round due to the commission's resolve to have a fire department that more accurately reflects the population it serves. Past recruitment practices used by the fire department were discouraging. Apart from overreliance on word of mouth advertisement to source for recruits, service exams were often repeated yearly and the recruits would anticipate the questions that could be asked. Moreover, essay exams posed to the fire fighters were not well thought out and they were often too complicated for the minorities to comprehend -- largely because they were often educated in under resourced schools. According to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, EEOC (2015), employment practices that may not have discriminatory intent but still have a disproportionate adverse impact on protected classes of individuals are classified as having a disparate impact and hence prohibited by law.

Problem analysis

1. Poor recruitment techniques. The recruitment campaigns and exams used before cannot be used this year. This is because the result is an overwhelmingly white and male dominated staff that does not do much for the reputation of the company. New recruitment campaigns have to be applied and better entrance exams designed.

2. Gender inequality. While other similarly sized cities have a large number of female fire fighters, there lacks female representation among firefighters in the city. The women...

Minority representation. In order to achieve the objective of hiring 30% of applicants from minority communities, new measures to increase minority representation are required. Furthermore, in case the recommended strategies still give the same outcome and minorities are not represented, there still needs to be evidence to defend the outcome.
Recommendations

1. Increase advertisement techniques: Increase the minority representation. To reach the target population, the organizations needs to be proactive in recruiting candidates (American Physical Society, 2015). The Commission should go to the areas where minority applicants reside and find the talents they need. The recruitment campaigns should reach historically Hispanic and African-American neighborhoods, colleges and Universities. Rather than relying on word of mouth advertisements; they should use social networks, publications, professional organizations, television and radio stations and job fairs.

2. Use a new recruitment campaign: Reach the desired target applicants. The committee tasked with the responsibility of overseeing the recruitment process should have minority representation. The members should be from diverse backgrounds, which will increase their appreciation of the diverse talents and skills that the Hispanics, African-Americans and females bring to the organization. All forms of advertisements used should include a clause that encourages female and minority applicants to apply. The advertisement should also educate the public on the importance of applying for such vacancies and the contribution they…