With the first intake of 2017 now finalised, Northshore SES is full to the brim, with volunteer levels once again at capacity.
Local Manager Northshore SES Nick Elliott said that the 13 new recruits had successfully made it through the rigorous three stage selection process specifically engineered to minimise the number of members that call it quits early in their SES career. “We are thrilled to welcome our newest recruits to the Northshore family. Our information night is brutally honest, and we paint a very clear, some may say confronting, picture of the two essential elements of life as a volunteer @ Northshore, being what we expect of our members combined with what they can expect of us”.
Nick added “Our goal is to achieve a 100% completion rate of every member who starts our 5 week induction course. A new member dropping out after only a few weeks suggests that either we have not been clear in the story that we have ‘sold’, or alternatively that the new member has not fully understood what will be required of them”.
The current selection process at Northshore involves three stages.
- Stage 1 is the most simple, yet history has shown that this is where applicants fall. Nick says “To get through Stage 1, the potential volunteers need to respond to a couple of emails as and when requested”. Unbelievably about 50% of all applications received fail this Stage. “Northshore does not follow up its initial emails. No reply means no invitation to attend the information night”.
- Stage 2 is the requirement to attend the information night, at which new members are briefed on SES life in general, and more specifically on life as a Northshore SES volunteer. “The Northshore unit has very clear and specific attendance requirements” said Nick, “and it is important for everyone that those requirements are clarified and understood before any application forms are filled in”. Any member who is unable to attend the information night will not be offered the opportunity to join Northshore.
- Stage 3 takes the form of the face to face 15 minute interviews, and only those that have accepted the attendance requirements are invited to participate. At the end of the interview night, a review of all the Stage 3 applicants is carried out, and those deemed suitable for membership are offered a place.
The Northshore SES unit congratulates the 13 new members, and wishes each and every one of them a long and happy SES career.