# What is your service doing to attract applicants?



## MMiz (Oct 8, 2021)

With a national shortage of EMS providers, what is your service doing to attract candidates?

Pay raises?  Sign on bonuses?


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## Fezman92 (Oct 9, 2021)

10K sign on bonus but I think that may stop offering it at the end of the month.


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## jgmedic (Oct 9, 2021)

Fire trucks and a pension. Still not working though, when every department in the area is hiring for way more pay and a better retirement.


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## Aprz (Oct 9, 2021)

They were offering $7k sign on bonus AFTER I got hired. I am bummed I missed out on that, but happy I got the job and location. My previous employer is offering $15k. Otherwise not much more I think?


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## CALEMT (Oct 9, 2021)

jgmedic said:


> Fire trucks and a pension. Still not working though, when every department in the area is hiring for way more pay and a better retirement.



I’d say better pay and schedule. Can’t beat lifetime medical that you get with the state.


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## DrParasite (Oct 14, 2021)

CALEMT said:


> I’d say better pay and schedule. Can’t beat lifetime medical that you get with the state.


until the next administration eliminates that perk... as happened to us a few years ago...


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## CALEMT (Oct 14, 2021)

DrParasite said:


> until the next administration eliminates that perk... as happened to us a few years ago...



They can do that... in 30 years when I'm retired. 

In all seriousness, thats realistically the only thing keeping me working in CA.


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## Tigger (Oct 14, 2021)

Best pay in the county with nearly free insurance (4% of premium), pension, and big red trucks. New people go to a “top” fire academy, free paramedic school for those that want it. Our new chief scrapped our hiring of “experienced” paramedics for single role positions that came with the firefighter/paramedics pay and benefits. 

Still only had 97 applicants for our two spots, I’d have guessed many more. But everyone’s hiring and we’re far from the best paying on the front range. 

AMR here is offering a 5k sign on bonus to paramedics and a new wage of 22/hr. 

Mountain job won’t get with the times and is struggling for applicants.


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## Arctan (Oct 14, 2021)

16 year olds can apply


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## DrParasite (Oct 14, 2021)

Arctan said:


> 16 year olds can apply


I'm assuming/hoping you are talking about volunteers right?

As for the original question:

my former agency in NJ has increased starting salaries by almost $5 an hour since I was there (TT1825: Probationary Rate: $22.99/hr.; Job Rate: $23.49/hr.; Two Year Rate:$24.20/hr.)

They have also created an apprentice program, for new EMTs who want to be there, and pay more than I was starting at ( $18.14/hr.; Job Rate:$18.64/hr.; Two Year Rate:$19.20/hr.)

They have also raised their full time paramedic rates to over 30hr.

My former employers in NC haven't done anything, and they are desperate for qualified people.  turnover is absurdly high, trucks go OOS daily due to lack of staffing, 20 minute responses are not uncommon, and they can't get people cleared fast enough.  Apparently they, too, have started an apprentice program, to get more paramedics in house. 

TBH, every so often I think about going back to working on the ambulance part time... just for extra money... but in the end, I realize it's not worth it for me to do so


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## Arctan (Oct 14, 2021)

DrParasite said:


> I'm assuming/hoping you are talking about volunteers right?
> 
> As for the original question:
> 
> ...


Yeah, Volunteers, sadly for me.


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## MKAMRSantaClara (Oct 14, 2021)

MMiz said:


> With a national shortage of EMS providers, what is your service doing to attract candidates?
> 
> Pay raises?  Sign on bonuses?


We are offering  a $15K sign-on bonus for medics, and a full-ride paramedic scholarship to school of their choice for EMTs.


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## Arctan (Oct 14, 2021)

Oh my... What county is that?


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## Arctan (Oct 14, 2021)

Awww....


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## Chimpie (Oct 15, 2021)

I'm having the hardest time hiring EMTs. I need four, Monday through Friday, 8 hour shifts, $1K sign on bonus., $18.50/hr (which is good for our area - or at least I thought).


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## johnrsemt (Oct 18, 2021)

Chimpie:  can you raise the sign on bonus?  Because $1K doesn't make it worth it for anyone to move there
Start a EMT B program for HS students so that when they turn 18 they are EMT-B's, and can start working right away?  PT or PRN until they graduate.  Then FT, experience already.
Retention bonus for people to stay.  $1K at 1 year,  $2,500 at 2 years, etc.  better to keep good people than try and replace them every year or 2.
Bonuses for people who refer:   $1K for a new person, and $1K for the person who refers them,  then $1K each at the end of 1 year.


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## Chimpie (Oct 19, 2021)

johnrsemt said:


> Chimpie: can you raise the sign on bonus? Because $1K doesn't make it worth it for anyone to move there


Yeah, I'm pitching it again to have this raised, as well as the starting wage. I'd love to have the starting wage be $20/hr. and the hiring bonus be $1K after 90 days, another $1,500 after a year. Right now it's an up hill battle.

David


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## Luno (Oct 20, 2021)

Well, for the fun job, we pay people to ski, they get to throw bombs, and we're a first in, primarily trauma agency, but it is still getting competitive.  Local ambulance companies are in to the $20/hour+ with up to 6k bonuses.  It's getting crazy out there...


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## DesertMedic66 (Oct 20, 2021)

For the flight job we are not having an issue with staffing in my area. One of our states is offering up to $10k bonus. We also have some nationwide traveling positions that are offering $30k sign on bonus for a 12-16 month contract.


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## MMiz (Oct 20, 2021)

I saw online that nurses are making bank these days.  Massive sign on bonuses, often double their hourly rate, and hundreds of dollars for picking up OT shifts in addition to overtime.

Just a semester or more of school beyond most medic programs.


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## Aprz (Oct 21, 2021)

DesertMedic66 said:


> For the flight job we are not having an issue with staffing in my area. One of our states is offering up to $10k bonus. We also have some nationwide traveling positions that are offering $30k sign on bonus for a 12-16 month contract.


For my base, they were offering a $7k sign on bonus.

Edit: Bleh, I see I already posted the same thing earlier. Well, in other news, a local ambulance company is now offering a $20k bonus. No part time/per diem openings on their website so I haven't applied. Frustrated that nobody is hiring part time.


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## Wambulance (Oct 21, 2021)

Offering nothing. $14/hr and decent benefits, but you can grab an entry-level job in tons of places around here for way more money. 
I just gave my notice; tired of short-staffed shifts and constant unanswered tones for coverage because nobody wants to work for us.


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## PotatoMedic (Oct 21, 2021)

Nothing


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## CbrMonster (Nov 8, 2021)

Ours is offering jack squat, yet we have to down units for lack of medics, and we are being paid 17$/hr which is about the lowest paying medic job in socal at this point…. Soooo we don’t get anyone


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## Lo2w (Dec 21, 2021)

We just raised our rates, Paramedic 57-62k; EMT 47-52k. Healthcare covered by the district for employee and family.


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## MEDicJohn (Dec 21, 2021)

San Diego Falk was offering a 20k sign on bonus for medics unsure if still applies. From what i was hearing was that they were starting the medics out at 17$ an hour and applying the 20k over the year.


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## CbrMonster (Dec 21, 2021)

MEDicJohn said:


> San Diego Falk was offering a 20k sign on bonus for medics unsure if still applies. From what i was hearing was that they were starting the medics out at 17$ an hour and applying the 20k over the year.


The latest speaking with several of them, experienced medics started at 28$/hr and 12k sign on bonus paid out over 3 years, (300$ a paycheck if I remember the math correctly)


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## EpiEMS (Dec 21, 2021)

Lo2w said:


> We just raised our rates, Paramedic 57-62k; EMT 47-52k. Healthcare covered by the district for employee and family.



Municipal retirement?


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## Lo2w (Dec 21, 2021)

EpiEMS said:


> Municipal retirement?


We are on a 401A w an optional deferred comp. But you're vested 100% at hire.


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## NomadicMedic (Dec 22, 2021)

Every agency here in Central Pennsylvania has started playing the wage hike game. Average pay for an EMT is now between 19 and $20 an hour and paramedics are starting around 25 an hour. There are big sign on bonuses, almost everyone is doing a recruit academy, big incentives to steal staff from one service for another. IFT agencies are paying upwards of $35 an hour for paramedics just to keep trucks on the road. 

 It’s not sustainable for the long term.


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## DrParasite (Dec 22, 2021)

NomadicMedic said:


> Every agency here in Central Pennsylvania has started playing the wage hike game. Average pay for an EMT is now between 19 and $20 an hour and paramedics are starting around 25 an hour. There are big sign on bonuses, almost everyone is doing a recruit academy, big incentives to steal staff from one service for another. IFT agencies are paying upwards of $35 an hour for paramedics just to keep trucks on the road.
> 
> It’s not sustainable for the long term.


Wny not? isn't that the definition of supply and demand?  if there is a low supply, demand increases, and the open market needs to compensate by raising wage, or stealing people from other agencies.

What it will also mean is that agency heads will need to work with their stakeholders and those who provide funding to the agency, and get additional funding to ensure that the AHJ continues to get the service that it is expecting.

We can debate over artificial adjustments of supply and demand, and the impact of inflation on the long term salaries of prehospital providers another day


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## EpiEMS (Dec 22, 2021)

Wages are sticky downwards. I doubt they will be reducing wages any time soon - might be more likely to see hours cut or shift availability reduced first, once supply of providers catches up.


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## Kevinf (Dec 23, 2021)

NomadicMedic said:


> Every agency here in Central Pennsylvania has started playing the wage hike game. Average pay for an EMT is now between 19 and $20 an hour and paramedics are starting around 25 an hour. There are big sign on bonuses, almost everyone is doing a recruit academy, big incentives to steal staff from one service for another. IFT agencies are paying upwards of $35 an hour for paramedics just to keep trucks on the road.
> 
> It’s not sustainable for the long term.



I think the wage stagnation is the part that is unsustainable long-term. One of the major municipal 911 services near me (also Central PA) was paying new full-time EMTs $9/hr just a few years ago. I had a long post ready to go, but I think I'd rather summarize it instead.

Folks in EMS work for it and deserve the higher pay, regardless of what we think of our current education level. There is a lot to the job that we tend to gloss over after working it for years (working holidays; in severe weather; being assaulted on the job; rotating shifts; uncertain hours with mandatory hold-overs, OT, and on-calls; LOTS of other things I can list here that don't apply to other $9/hr jobs).

As a supervisor level EMT with 8-years in the field, I was making an effective wage of about $21/hr working IFT and about $15/hr working 911. A week into doing parcel delivery as non-supervisor I was making an effective wage of about $29/hr and going home on time every day.

We as a society value getting our junk in the mail as quickly as possible above getting an emergency response as quickly as possible. Lack of funding for the EMS agencies isn't the problem of the EMS providers (or other healthcare providers). They'll just leave... and they are. It's a problem for EMS agencies (and healthcare in general) and society. We need to value the time of our non-unionized first responders and health-care providers more highly.


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## EpiEMS (Dec 23, 2021)

Kevinf said:


> Folks in EMS work for it and deserve the higher pay, regardless of what we think of our current education level. There is a lot to the job that we tend to gloss over after working it for years (working holidays; in severe weather; being assaulted on the job; rotating shifts; uncertain hours with mandatory hold-overs, OT, and on-calls; LOTS of other things I can list here that don't apply to other $9/hr jobs).


My favorite example of the consistent undervaluation of EMS is that in NYC, even after the fairly sizeable increases that were granted, DSNY (Sanitation) workers make as much or more than EMTs (not medics, but not far off), and even have a better pension. Not to say that DSNY doesn't work hard, but the level of technical skill required is not analogous, nor is the circumstances of work.


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## CbrMonster (Dec 24, 2021)

So I just got an indeed notification:

Falck is offering 20k sign on bonus now
And pay starting between 26-52$/hr 

@MEDicJohn sorry for correcting you looks like I was wrong.


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## DrParasite (Dec 27, 2021)




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## Intothefog (Dec 27, 2021)

CbrMonster said:


> So I just got an indeed notification:
> 
> Falck is offering 20k sign on bonus now
> And pay starting between 26-52$/hr
> ...



Or would you rather go work across the bay in SF for starting pay at 51+ an hour plus better benefits from the get go working for SFFD?


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## ffemt8978 (Dec 27, 2021)

Intothefog said:


> Or would you rather go work across the bay in SF for starting pay at 51+ an hour plus better benefits from the get go working for SFFD?


How much of that pay will go to paying the bridge tolls?


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## CbrMonster (Dec 27, 2021)

ffemt8978 said:


> How much of that pay will go to paying the bridge tolls?


I have no desire to work for a fire department, But for some that’s exactly what they want.


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## DrParasite (Dec 28, 2021)

Intothefog said:


> Or would you rather go work across the bay in SF for starting pay at 51+ an hour plus better benefits from the get go working for SFFD?





CbrMonster said:


> I have no desire to work for a fire department, But for some that’s exactly what they want.


I'll be honest, for $51 an hour, I'll do it.  I'm at the point in my life where having enough $$$ to support my family, and lifestyle is more important than the patch on my arm.  Throw in a pension to retire after 20 years, and no SSM, and it's all about a means to an end.  If the City's sanitation department ran EMS, paid me $51 an hour with a pension, I'd be game. 

Few people in EMS have 30 year year career in them, let alone 30 at the same agency; even fewer have 30 years on the ambulance.  


Kevinf said:


> I think the wage stagnation is the part that is unsustainable long-term. One of the major municipal 911 services near me (also Central PA) was paying new full-time EMTs $9/hr just a few years ago. I had a long post ready to go, but I think I'd rather summarize it instead.
> 
> Folks in EMS work for it and deserve the higher pay, regardless of what we think of our current education level. There is a lot to the job that we tend to gloss over after working it for years (working holidays; in severe weather; being assaulted on the job; rotating shifts; uncertain hours with mandatory hold-overs, OT, and on-calls; LOTS of other things I can list here that don't apply to other $9/hr jobs).
> 
> ...


This... all this... 29/hr to deliver mail, vs 15 on a 911 truck... 21/hr working IFT, vs 29/hr doing mail... Most EMS agencies aren't set up as careers, especially the ones that pay $9/hr.   For the record, neither is McDonalds; they know people won't stay, so they have no incentive to pay them a decent wage, because their business model is for them to leave and be replaced with more cheap people.

Education is only a small part of the issue... How many paramedics nationwide only have a HS diploma and a paramedic patch?  How many will fight a requirement for an AAS in emergency medical science?  how many EMS leaders, with a paramedic patch, don't have an AAS in EMS?  What studies exist that show the benefit of a degreed paramedic over a patched paramedic, from any perspective?  how many providers won't take the AAS, even if their company paid for all of the classes?

Funding is the primary issue... historically, EMS has been a free service, provided by volunteers, funded by donations.  But in the last 50-100 years, it's transitioned to a professional career, but is still seen as a free service to the AHJ (hospital based EMS system, volunteer/3rd party non-profit, or the dreaded 0 bid for profit), or an ancillary service that could be ran by the FD or another government entity to bring in some revenue for the town.  There is still a lot of hesitancy to pay for it from elected leaders, because no one has pushed the issue.  After all, would your ambulance service with 4 ambulances on duty with staff making 10/hr rather go to 8 ambulances on duty with staff making 10/hr, or 4 ambulances on duty making 20/hr?

Most of the EMS agencies around me are raising wages, but their turnover rates are embarrassing.  It's getting harder to retain experienced providers, and the good people leave, but the bad people stay.  I'm hoping the call volume increases lead to additional funding from the county (who is responsible for EMS in NC), for both raises and additional units, but they are at critical staffing levels on a daily basis... and the FDs have noticed extended response times outside of the city for EMS units... It will be interesting...  

I do hope that all EMS services are doing exit interviews with the people who leave, so they can identify what steps they are failing to do to retain their existing staff


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