GREENSBORO, N.C. — No matter where you work, having 115 vacant positions can affect the overall goal of a company.
That's what the Greensboro Police Department is dealing with.
The department is hosting an informational and hiring event Wednesday at its Public Safety Training Facility hoping to fill in those gaps.
Participants will be able to tour the indoor gun range, gym, mat room and speak with HR professionals about pay benefits and salaries.
"We've sent recruiters all over the country but in recent times we've said we've never really just opened our doors and invited people to come into the house," Lieutenant Kory Flowers said.
Flowers said the department has 115 vacant positions.
"I would love to have 75 or 100 people come through here and I would love for it to generate 25 solid applications, that would be a win," Flowers said.
And they're making it a more efficient process to get people hired. Normally, an applicant must go schedule a reading comprehension and physical agility test, but they're expediting that process.
"Typically, those take about two weeks to schedule so what we've done for this event we've set some of those testings for that night, so, if people come through the door and haven't even applied yet that's okay. They can knock out the reading test and knock out the physical achievement test then they can go home and apply and they're already three weeks faster than the process," said Flowers.
Flowers said there are about 40 days until the application deadline. They're aiming for applicants in their 20's, and officers from other agencies looking to relocate.
"There's zero commitment for coming through this door why would you not?" Flowers said.
Lt. Flowers said a week and a half ago city council agreed to explore raising the starting salary by about $10,000.
It's a possibility he and the department are excited to tell new recruits.
The hiring event will run from 5:30 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. at the public safety training facility on North Church Street.