MDC recruitment doing well as other law agencies struggle to fill positions
COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)
Many law enforcement agencies and departments are having trouble filling open positions.
However, the Missouri Department of Conservation says it's not experiencing this challenge.
Conservation agents are the face of MDC in the field. They are the ones that most people interact with from hunting, fishing and general wildlife issues.
MDC Conservation Agent Cole Eidson is a recent recruit. He was one of nearly 300 applicants for the 17 open positions.
"I'm actually the fourth generation to in law enforcement to serve in Cole County,” he said. "My true passion is hunting. So I thought what better way to combine the two with law enforcement and outdoors so that's how I landed here."
MDC is seeing success when it comes to recruiting.
“As an agency we feel it's very important that we try to represent the people we serve within our recruiting efforts,” MDC Capt. Ken Polley said. “We're making a strike a big effort to be inclusive and to look for diversity."
Montgomery County recently filled an open position with an agent from the most recent recruiting class.
"We graduated 17 new agents in October and so they filled some critical positions for us out in the out in the fields,” Polley said. “We can get agents in counties where they can they can get integrated into their community."
Polley said in recent years, there are 300-400 applicants for each recruitment class. With only 11 vacancies statewide, the competition is tough.
"Currently our agents in the field to have had applied two or three times to get it and because it is a competitive process,” Polley said
Eidson took advantage of other opportunities in the department to prepare himself for his career.
"Best thing to do is get involved in department. Be volunteer get an hourly position, get a get a salary job there. That's the best way to get involved in that,” he said. “That's what I did. I started out as a volunteer, wrote of agents work my putting my time to like, the next class came in like hey, here it is your time.”
The Missouri Department of Conservation has a starting pay around $44,800 per year for agents.
