A friend was talking about managing a waiting list. Sounds like a good problem to have.
I remember when I was a cadet that numbers would really fluctuate, not just in the summer.
So say your portacabin can hold 30 people, how do you decide how many to have on the books, bearing in mind that could be very different to average nightly turnout?
Also, how do you manage a lot of staff? What happens if you’re juggling retaining staff or increasing cadets?
I imagine this isn’t a problem faced by bigger units, but I’ve no idea how we’d have handled that back in the day. A turnout of 15 started to feel cozy if the weather wasn’t suitable for going outside!
The only time I recall dealing with waiting lists is for the recruit flight to start - always choosing to sort these in blocks 2-3 times a year of a “manageable” size intake. As the date drew nearer (1 month out) contacting those on the waiting list that the next intake will be on Xth Month and we look forward to seeing them.
I don’t recall ever thinking about total capacity of the building and holding off recruitment due to the size of the existing Squadron - the waiting list size was dependant on how many were waiting and if it justified an intake sooner rather than later (2 waiting, leave it a bit longer, 12 waiting, get them in sooner)
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Although I don’t really have an answer for the management questions, what I would say is that I think everyone got quite good with this on the Covid return. Managing staff and group bubbles etc is very much in the same vein.
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Unfortunately you’ve gotta assume everyone will attend, and remember that adults are included in the max capacity of your building.
Monthly, or at least semi-regularly, you should be checking up on cadets who haven’t attended in a while and having the discussion as to if they want to continue (bearing in mind corps policy is 2 months absence then discharge them).
As for staff, hopefully everyone’s grown up enough to coordinate on a WhatsApp group chat or similar as to who is needed down each night and to organise cover/alternative activity if a certain staff member can’t attend.
As for Recruit Waiting Lists, I’ve set one up on ever squadron I’ve been at. A MS Form posted on the Sqn Website that collates details to an excel spreadsheet on the Sqn SharePoint, then 2 or 3 times a month ping an email out to all inviting them to recruitment nights and remove from the waiting list those who were emailed.
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We do a ticketed open day. Where they arrive in the morning, recieve a briefing on the RAFAC, tour the sqn, the parents depart, and then do a series of activities over the day; like basic drill, intro the the ATC, a session in the simulator, teambuilding exercises…
The struggle is getting them through 1st Class.
Our recruit flight is further broken down into intakes…
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Currently awaiting a fresh Fire Risk Assessment as we are maxed out (65 pers) and have a waiting list of over 50 names.
I may have misread an update from the RSA about JCCs being 100 by default
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