Education

[scfirefighter12]

How much difference does it make when it comes to getting hired if you have a B.A. in a Fire Service field as well as military service and prior volly FF experience?

[CaptBob]

Do you already have these credentials? If so each one can have an impact only if you learn how to take a firefighter interview so you will know how to make a presentation that will separate you from the other candidates. I’ve seen candidates with great credentials yet they couldn’t present the package at the interview. And, if you can’t present the package you will never, ever, see a badge.

To prove the point about credentials and learning how to take a firefighter interview consider this true story:

We had a candidate who was a volunteer taking his third test to be hired as a paid member. When this guy was out of town, the village didn’t have an idiot.

He went through our program and did not one, but two coaching sessions (no one has done that before). We literally held him together with crazy clue to get him into the interview room. Guess what? He got hired.

The next week, he made this posting on a bulletin board, “I will show you how to get a firefighter job.” The village idiot had become the expert overnight on how to get hired. I couldn’t believe what I was reading. He received thirty e-mails. His secret? He learned how to take a firefighter interview, which is like no other.

If the village idiot got hired, you can get a badge too! That’s right!

From: BC Steve Prziborowski,

“Do what you have to do be more marketable so you can take more tests and have something more to offer a department, but remember that it all comes down to that 15 to 30 minute oral interview. I’ve seen some awesome candidates with resumes packed full of accomplishments that couldn’t sell them self in an interview to even make the top 50%.”

[scfirefighter12]

I have all of these credentials with the exception of the B.A. that I will finish up within the next year. I am not sure whether or not the departments that I am looking into when I get out of the service do oral interviews in their process or not, but I can't imagine that they would not. So I guess the best thing for me to do is start prepping now for that interview that way when the time comes I am well prepared and do not stumble through it. I in no way want to allow an interview to stand in the way of me and the best career a person can have. Thanks for the insight.