Help Bring the Best to the PCSO

There’s a part of almost every Pinellas County Sheriff’s Office (PCSO) position’s job description that I bet a lot of members never noticed. Under Essential Functions and Responsibilities it includes: participates in sheriff’s office recruitment and community relations activities as directed. In short, bringing the best people into our agency is an opportunity for everyone.

In addition to those unintentional recruiting efforts, there’s also the recruiting that happens whenever a member is out in public. “Whether in uniform or their star Oxford or polo, they’re recruiting. They’re a walking billboard.” If members look professional and are satisfied with their jobs, it will show. “You can tell a happy person, and you can imagine what that culture looks like within their agency.”

Members can also take a more proactive role in recruiting. When Human Resources has hiring events their bureau is usually not the only one representing the agency. They’ll also bring out members from the areas that they’re hiring in to present a positive example and help answer questions. Members are encouraged to participate in these hiring events as needed.

“We’ve noticed that we’ve had quite a downtick in interested applicants throughout the agency for all of our positions, both civilian and certified,” said Human Resources Manager Sue Keim. There’s no firm answer about why, but it could have to do with the overall climate in which law enforcement is under intense scrutiny. “We know that this agency consistently has had good community support. Our citizens are very proud of us. So we don’t think that it’s the immediate community, but that law enforcement in general has a bit of an image problem.”

Another obstacle is that attitudes about work changed during the pandemic. “Onsite work has become a deterrent to some individuals,” Keim said. No positions at the PCSO are work from home, and people who have gotten used to a workday of commuting from their kitchen to their living room in pajamas aren’t always willing to trade that for an office environment. “But there are also plenty of people who have been working remotely and are now excited about coming back into an office because they miss that inperson interaction.”

“It’s the responsibility of all agency members to proactively recruit for the agency,” Keim said, but that recruiting effort can be either direct or indirect. Members can promote the agency simply from the way they talk about it. “If I’m talking to a neighbor after work and they ask me how my day was and I say it was fantastic, I really love working there, I have great leadership from the top down… they hear that and think PCSO is a good place to work. They may not think anything more of it right then but later when their niece graduates from college and they remember that casual conversation they might recommend the PCSO.”

Finding the best employees isn’t just good for the agency, it’s good for the members, too. We all know our jobs are easier and more pleasant with good coworkers around us, but there’s a more concrete benefit as well. No matter how much you love working here, a day off is always appreciated, and you might get one if you refer a new hire. “On the application there’s a place for them to indicate how they found out about us,” Keim said. “One of those areas they can check is member referral. If the applicant writes the name of the member who referred them –and gets hired and stays for 90 days – the referring member receives a day off.”

If you know someone who might be a good fit, encourage them to contact Human Resources at employment@pcsonet.com or 582-6208 to find out more about the position beyond what you’d read in the job description.