MYRTLE BEACH, SC (WBTW) – The Myrtle Beach Police Department and the Myrtle Beach Fire Department are turning to social media in hopes of attracting qualified applicants to work as first responders.
The Myrtle Beach Police Department posted a two minute-long recruitment video to Facebook last week. Cpl. Tom Vest with MBPD says it is the first time the department has produced a recruitment video specifically for Facebook.
“Social media is a great place to recruit. We put it out on Instagram, we put it out on Twitter, we put it out on Facebook, and in general we’re seeing a lot of recruiting going to social media because it reaches such a wide audience,” Cpl. Vest said.
The recruitment video depicts the steps a Myrtle Beach police officer goes through in the department, from the application process to making it on a special operations team like SWAT.
“The video is a lot of fun. It’s our SWAT team as well as our negotiators, and it kind of goes back through all the different things you have to do to get there, so it shows the whole process from when you apply through pre-service to when you make it to a specialized team like that,” Cpl. Vest said.
Myrtle Beach police aren’t the only ones using social media to their advantage.
The Myrtle Beach Fire Department recently posting their job openings to Facebook.
“We get applications from all across the country and even internationally asking about applying. When we just put it up the other day, within five minutes we had 15 comments and shares, and then by the end of the day, we had hundreds of shares, so it’s very important for us to have that social media presence and to get that information out properly,” Lt. Jonathan Evans with the Myrtle Beach Fire Department said.
The city’s firefighters also added the department’s social media handles to all of their rigs so the public knows exactly where to find more information about emergencies, events and recruitment.
Myrtle Beach fire applications will open July 5. To see the qualifications, click here.
Myrtle Beach police have begun accepting applications. To apply, click here.