How A Sheriff’s Office Tripled Applications With Smart Digital Recruiting

Want to see what happens when a sheriff’s office treats hiring like a system instead of a guessing game? We bring on Sergeant Seth Graham of the Larimer County Sheriff’s Office to break down how he ditched low-yield job fairs, met candidates where they live (on their phones), and built a scalable pipeline that doubled, then tripled, applications without bloated budgets or gimmicks.

Seth walks us through the core moves: using targeted social media to flood the top of the funnel at a fraction of the usual cost, then installing a smart applicant tracking system to bring order to the chaos. Buckets, tags, and bulk texting keep conversations moving, while short, human messages outperform emails and cold calls. A simple “Happy Fourth of July” text to 2,000 prospects reactivated interest and signaled care in a noisy market where most agencies go silent for weeks.

Quality rose as volume grew because the process filtered early. An asynchronous one-way video interview, a concise background questionnaire, and quick records checks screened for honesty and commitment before the time-intensive steps. The goal wasn’t perfect answers—it was to set culture from minute one and see who leans in. That shift cut downstream failures, trimmed timelines to roughly three months, and freed resources to focus on the right candidates.

We also dig into cadence and tone. Automation fires the first response, but a personal text within 24 to 48 hours builds trust. Seth touches every milestone—apply, interview, oral board, and beyond—so candidates never wonder where they stand. Think collegiate sports recruiting: a steady guide, not a distant gatekeeper. The result? Record hires, record classes, and a realistic path toward full staffing as retention stabilizes.

If you care about police recruiting, public safety staffing, or modern hiring strategy, this conversation delivers a clear playbook: use social media for reach, an ATS for control, text for engagement, and early screens for quality. Subscribe, share this with a colleague who runs hiring, and leave a review with the one tactic you’ll test next.

Safeguard Recruiting is owned and operated by first responders, and it is a public safety recruiting firm with a proven recruiting system that staffs agencies across the country. 

Reach out today for a free consultation and learn about our guarantee that will increase the number of candidates for your agency. 

Transcript

Opening And Guest Tease

Travis Yates 0:00

Welcome back to the show. Hope everybody enjoyed their Thanksgiving break. We're not taking a break, Doug. We're back at it, man. How was your holidays?

Doug Larsen 0:09

Excellent. It was great spending time with the family and having a little time off.

Travis Yates 0:13

Yeah, man. You know, this time of year is a great time of year, but man, recruiting never stops 24-7. And that's why I think this week you're gonna love our guests. The audience out there, you're gonna be just infatuated with what Sergeant Seth Graham with the Laramore County Sheriff's Department has done with recruiting. Uh, what an incredible, uh, motivating figure when it comes to recruiting. I think there's something we can all learn from, Doug. What was your take when you listened to it?

Doug Larsen 0:42

Yeah, Seth and his crew, I mean, they are really all-stars in the recruiting world. They they are amazing communicators and they get the job done with whenever somebody shows interest in their department, they're right on communicating with them. And man, I wish we could clone those guys. They're just really good. They're that good.

Why Recruiting Now Demands New Tactics

Travis Yates 1:03

Well, I'm gonna warn you that are listening and watching, and if you're gonna go further in this episode, get your notepad out. Seth Graham is gonna give you the playbook where he will tell you how he went from he doubled his applications within a few months. In a year, he tripled his applications, and his goal now is to go even higher than that. It is a fascinating discussion. We're bringing it to you exclusively. We hope you enjoy it. And without further ado, Sergeant Seth Graham. Well, it's an honor to have uh Larimore County Sergeant Seth Graham on the show today. Uh, he's responsible for recruiting and training, and I'm sure a bunch of other things there at the Sheriff's Department. And Seth and his agency has been with Safeguard Recruiting for quite some time, and uh they were doing a lot of great things where they even partnered with us, but uh it's an honor to watch them uh move through that process and to see the things they're doing. And we thought Seth could offer plenty of help for many of you listening and many of our other clients. So, Seth Graham, how are you doing, sir?

Seth Graham 2:03

I'm doing well, sir. How about you?

Travis Yates 2:05

Good, man. Good. I I think it's always interesting when uh law enforcement officer gets involved in like you are recruiting and training. Most agencies have that because I have a feeling when you started law enforcement 18 years ago, that was probably the farthest thing from your mind, right? I'm gonna be involved in recruiting, involved in training, which is a specialized skill in and of itself. So, when did you get the call that you were gonna do that?

Seth’s Path Into Recruiting

Travis Yates 2:28

Did you sort of fall into that? And so, what was your first thoughts when you thought to yourself, I'm now representing this agency as far as recruiting, I'm responsible for the future of this agency, so to speak. And then, of course, all the other duties you have. What was your thoughts when you first started?

Seth Graham 2:43

Yeah, it was it was actually interesting. I you're you're 100% right. I I never in I never envisioned uh being uh being your recruiter um when I started my career here. And actually uh a few years back, uh it was still not on my uh on my radar uh until um my now boss um she was doing the job and uh she actually recruited me because she got promoted and needed somebody to fill the fill the role. So um she was a good she was a good recruiter, um, ended up recruiting me uh to do the job. And uh I feel very fortunate um that she, you know, she she picked me to do it. And um it's it's an interest, it's a it's an interesting job task and a job role to have, and uh one that uh I really feel now that I'm starting to starting to get my feet underneath of me and really starting to get it figured out. Um and that's why I agreed to come on. Um because initially when you asked me, I said no, uh, because I didn't feel I didn't feel like I had the the the credibility or the numbers to to back up um what it was what it was that I was saying and doing. So uh now that I'm to that spot now, I I feel comfortable doing this, and uh I'm happy to be here with you today.

Travis Yates 4:01

Well, I wish every agency would do what your agency's done, Seth, is they recognize, and maybe it's because your boss used to do a job, but they recognize the absolute importance of this position you're in. I mean, literally, it's the future staffing, the future of your agency, future of safety for the community. Because a lot of agencies they sort of just think of that spot as uh who wants day shift, weekends off, who wants this little admin job. But to do it right, as you know, it's anything but a cushion job. And so, did you have any expectations? Did you even know what you were getting into once you got there?

Seth Graham 4:38

And honestly, uh yeah, I had I guess I had an inkling, but the the the assumptions that I had uh ended up ended up being wrong. Um, you know, I I actually thought that I was gonna end up going,

Job Fairs Fail And Budgets Are Tight

Seth Graham 4:51

you know, running around all these job fairs and and you know, doing this and doing that. And I I found uh throughout time that number one, those things don't work. Um uh because you go to a job fair and you see the same agencies doing the same things over and over again. And if they were, they wouldn't have to show up there over and over and over again. Um, but uh, you know, number two, it's it's a lot of um it's a lot of uh making sure that things are organized and you have a plan and there's a lot of a lot of strategic uh um planning and uh and um uh technical stuff that goes into the thing um that I didn't really anticipate doing. Um, but the person who recruited me to do this job knew that I had those skills, and that's why they recruited me to do it, and thank goodness they were smart enough to know what needed to be done for the job and and got, well, hopefully the right person to do it.

Travis Yates 5:54

Oh man, it's gonna take a while to unpack what you just said. First, you mentioned job fairs, and I think that is the default, right? Because for many, many years that's just what we did, it seemed to work, and this little thing called the internet happened, and new generation of employees happen, and they don't really attend job fairs, maybe the previous generation did. But as you said, agencies are still going to these job fairs, and so I've got to give your agency and your leadership credit, Seth, because you obviously saw firsthand, hey, this doesn't really work. But somebody there must have had an open mind to go, Seth, if that doesn't work, you figure out what does work. Kind of tell us what went down because I would imagine a decade ago, Larimer County went to job fairs and was pretty successful, like every other agency was. But and I'm glad you said job fairs don't work because I say it all the time, and people go, Oh, you're just saying that. No, no, they just don't work, it's just the way it is. I wish they did, it'd be a lot easier for the profession to recruit. Maybe you interact with somebody there, but the the volume of people that you actually need to get good quality hires, they're on they're on this little device we're carrying around, they're on the computer, they're they're involved in doing other things. Uh, did you have any conversations early on when you sort of thought I'm gonna need to be doing these other type things to try to maximize our applications?

Seth Graham 7:06

Uh well, we were for I'm fortunate in in a couple different ways. Uh, number one is is I do have great support um from my leadership. Uh, and then number two, um, we actually we're actually able to secure

Social Media As The Primary Funnel

Seth Graham 7:20

a grant through the state of Colorado. Um and um those grant funds allowed us to try different things. Um, and you know, because uh budgets are tight and and resources are always um, well, I mean, they're always tight. Um, and we have limited resources to do things. So um without the resources and the funding and the support from my um my leadership, I wouldn't have been able to do these things. But since I did have those things, um it allowed me to try some uh try some things that were I don't know, I guess that nobody else was doing uh to see if they worked. And um one of the things that we we really hit upon, um, which is uh which is super important and I think has transformed um our approach, uh, which was uh advertising or not advertising, advertising and marketing is not recruiting, but um recruiting off of social media. Um and you know, you talked about just being able to reach people through this thing right here, um, your phone. Um that's the thing that people interact with more than anything else throughout the day. Um, and you've got to be able to engage them and recruit them through that phone. And social media reaches like 2.5 billion people a month. Um, so it provides the widest reach and also too provides it at a cost point um that uh well it's super attractive. Um you know, you talk about job fairs, um you know, you can spend $250 to sign up for a job fair, uh, and then you can pay your people to go to the job fair, and you know, you can hand out uh swag and stuff like that. Next thing you know, you're into it for a thousand bucks. And for a thousand bucks, maybe you talk to 25 people and maybe you get three or four that are like really interested. Um I can get uh 200 people that are really interested in doing the job for a thousand bucks on social media, and um, you know, uh it's just it's just a math problem. Um, you know, what's what's more what's more cost effective and what's more um what's a better use of my time? Getting getting a hold of a couple hundred people for a thousand bucks or getting hold of 25 people for a thousand bucks, the math. Um, I'm no math major. If I was great at math, I wouldn't be police, but um, you know, that that math I can do, and that math works for me.

Travis Yates 10:00

Yeah, I mean, you said it, Scott. Uh, we don't necessarily have a recruiting crisis, we have

Breaking The Process With Too Many Leads

Travis Yates 10:05

a math problem, right? So if you and we hear this all the time, people go, Oh, we're not getting hot, we're not getting enough applications, we're not getting high enough quality applications. Well, by the way, that's not unique to law enforcement. Every industry out there will has that problem. That's what recruiting individuals like yourself are about. So it's it is a math problem. If you need more applications or you need higher quality people, you need more people coming in, right? That's what you figured out. And like it or not, 85% of every job application is filled out through the telephone, through, through, not through the telephone, through the mobile device. Uh, you know, so people are as long as you keep people on this phone, you keep them engaged on this phone, you're gonna be much more highly successful. And so you sort of kind of jumped ahead and got to where honestly, we're still trying to convince people of. We still run into agencies that say, we want to do this $50,000 recruiting video, and we want to we want to travel the country to the southern part of the United States and hit all these job fairs, and we want to do this. Of course, we're doing the math problem ourselves going. You just you can literally stack your agency up if you just put this in the right direction. And so, how long have you been doing uh the digital recruiting? And I hate the word advertising too because as you know, marketing is a completely different thing than actual recruiting. You can use marketing elements. You guys have a great video on your website. I recommend everybody go see it. We'll give you the website out later. So, yeah, you you guys use marketing elements and you should websites and videos, but you've got to get the people first. And so once you sort of that red that freaking but you know, flashlight went on your head, then what kind of other robot road bumps did you make? Because a volume of people just by itself, it doesn't exactly do the trick. There's other things you got to put into place. And once again, you're here whether you know it or not, because Larimer County and yourself are kind of I would consider top one percent out there doing things right. Uh after you've got you figured out, hey man, if I reach them on the phone, I get more people for the money spent. What are the what's the next sort of hurdles that you had to endure to get to where you are today?

Seth Graham 12:03

Yeah, I mean, I so we actually we actually ran into problems. So what we you know, what we did, you know, utilizing, you know, utilizing the internet, using utilizing

ATS, Texting, And Scalable Follow-Up

Seth Graham 12:15

social media, and you know, utilizing these channels in order to um get people interested in the job. Um and we actually we were actually very, very effective at that. As a matter of fact, we were so effective that we were breaking the rest of our our our our hiring process um because we didn't have the capacity to process the people that we that we were getting into.

Travis Yates 12:38

What a great, what a great problem to try to fix, right?

Seth Graham 12:41

It is, and that's exactly the problem that I was trying to create. I wanted I wanted to break things uh here uh with uh more interest than than we could deal with. Uh but that that had to drive um well that that drove us to try to figure out you know how to how to manage um this uh I don't know if glut's the right word, but manage manage the higher volume that we were experiencing. So um a couple things that we did. Uh number one is um applicant tracking system. So um software. Um software, you know, whether you call it uh CRM uh or applicant tracking, ATS, whatever it is, whatever it is that you call it, you have to have some way to organize um the people that are interested in the job. And then also two, you have to have a platform that makes it easy to communicate with them in a way that they like to communicate. Um, and uh having an applicant tracking system that allows us to organize people and then also to engage people through the thing that they will read time and time again, which is text. Um, you know, texting seems uh to somebody my age, Travis, correct me if I'm wrong, somebody your age. You're right. Yeah, you're right. It seems impersonal. Yeah. Um, but that's how people communicate. Um, you know, if you look at the statistics, and and I'm not gonna spout them out, but go go find the statistics on how many people actually read their emails, uh, how many people will actually pick up the phone and answer a number that is not known to them versus how many people that will read a text that comes from somebody that they don't even know. Um, and the texting, the texting stats are are through the roof um as far as that goes. That's how people communicate, that's how you need to communicate, and you need something that you can effectively use to effectively communicate with them and having an applicant tracking system that keeps people uh um keeps people organized, but also too, like I can put people in different buckets and then I can do bulk texts out to people um and reach, you know. Fourth of July, I sent happy fourth of July to everybody that was interested. I sent a text to 2,000 people um in like two clicks. Um

Pre-Screening And One-Way Video Interviews

Seth Graham 15:05

being able to being able to reach people um on that level at it, that volume um is is huge. Uh and doing it in a way that people will actually respond to. Um, and that happy Fourth July text that that I did, you know, so many people were just like, oh man, I'd totally forgotten about you. Yeah, I yeah, I'm still interested. I want to do this. Or the flip side is is uh there's a ton of people that were like, hey, I I'm not interested. I I don't want to. And then I was able to organize them and get them out of out of my communication stream and no longer spend brain power on them and um you know, really focus on the people who are interested. Uh, and that was huge. Um, the second thing that we did is we had to do a more robust um pre-screening process um for our hiring process to I mean, because essentially what you want to do is you want to create the largest funnel that you possibly can and get as many people interested in the job as you possibly can, but then you've got to work really hard to funnel that down and narrow it down as quickly as you can so that you're not wasting resources on people that have no business doing the job. Um, and um we recently just started doing a pre-screening process where we do it's called it's an asynchronous video interview. So essentially what you do is you record some questions, you send it out, and then they record their answers. Um we do that, um, run uh criminal history, um, and we have them have them fill out a pre-employment questionnaire, um, like little baby background. Um, and then we review um candidates uh from that and decide whether or not they're we're actually going to put them into our hiring process. Um and that's been that's been really good. Uh, because um we just had too many darn people.

Travis Yates 16:54

Uh and yeah, let me stop right there, Seth, because I can't even keep up, man. You're doing so many awful things here we want to talk about, but the the screening is so vital. Uh and and what you're doing is effective. But now, just so people know, uh, with the campaigns that Safeguard runs, is we do a pre-screening, but it's there we're we're we're we anticipate they're gonna be honest. So we ask them a series of questions, but if they're not honest, right, they come through the process to you. And so you've then implemented further things. And we have a similar client that does something just like you, he they've taken it a step further. Before they even get them to apply, they require kind of what you're talking about. They're not doing the the uh pre-screening interviews because we we can do that for our clients as well as the automatic interviews and sort of meet them in video because if they take a step to do that, they're kind of serious. If take a step to fill out a little longer questionnaire, they get more serious. But this client actually, and I wasn't I wasn't convinced because they were like, hey, we want them to. It was a pretty long uh background packet, it was a couple other things, and we we did they do have it on a nice landing page. We set all that for them so it's really easy for the for the clients. They used to have the PDF they had to print out and fill it out. We put all that online for them, so it's just they fill it out on their phone, makes it really mobile friendly, but it was then that they would then accept the application. And I thought, man, I'm not sure. You may be limiting people, but I'll tell you what, they just had their first month come through. They had more people, more serious people show up and apply and take their test

Honesty, Culture, And Early Filtering

Travis Yates 18:20

than they had before that. And I think there's something to what you're saying here is early on, you don't want to push people away, but give them a few steps to do. Okay, they they've expressed interest, maybe they filled out a quick application, but then say, you know what? Before the next step, put a little work on them, you know, make an invest 30 minutes, 45 minutes into photocopying their ID or photocopying their stuff, filling out stuff for background, because then you'll know, right? Early on, am I Seth going to put a lot of effort into them? And that's what you're doing, and you found that to be really helpful, if you're not.

Seth Graham 18:52

Yeah. Um, we're still like uh we're like three or four months into it. Um, so it's still relatively new, but um, we're starting to see the benefits now. Uh the issues that we had is that like, you know, our backgrounds and our polygraph is is further, you know, later on in the process. And we're having so many people fail out uh in backgrounds at poly. And I was like, what why why waste so much time on people that that don't need to be there? And backgrounds at polys is super, super time uh time and and money intensive. And uh I want to try to solve that problem and and weep people out sooner. And to your point, uh like it's it's all about gauging their commitment from the from the beginning. And and then also, too, like we use that that video interview. Um, it's not so much about the answers they give, it's about us being able to give the message that we want to give, which is we want to drive and hit-home honesty, like honesty. You got to be honest from the get-go, um, and we want honest answers from people. Um, I can't guarantee uh somebody a job if they're gonna be honest, but I can guarantee they're not gonna get a job if they're dishonest. So um, you know, kind of set that tone early and let them know, like throughout the whole hiring process, you got to be honest. And and that's showing dividends down the line uh with us because we're having much higher rates of

Building And Refining The ATS With Feedback

Seth Graham 20:10

people passing backgrounds, much higher rates of people passing polygraph since we started doing this. Um and yes, there's less people going through, but the people that are going through are better quality candidates.

Travis Yates 20:21

Yeah, I mean, I think that's so smart and and you know, and just so I'm I'm transparent, you guys aren't using our servers for the video part, but we offer that. And the reason we start offering that uh is because uh you're right, it's not necessarily the answers, but but will they click it? Will they look in the camera? Can they can they communicate? And then you on your end, as you as you alluded to, you can sort of give your culture to them and what you expect right up front, so they don't they don't keep going down the process taking up your resources, and then you find out three, four months in right before you hire them. Hey, we didn't know about this. And so, I mean, it literally, I think the one we do is is like it's like less than 10 minutes. So, yeah, if they won't click a button and look at a camera and speak to us for 10 minutes, do you really want to be wasting a lot of time on them on down the road? And so, man, I'm so glad to hear you say that. And whether you know it or not, very few agencies are doing that. The private industry has been doing that for years, for years, they've been doing that. In fact, we have a client where it's all automated, and so I want people to know Seph's a one-man wrecking crew here, he's one guy just killing it, working all the time. But we have another client where everyone was part-time doing this and they sort of farm it out, you know, around the different parts of the department. And so we say, Hey, let us automate it. And and so from the time the ad comes in, the messaging starts automated. If they hit the if they apply, it swings to other messaging. And then so by the time somebody's able to pick to start communicating with them, three or four or five days has gone by, and this the candidate, even though it's automated messaging, as you know, as you know, using your applicant tracking set, uh, they it's still personal. They they don't know whether it's it's automated or not, it's just somebody emailing. And text them and they have no clue. And so you talk a lot about communication and how that applicant tracking system works. And Seth, whether you know it or not, of course, you're using Safeguard Connect, our applicant tracking systems. If you're watching this and you've heard us talk about this, you're looking at the guy that helped us develop that, whether Seth knows it or not. I remember being on the phone with you, Seth, and you were like, Hey, there's a problem with this. What about this? What about this? We said, All right, take it notes, take it notes. And then one day you told me, You knew you really need to have an app with this, Travis. You need an app with this. And we came out with the app. And so you were an early adopter, and it was, I think everybody is benefiting from that package, that SafeR Connect now. I don't know whether they're going to send you a Christmas card or not, but they ought to, Seth, because we really leaned on you because you were a heavy user. Like anytime you roll out software, and I would say you probably got that in the beta version. I mean, we were we just rolled it out when we and you you you tried to break it, you were using it a lot, you were giving us a lot of feedback. You you know, you you and your agency, because you were so far ahead of so many other departments, you gave us a lot of things to think about. And and of course, we're still evolving it, but uh you you personally told me, I think you try to break it. And I said, please

Force Multipliers And Working Smarter

Travis Yates 23:05

do. So tell us about that. Because I know you've been through a couple. You were with an earlier version in the year with now you're with another version of our software. Um, you you you alluded to how easy it was, but it wasn't always that easy for you.

Seth Graham 23:18

Uh yeah, I mean, I actually uh well I I went through my original applicant tracking system. I went through a different uh a different company, and it it it did it did some things um that we really liked. And but then it was also missing uh missing some pieces that that I really thought were that were crucial. And um already had a relationship with you. We already had a relationship with you know the the the social media market uh marketing and recruiting um that we were doing. And um, you know, you guys reached out to me and said, hey, we we've got an applicant tracking system. Um, you know, you wanna you wanna demo it? And I was like, Yeah, yeah, I'll I'll I'll demo it.

Travis Yates 23:55

Um, I think you I think you said I'll demo it and try to break it, which I was like, all right.

Seth Graham 24:01

Possibly. Yeah, that that might have that might have occurred. Um, and then we demoed it, and then uh I didn't like it. Um and um I I I came back to you guys and said, Hey, you know, this is the things that it's missing, this is the things that it's not doing. Um, and then uh you guys were yep, yep, yep, okay. And then um a couple months, maybe three months later, uh you guys hit me up again and like, hey, um, I'm super excited to tell you this, Seth. But we we got uh we got this applicant tracking system that has all the things that you want because we took your feedback and uh like here's the deal. At the end of the day, I feel like you guys made this for me.

Travis Yates 24:42

Um well we were gonna we were gonna call it Seth 101, but our marketing folks didn't like that.

Seth Graham 24:47

I don't think I don't think that would I don't think that would track very well. Um I I think you guys I think you guys hit on something much better than Seth 101. Um but you know, I honestly I feel like you guys made it for me. Um and also too, like there are some still there are still some things that um you

Personal Touches And Messaging Cadence

Seth Graham 25:05

know periodically I'll be using it and I'll be like, man, I wish like I wish you'd do this. And then uh I call up uh I call up Jake and uh Jake, Jake's the uh Jake's the IT guy over there. I call up Jake and like, hey Jake, can you do this? And he's like, um yeah, I think so. Yeah. And then um, you know, uh sometimes a couple of clicks later, sometimes a day or two later, um, this thing magically does the thing that I want it to do. Um, so you know, hats off to you guys for for listening um to your customers and being so responsive to you know developing developing this thing in in a way that um I mean for me is it is super usable and and super beneficial. Um, you talked about me being a one-man wrecking crew. Um you either need to be able to devote a whole lot of resources to the thing or you need a force multiplier.

Travis Yates 26:03

Um and work work smarter, right? Work smarter, not harder. Right.

Seth Graham 26:08

And you know, uh yeah, I could I I could have three or four people that are on the payroll doing this job with me, um, or I can spend a little bit money on software and be able to do it on my own. Um, and there again, it comes down to numbers and math, and the math is mathing in this. Um, it it just works and allows me to do the things and recruit the way that I I believe that is important to the way that it's the way that you need to recruit. I I mean, it's not just a belief of mine, um, it comes out in the numbers. So um, you know, to recruit the way that you need to recruit, and um this stuff, this software allows me to do that.

Travis Yates 26:57

Well, Seth, I want to go back uh and I just want to commend you. Uh and because you mentioned something earlier that I think a lot of people was gonna blow over. You talked about I should send a message to 2,000 people on July 4th, which means happy July 4th, or Independence Day or whatever you called it. Yeah, I think it's independence day in Colorado, right? But anyway, um, people may think, well, that's not a big deal, but I would ask them who else is doing that? Yeah, who what other agencies did that? I mean, that just it's those small things when it comes to recruiting where people think, man, they're they care about me, or they're thinking about me, or they took the time on a holiday to send this message to me. As you said, it took just a few seconds. It's that small details is what sets you apart from all your competitors, which is law enforcement agencies, right? And uh I don't I I don't I don't I don't think we put enough value in that. I really don't. Uh what other you're you're big on communication. I kind of I want to know your cadence because we always talk about you got to communicate as often as possible. Now we have clients, Seth, unlike you, that says, Hey, we don't have time to communicate. So we automate all that so the client so that so the end user thinks, oh man, they're communicating with me. But the truth is we're using the software to automate that. But you do a lot of things personal yourself. What's your cadence on communication? And what have you found that works best to keep the attention? Because once again, whether we like it or not, we're dealing with a generation with all attention deficit syndrome.

Sports Recruiting Mindset And Support

Travis Yates 28:20

I mean, everybody's spread around, they're all they're doing a bunch of different things. You got to keep the attention of people that you want to work for you. And because they can't keep your attention doesn't mean they're not interested. It's just society today. It's just everyone's fighting for the views, right? Everyone's fighting for the eyeballs, and you're one person out of all the marketing engines and all the companies out there, and all the people trying to get the attention of these kids. What's your communication, Katie, so you found this worked for you?

Seth Graham 28:46

Uh honestly, it's it's probably it's probably not as high, it's probably not as high as you think. Um, the good news is the bar set really, really low. Uh uh, so you know, if I am if I'm touching base with people once a week, once every couple of weeks, sometimes once every three weeks, um, that puts me way ahead of everybody else. Because I don't I don't know about you, Travis, but when I got hired, it was a long time ago. But when I got hired, um I put in an application and then I heard nothing for four months. Uh, and then finally they called me and I was like, oh geez, I thought they forgot about me. Um, and you know, my whole hiring process took uh a bit over a year, and in that time, I think I talked to somebody about three times. Um, with us, we've we've truncated that uh significantly. We've been down to about three months as far as our hiring process goes. Uh and then also, too, like I like I am I I want to engage people early. So as soon as I get as soon as I get their information um from you guys, um, you know, you guys have it set up so that um there is an automated message that goes out. But honestly, I like I'm not a huge fan of the automated messages because like if you're anything like me, I see something that looks like an automated message on on my my phone or my text, and I'm like, well, this is just a this

Results, Records, And Staffing Outlook

Seth Graham 30:10

is just a robot and I'm not interested in engaging. Um so I do I do try to reach out to them personally via text uh within the first 24 to 48 hours of them um of them expressing interest. And I try to do it in such a way, like there's sometimes where I will send out bulk texts, but I will purposely like spell something wrong so it looks like it comes from a person. Um, you know, just just stuff like that. Um, but uh yeah, hitting them, hitting them early um after they gauge uh yeah, after they um after they are are express interest, uh and then um you know keep up with them uh up until they uh up until they do application. And then once they do application, then I like I want to hit them every step of the application process. Hey, great. Thanks for applying. Um, you know, you've completed the one-way interview. Thank you. Um, you know, you've got uh Oral Board, um, you've got Oral Board coming up. I always like I always text people the day before the oral board and be like, hey, you know, we we see you're on our list for oral boards tomorrow. We look forward to seeing you. Um that does a couple of things. Number one is it like reminds them that they have an oral board tomorrow. Um, but then also two, um, you know, it lets them know, like, hey, you know, we're thinking about you, we're excited to see you. And then just, you know, honestly, it's kind of celebrate like every single step of the process when they have a success in the process. I want to celebrate that success with them, be like, hey, great job. You know, we look forward to seeing you at this thing or look forward to seeing you that thing. So, you know, we're kind of like, I kind of have like my I guess my schedule is is that like I'm trying to hit people in every every step of the process.

Travis Yates 31:53

No, I think that's brilliant. And and the way you describe the automatic messaging, that's exactly what we believe. We believe that as soon as someone expressed interest, we hit them with a message, and then we would expect the recruiter to within 24 to 40 hours, just like you said, to come in with personalized messages. In fact, the data tells us that that 24 to 48 window is a sweet spot. You go past 48 hours, you're risking losing interest. Not that you will lose interest, but ideally, 24 to 48 hours is the key. And so you're right in there. So, man, you're just doing so many great things, Seth. I know you put a lot of effort into sort of learning this. Um, if anybody wants to reach out to you and and and just ask you questions, are they able to do that?

Seth Graham 32:33

Yeah, yeah. I I mean, I I'd be happy to share this with anybody because honestly, like when I first started out, like I really struggled to find resources. Um, because my predecessor, she set things up and and she had she had the right, she really had the right idea, and and she but was recruiting kind of along the the sports recruiting model, um, which is you know, collegiate sports, she played collegiate sports. Um, I was fortunate enough to to play collegiate sports, and we both kind of understood what that, you know, what that was like, which is

Final Advice And Closing

Seth Graham 33:05

a recruiter would would build a personal relationship with you and you know, uh essentially be like, you know, your go-to, that liaison in between, you know, you and the team and and really do their job in order to try to get you interested in the thing. Um and but also too, like, you know, being more of a partner um in the you know recruiting hiring process, as opposed to, well, I am I I am this uh authoritative figure and we have jobs, and if you don't do everything right, um, then you're not gonna get a job with us. Um being supportive and helpful along the way, I think is super important. And that that kind of falls on that that sports recruiting model, um, which she set up before before I did. And we just kind of uh like I just kind of built like kind of built on that and utilizing technology and and then some of the other things that that we're capable of doing here.

Travis Yates 33:59

Yeah, and if you want to reach if you want to reach Seth, it's easy to find because every good recruiter should be easy to find. Just go to Larimore County Sheriff's Department, you're gonna find the recruiting page, you'll see Seth's contact there. And Seth, I can't thank you enough for being here. We're gonna close this out, but I know I talked to you several months ago, and I was like, man, we got to get you talking to people about this. Let's get you on the road, and and you're doing all these things. And I think you told me at the time, you know what? I want to have some big time success. I want to stack this place up full. I've got a goal in mind. So let's bring everybody up to speed. What's your how's your progress month to month? And you're hiring at some, you know, where do you look at how much are you down and what's your I know you can have the projection. When are you projected to be fully staffed?

Seth Graham 34:41

Uh projection and fully staffed, that's a that's a tough one to kind of put your finger on because of the retention side. So you you got like the recruiting side, like I feel like I feel very confident in the recruiting side. As far as the retention side, those numbers, those numbers do ebb and flow um a little bit. And we're we're fortunate uh kind of a double-edged sword. We we train our people really, really well. Um, and uh, especially when you're talking about like um, yeah, I do the bulk of my recruiting is for the jail. Um and we we're we train our people very, very well, and we end up losing a lot of people to patrol, um to either our patrol or or other agencies. So, you know, we've always kind of got that, you know, we're always trying to feed that thing. Um talk to you about numbers. Um 2023, before we started using you guys, um, I did 173 oral board interviews. Uh 2024, after like fully like getting, you know, getting into uh essentially your ecosystem and utilizing your stuff. Um, I did 330 oral board interviews. Um, so double-ish. Uh and then this year I'm on track to do about five or four hundred and fifty oral board interviews. Uh and I have exceeded um hiring numbers, uh broke a record this year for most amount of people hired in a year, uh, broke a record this year for most amount of people hired in one class. Um we're we're we're on track. I think that if we continue, if we continue at this pace, um maybe even pushing a little bit above, I I have aspirations for next year to break records again. Um and if we continue at this pace, I don't think that it's out of out of the realm of possibility to get get fully staffed in the next two years. Um yeah, I don't, I don't, I don't think that I don't think that that's out of bounds. But I mean this thing, it's you know, when you talk about deficits and you know, our deficits are not like when you talk about jails and compare jails uh around the nation, our deficits, uh people would love to have my numbers. Yeah, um, I don't accept it as being uh as being good numbers, but people would love to have my numbers. Um you know, but you get you get uh you get far enough down, it it's hard, it's hard to get these things, and and this thing is a marathon, it's not a sprint. I don't have a magic pill uh for you. I have um I have some tools um that you can use uh in order to get you further down the road. Um, but there's still work that needs to be done with this thing in order to get to where you want to be. Um, but it's about building a pipeline, it's about building this thing, it's about engaging people. And and now I feel like we're at a spot where we have this thing that we can, you know, we can continue to do this. And I don't really feel like I have to build much anymore, I just have to maintain it.

Travis Yates 37:44

Yeah, a lot come through in that answer, Scott. First Seth, first I'm glad I didn't actually didn't know the answers on your numbers, but you described doubling that first year. That's actually what we get from almost every client. So that's that's extremely interesting from a data standpoint. But you I but I think the reason you have built on that, because I think the audience needs to know you haven't upped your spin really, like you've just been consistent from the very beginning. And so the year one numbers was probably getting into our ecosystem, but I can tell you right now, year two and year three is the man you're looking at here on the screen. Seth Graham did that because it's not like they threw more money at the issue, and I think that's one of the problems we get into in Lawfords. We think we need to throw money at a problem and it fixes it. I hope people listening or watching this understands you've got to do more than throw money at an issue. You need to throw money at the right, you know, you need to throw the right money at the right thing to get the to get in the right ecosystem as Seth described, but you've got to make your you've got to do the thing Seth's doing and and get the most out of that. Uh I mean, folks, he just gave these numbers, and Seth Graham is kind of the one doing it. It's not there's not a not a whole team here, and so it's very um encouraging, Seth, because we keep saying that everybody, hey, there's no crisis here. Plug into the system because we have this built system. And the reason and I think the reason your success is not only you, Seth, you were open to partaking in the system. We have some people that are say, I want I want this, but I don't want all this. But hey, listen, if you want to maximize it, get into it like any system. If you use more components of the system, it's going to be more efficient and more successful. But I give you and your agency so much credit because uh, I mean, you've jumped in, you were a very much an early adopter in what we were talking about, and you've taken that to the next step, not only what you're doing, but you've come back and not being not being ashamed to go, you guys need to pick your game up a little bit here. You need to do this, this, and this. And we were like, okay, because that's ultimately our goal is we want success stories like Seth Graham just described all across the country, Seth. So you're really an encouragement to so many people. So if people are watching or listening, you're interested, hey, this isn't a sales pitch, you don't got to call us. Give Seth a call. I mean, he's gonna be able to give you some things that that uh is gonna help you out immediately. And if you want to jump in what we're doing, we'd be glad to help. But Seth, I can't thank you enough for being here. I mean, you educated me, man. I mean, so we we we do a lot of talking, as you know, but we don't always hear back from we don't always hear the feedback saying, hey, this worked, this worked, or this didn't work. So thank you so much for what you're doing. Give your leadership my best because obviously you have a support to be able to do what you're doing. It should be encouraging to every agency out there. Thank you so much for being here.

Seth Graham 40:18

Well, thank you, Travis. Uh I I I think I think it's important that we share what works um with others because I think there's a whole lot of people out there sharing information that doesn't work. And you know, here's the litmus test. If the things that you are doing are not getting to you to where you want to be, then you need to do something different. Yeah. Um, and um I don't know, in the world of police work, um, I don't really think that there's any new ideas. I think people just steal good ideas from other people. Um, and uh so please steal steal the good stuff that we talked about today. Uh discard whatever doesn't work uh because that's that's not useful. And uh use it, use it to do great things. And I I do want to do uh a point of clarification. I am the only person in the agency that gets paid full-time to do recruiting, but I do have a team that I utilize, um, you know, this auxiliary duty that they will help me out um with individual tasks here and there. Um, so I I'm not uh like it's not just me. Um it's my leadership, it's my team. It it is it is the entire agency that that is putting into this. It just so happens that I'm the one that has recruiter on the card and I do the bulk uh bulk of the day-to-day stuff.

Travis Yates 41:41

Seth, I so much appreciate it. I look forward to speaking to you in the future. We're gonna bring you back on, and you know, we need to bring you back on and just to see your progress, see what you're doing. And I look forward to your ideas to help us. So thanks for being here. Uh, it's so appreciated. If you've been watching, you've been listening, thank you for being here. We'll see you next week.

Seth Graham 42:00

Thank you, Travis, and thanks to everybody. Good luck.