AUSTIN (KXAN) — For the first time, Austin City Limits Music Festival attendees could leave the festival with a potential job opportunity.
Both the Austin Police Department (APD) and Austin-Travis County EMS (ATCEMS) are recruiting for more staff.
“We have a combined public safety recruiting booth here at ACL. It’s the first year we’ve done it,” said Gabe Webber, ATCEMS field operations commander.
Webber said because of the staffing shortage, they are starting to venture outside of the places they typically recruit like EMS conventions.
“Trying to reach a broader audience and something uniquely Austin like ACL fest gives us an opportunity to do that,” said Webber. “We’re having challenges filling positions in the department. So we’re kind of expanding beyond some of the traditional recruiting lanes.”
One of their selling points is all the events where ATCEMS gets to work. ACL being one of them.
“It’s not just working on the ambulance. We have medics throughout the venue,” Webber said. “It’s an opportunity to experience the crowd, experience the show, interact with the citizens, you know the attendees and get paid to do your job at the same time.”
At the booth, there is a QR code that takes people to ATCEMS’ recruiting website.
Webber said recruiters will then be in touch with next steps.
While it’s too soon to see the impacts of this just yet, Webber hopes it will help fill positions.
“It’s a great city to work for,” he said. “It’s a great city to live in.”
Along with ACL recruitment efforts, ATCEMS said its recently been to Houston, Beaumont, Texas, and New Orleans for EMS conventions to recruit.
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