My department recently saw the retirement of two chief officers, one the department's sense of humor supervising the logistics division and the other the logic behind our computer programs and databases.

While neither directly supervised EMS or served as ALS providers, their contributions to help the organization deliver EMS did affect our community. The logistics chief provided the department with the some of the finest equipment and apparatus. That chief had mentored many of the student assistants and Fire Explorers now waiting to enter paramedic school. The special operations chief a was key figure in implementing and maintaining our records-management system and computer staffing programs.

As more experienced EMS professionals begin to retire rather than risk a change in the system that decreases the rewards for years of hard work. We are about to lose a generation that contains a wealth of knowledge to retirement.

The same day the department was giving them a send off I was conducting a career day at the local community college for the fire technology program, speaking to six classes of high school students about a choosing a career as a firefighter or paramedic. Only two out of 30 or so students in each class expressed an interest in becoming paramedics. A few more raised their hands to be firefighters, yet when asked if they would be interested in going to paramedic school they declined. Few of the minorities and even fewer female students expressed interest in a career in fire or EMS.

What struck me as important about the day's events was the contrast between the two chiefs we were losing that day and those who may be replacing them, a difference reinforced when our organization received only one or two applications for the vacant chief positions. Considering the demands about to be placed on EMS by Baby Boomers, the need for paramedics is about to increase dramatically. Two students from each class won't meet the demands of the nation's EMS programs. Just increasing your department's visibility among high school and college students won't be enough.

Many fire chiefs have assumed that a public service job and a steady paycheck will always bring prospective employees to the fire service. But recruiting problems and the need for filling positions with talented, bright and caring people are now on the radar. Many departments are mandating new hires go to paramedic school as a condition of their employment. Often this is planting the seed of mediocrity in their organizations, setting employees up for failure in a position for which they may not want the responsibility. Throwing money at that problem has not made an impact, as money is always a short-term motivator for employees. Having a say over working conditions and feeling like part of the team is what attracts and keeps a motivated employee.

Most successful athletic teams maintain positions often three deep. Those teams are prepared for contingencies or the loss of a key player with an injury at any time. A system to foster new recruits, for example a baseball farm club, provides a constant pipeline of players to ensure teams can maintain sufficient numbers to compete.

EMS programs don't have similar systems to ensure an equal number of people have the knowledge, skills and background to hit the ground running and build on capabilities. It should be no surprise that we see government struggle to meet the needs of the masses or improve on the organization because we spend too much time reinventing the system instead of developing people. It's now more important than ever for fire and EMS chiefs to amplify their recruitment, marketing and mentoring efforts for the brightest students.

Timing is everything. As with most sports and corporate recruiting, you should begin your efforts before the end of the semester. It's important to visit paramedic schools and prospective students before they graduate. One key contact person needs to establish a relationship with EMS educators in the region. Those targeted schools or institutions might be schools that have produced excellent students for your organization, or they may be in economically depressed areas where retraining could draw a person with excellent skills into the profession. Often the relationship between the person recruiting for the fire or EMS organization and the education program coordinator is key to successfully recruiting new employees.

Recruiting has in large part gone high-tech with résumés being screened by impersonal Web sites that attempt to lure new paramedics to their locations. While such methods are cheaper, they are no substitute for a face-to-face conversation with a new paramedic.

As education programs shift to online and distance-education platforms, the opportunities for students to participate in team or group activities will decrease. To counter that trend, many colleges encourage or require community service hours, putting the humanities back into education. If your local paramedic school is accredited by the Commission on Accreditation of Allied Health Education Programs, its students are required to perform a number of community service hours. Institutions can be as creative as they want with those hours, and ideally they target the experience to connect with the community to reinforce the benefits of public service.

In the past, agencies have spent a lot of time and money on booths at national conferences, but those who attend the conferences see a new face there every time. The fire service has not quite reached the tipping point yet for recruiting to be a widespread activity. A few agencies see recruitment as a continuous effort always looking for the best and brightest. Much of the effort to recruit an employee is about personal relationships, as we saw portrayed in Jerry Maguire. More recently a TV show called Love Monkey demonstrated in just two short episodes exceptional recruiting techniques. The writers and lead actor managed to portray the art of recruiting by making a connection with one person and seeing the magic of creating relationships between colleague and how that can build an organization.

But the cornerstone to successful recruiting really is the recruiter. New paramedics don't want to talk to human resources representatives or people not actually out where the action is. Technical questions can never be fielded fully by human resources about the medicine or the operation. The agency's recruiter has to be someone willing and able to talk to anyone, regardless of his or her potential of come to the organization. A patron at a conference booth not interested or qualified to be at your organization may have a friend or students who are looking for employment choices.

Some standard techniques are necessary to carry out effective recruiting. A well-designed display highlighting the best of your department with a video or multimedia presentation featuring popular music and frequent graphic changes can be effective in public venues. An opportunity to get to know the organization by visiting stations and riding along can be an effective tool. Lastly, hosting a small regional conference can attract potential recruits to your location. This gives people a chance to see your commitment to education and patient care. A lot of young paramedics are interested in organizations that will help them build on their skills and abilities.

Fire and EMS chiefs also need to become more visible as public service leaders who praise the benefits of service to the community with a particular emphasis on becoming a paramedic.

This generation of new paramedics will have more employment opportunities than any time in history. National shortages of health-care professionals will make the work in EMS more difficult and more demanding. Employers who don't emphasize or convey a message that a paramedic will be part of a team belonging to a community that will have his or her back will continue to search for good employees. The shifting demographics will make paramedics a premium for quite some time in the future.

Fire and EMS chiefs need to start looking at the depth of their bench and think ahead.

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Bruce Evans is the fire science program coordinator at the Community College of Southern Nevada as well as an adjunct faculty member for the National Fire Academy's EMS and injury prevention courses. A captain at the Henderson (Nev.) Fire Department, he has an associate's degree in fire management and a master's degree in public administration.