MODERN-DAY MENTORING

摘要

To some firefighters, adding new recruits means more hands to help wash trucks, repack hose, and clean the station bathrooms. To others, it's another opportunity to take willing men and women and transform them into firefighters. This is one more chance to take those willing citizens in your community and teach them the skills that will make them valuable members of a volunteer or paid-on-call organization. To the fire department looking for new and enthusiastic members, a fresh recruit is another likelihood your fire department will move ahead in the future. The expression "You only have one chance to make a first impression" holds as true for young impressionable firefighter recruits as it would for any other professional organization. Keep new recruits cleaning the bathrooms for a long period of time, and you may lose them. We all have to take turns doing station duties, but the new recruit didn't sign up for bathroom detail until the next group of recruits signs on. In some departments, that could take years; your new recruit may be gone by then.