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When the question why do you want to be a firefighter many answer with:
I want to make an impact and be a difference in peoples' lives
Having a family of my own has taught me just how important being a close-knit group is and I want to be a part of that camaraderie
I enjoy working with people and having the opportunity to do it everyday is very exciting for me.
I want to fight fires and give 110% for this department and the community in which I serve.
What attracted me most to a career as a firefighter is the sense of family that comes with the job.
I think it is tremendously rewarding to be a team player
I look forward to not working at a desk 40+ hours a week.
The relationships built in this environment are family like, and not found it your typical 9-5 environment
I have made the commitment that I will do what it takes to become a firefighter.
All these are clone answers. We hear them over and over again in the oral boards. And you thought you were unique.
One of our officers was on an oral board for a big city. Several boards interviewed 965 candidates. His board interviewed 350 candidates. Imagine you were this officer and it is the fifth day of interviewing. You have just come back from lunch where the city has wined and dined you. You’re tired and you know you have another five days of interviews ahead of you.
The next candidate is called in. The first question you ask is, "What sparked your interest and why do you want to be a firefighter?" He proceeds to give you the same clone answers you have heard from almost every candidate for five days. Public service, helping people, not the same thing every day, blah blah blah.
The magic that you needed to hook up with the oral board has passed and you didn’t hook them into listening to your stuff. You have just scored yourself. Trust me. You can see the glaze come over the raters eyes. It’s like a deer caught in the headlights. They are gone and they won’t come back.
It’s not that you can’t use clone answers. You can. But first you need to deliver a signature story about you. Not a clone answer of anyone else. I haven’t met a candidate yet that couldn’t come up with signature stories. Signature stories demonstrate experience.
They also tell that you not only know the answer to a question, you’ve lived it. Firefighters love firefighter stories. If you open up with a signature story, you instantly separate yourself from the other clone candidates. Stories show the oral board who you really are. You capture the board and take them on a journey with a story they have never heard. Is this making sense? It’s that magic in your story that will make the rater say in their mind, this is what we have been looking for all day. This is who we want to hire.
The toughest thing for candidates to do in an oral is being themselves on purpose. When you are yourself, you become conversational because you are on your own turf. This alone can lower the stress and the butterflies.
An oral board member told me they had a candidate who didn’t answer all the questions the way they wanted him to do, but he had such great personal life experience in his answers (stories), they hired him anyway. This is human nature. Stories help bridge that gap. Clone answers and clone candidates don’t have a chance here.
Stories are more than facts. If you can create the excitement, emotion, the color and magic to relive of the actual event. You will capture the interest and a top score on that question. A big part of getting this job is convincing the oral board that you can do the job before you get it. Stories are convincing and can demonstrate your experience, even if they’re not fire related.
Some will say, "Captain Bob" how can you help so many candidates without making them into clones?" Good question. Simple answer. The real reason is nobody else can tell your story! Nobody! When you start lacing your answers with your personalized experiences is where you start to shorten that gap between you and that infamous badge.
Example:
I was doing private coaching with a candidate. He was telling a story about being a federal firefighter in Yellowstone when it burned. The story was not too exciting the way he was telling it. I had to stop and ask, "It sounds like you were trapped?" He was. Now he tells that story and the hairs start standing up on the back of your neck. You’re trapped with him. You can smell the smoke and see the embers dropping around you. Does this story make a difference? Please say yes.
I would not encourage you to use this story from a candidate about when his parents divorced. It could send the oral board in the wrong direction.
My parents had divorced when I was 18 years old and I learned an invaluable lesson through this experience. I learned that family was not something to take for granted.
During this period of my life, I became detached from my sense of family and was unhappy with how I chose to live my life. It was then that I was introduced to the fire service.
Reply: I would work more from the angle of this portion of your story:
A friend of mine had interested me in taking the core classes at Santa Ana College and I quickly realized how rewarding a career in the fire service could be. Some aspects that I was attracted to was the stability, the excitement, and the challenge of the job.
Watch out for stability though. It could mean pay, benefits, and time off to many raters. These are things you want to stay away from.
"Nothing counts 'til you have the badge . . . Nothing!"
Fire "Captain Bob"
www.eatstress.com
888-238-3959
I want to make an impact and be a difference in peoples' lives
Having a family of my own has taught me just how important being a close-knit group is and I want to be a part of that camaraderie
I enjoy working with people and having the opportunity to do it everyday is very exciting for me.
I want to fight fires and give 110% for this department and the community in which I serve.
What attracted me most to a career as a firefighter is the sense of family that comes with the job.
I think it is tremendously rewarding to be a team player
I look forward to not working at a desk 40+ hours a week.
The relationships built in this environment are family like, and not found it your typical 9-5 environment
I have made the commitment that I will do what it takes to become a firefighter.
All these are clone answers. We hear them over and over again in the oral boards. And you thought you were unique.
One of our officers was on an oral board for a big city. Several boards interviewed 965 candidates. His board interviewed 350 candidates. Imagine you were this officer and it is the fifth day of interviewing. You have just come back from lunch where the city has wined and dined you. You’re tired and you know you have another five days of interviews ahead of you.
The next candidate is called in. The first question you ask is, "What sparked your interest and why do you want to be a firefighter?" He proceeds to give you the same clone answers you have heard from almost every candidate for five days. Public service, helping people, not the same thing every day, blah blah blah.
The magic that you needed to hook up with the oral board has passed and you didn’t hook them into listening to your stuff. You have just scored yourself. Trust me. You can see the glaze come over the raters eyes. It’s like a deer caught in the headlights. They are gone and they won’t come back.
It’s not that you can’t use clone answers. You can. But first you need to deliver a signature story about you. Not a clone answer of anyone else. I haven’t met a candidate yet that couldn’t come up with signature stories. Signature stories demonstrate experience.
They also tell that you not only know the answer to a question, you’ve lived it. Firefighters love firefighter stories. If you open up with a signature story, you instantly separate yourself from the other clone candidates. Stories show the oral board who you really are. You capture the board and take them on a journey with a story they have never heard. Is this making sense? It’s that magic in your story that will make the rater say in their mind, this is what we have been looking for all day. This is who we want to hire.
The toughest thing for candidates to do in an oral is being themselves on purpose. When you are yourself, you become conversational because you are on your own turf. This alone can lower the stress and the butterflies.
An oral board member told me they had a candidate who didn’t answer all the questions the way they wanted him to do, but he had such great personal life experience in his answers (stories), they hired him anyway. This is human nature. Stories help bridge that gap. Clone answers and clone candidates don’t have a chance here.
Stories are more than facts. If you can create the excitement, emotion, the color and magic to relive of the actual event. You will capture the interest and a top score on that question. A big part of getting this job is convincing the oral board that you can do the job before you get it. Stories are convincing and can demonstrate your experience, even if they’re not fire related.
Some will say, "Captain Bob" how can you help so many candidates without making them into clones?" Good question. Simple answer. The real reason is nobody else can tell your story! Nobody! When you start lacing your answers with your personalized experiences is where you start to shorten that gap between you and that infamous badge.
Example:
I was doing private coaching with a candidate. He was telling a story about being a federal firefighter in Yellowstone when it burned. The story was not too exciting the way he was telling it. I had to stop and ask, "It sounds like you were trapped?" He was. Now he tells that story and the hairs start standing up on the back of your neck. You’re trapped with him. You can smell the smoke and see the embers dropping around you. Does this story make a difference? Please say yes.
I would not encourage you to use this story from a candidate about when his parents divorced. It could send the oral board in the wrong direction.
My parents had divorced when I was 18 years old and I learned an invaluable lesson through this experience. I learned that family was not something to take for granted.
During this period of my life, I became detached from my sense of family and was unhappy with how I chose to live my life. It was then that I was introduced to the fire service.
Reply: I would work more from the angle of this portion of your story:
A friend of mine had interested me in taking the core classes at Santa Ana College and I quickly realized how rewarding a career in the fire service could be. Some aspects that I was attracted to was the stability, the excitement, and the challenge of the job.
Watch out for stability though. It could mean pay, benefits, and time off to many raters. These are things you want to stay away from.
"Nothing counts 'til you have the badge . . . Nothing!"
Fire "Captain Bob"
www.eatstress.com
888-238-3959
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