Welcome to this week's edition of the Less Doing Newsletter! I’m excited to share a detailed look at a recent automation that has significantly improved my rescue squad's cadet recruitment process. This is a prime example of how to handle volume and bandwidth efficiently with simple yet effective automation.

The Problem: Our cadet program, designed for 16- and 17-year-olds, was facing several challenges:

• Many cadets were disorganized and often didn’t check their emails.
• Parents were frequently more involved than the cadets themselves.
• Most cadets left for college after a year or two, limiting their long-term involvement.
• Legally, we could only have 15 cadets at a time, but our waitlist had grown to 45.

The Solution: To address these issues, I identified key criteria to streamline our recruitment process:

1. Geographical Proximity: Cadets must live within five miles of our station. This helps ensure they can consistently participate.
2. Age and Commitment: We decided that cadet applicants would need to either have completed EMT certification or be enrolled in a program at the time of application.

Technical Implementation:

Geolocation Filtering:

• Initially, I considered using the Haversine formula to calculate the exact distance of applicants’ addresses from our station. While accurate, this method was overly complex for our needs.
• Instead, I opted for a simpler approach. I used ChatGPT to identify all zip codes within a five-mile radius of our station.
• This approach provided me with eight zip codes to work with.

Automation Setup:

• Using a Jotform's conditional logic, I filtered our existing cadet applicants by these zip codes.
• For those outside the designated zip codes, I set up an automated message popup. This politely informed them that they did not meet our geographical criteria.The form was then disabled so no submission could be made.

Filtering and Communication Automation:

• I created a script to extract addresses from our applicant database.
• The script cross-referenced these addresses with our list of approved zip codes.
• Applicants outside the approved areas were flagged, and the script triggered an automated email response.
• For email automation, I used built in automations through Airtable.

Outcome: This solution significantly reduced our waitlist, ensuring that the remaining cadets are more likely to be committed and capable of long-term involvement. The automation not only saved time but also enhanced the efficiency and effectiveness of our recruitment process.

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