|
Becoming A Firefighter
or Officer-----The Complete Guide to Your Badge! Fire "Captain Bob"
|
|
Get an Immediate Edge and Bonus when you sign up for our Free Newsletter here Store/Shop FREE 101 Inside Secrets How to Get A Badge Got A Question? Call or e-mail us here LA City Fire Now Testing Monthly Here! Los Angeles County Fire Testing There is a wealth of information in past issues of our newsletter here FREE 10 day test drive of inside secrets. Learn more here Five Nuggets for successful Oral boards 30 sample oral board questions Check out how candidates have improved their position in gaining a badge. What changed? Rob’s corner: Wisdom and insight Links to other firefighter web sites Coyright 1998 - 2008
"Getting the job of your dreams is like winning the lottery!"
"Nothing counts 'til you have the badge. Nothing!"
Anything less and you're still the bridesmaid.
Got A Question? Call or e-mail us here LA City Fire Now Testing Monthly Here! Get an Immediate Edge and Bonus when you sign up for our Free Newsletter here FREE 101 Inside Secrets How to Get A Badge There is a wealth of information in past issues of our newsletter here FREE 10 day test drive of inside secrets. Learn more here Five Nuggets for successful Oral boards 30 sample oral board questions Check out how candidates have improved their position in gaining a badge. What changed? Rob’s corner: Wisdom and insight Links to other firefighter web sites Coyright 1998 -2008
Get a Bonus when you sign up for our Free Newsletter here
You don't know what you're missing by not receiving our FREE Newsletter. Sign up here
|
Firefighters If you are on AOL or having trouble reading this newsletter, go here: http://www.eatstress.com/FireZineAug04.htm NOTE TO AOL MEMBERS. With AOL 9.0, you have to permit mail or this newsletter will be placed in your bulk sender or unknown sender list. Please add captbob@eatstress.com to your "people I know" list so that you will be sure to receive every issue of this newsletter.
Everyone Else: Please contact your IT department or ISP and instruct them to "whitelist," approve, and let through the e-mails from
captbob@eatstress.com
Ready???????
How can you expect go to an oral board when you don’t have your stuff together? I get e-mails and phone calls from candidates who get stuck while working on their scripts. I ask them if they are using a tape recorder to work out the kinks where they are having problems? Well, no, I wanted to get the script complete before I start practicing it with a tape recorder.
Play writers would have big difficulties completing their work if they didn’t put their work to life along the way. It’s the same way with your script. You are a work in progress. Like the playwright you need to practice the segments of your script as you are doing them to refine the material. This also helps to build on the other areas of your script. This is part of the learning curve of putting together your presentation to audition for the most exciting experience of your life. Becoming a Firefighter!
You can get a free workbooklete
to begin your script here
http://www.eatstress.com/workboolette.htm He has told me that you indeed need to ask questions, to them, it shows interest in the dept and you get more pts on the oral. I know your from the CAL. area but do you stand by your comments about when they ask you if you have any questions.. Thank them and get out... Or do you feel that since we are in a different area it might be different? A. This proves again that everyone becomes an expert. Since we help more firefighters get hired in the US of A and Canada I would say with few exceptions the same rules apply coast to coast. Q. it shows interest in the dept and you get more pts on the oral. A. I would be surprised if this question was scored. What in the world do you think you can say that would impress and stun the panel to make a difference? It can however have an affect in dropping your score like a wounded seagull in the final results. Asking the Panel Questions? Candidates have been told that you always have to ask a question if you're given the opportunity at the end of an interview or you will lose points. In a regular or corporate interview that might be true. Not true in a fire oral! You never, ever, ever, have a question. We don't expect you to have any questions. If that question is asked (here's the "Nugget") you can pause as if your gathering your thoughts and then say, "No, I think we covered everything." We had another candidate say, "You have probably heard about the charges against me for stealing over at the college?" No, we haven't, why don't you tell us about it. Here was another candidate who have done an outstanding job in his oral and he had to bring this up. His score. This is not the time to bring up anything like this. You never bring up a negative item unless the panel does. They probably won't. If they do, have a simple, short (I said simple and short) answer to the situation. Q. I know you have stated to say.... " I have no Questions... I think we have covered it all" ... But what if, in fact, you haven't. A. No matter what you might believe, you don’t want any surprises in your interview. By asking questions you could open a can or worms you may never close and hurt your score. I had a guy one day ask, "Since I live so far away, can I start at second step pay to help pay for my gas?" Q. The other thing I don't know if you have ever mentioned.. What about Polite Name Dropping. Not going in telling them you know everyone and there brother thus you should get hired. But what about something like .. I know Instructor *&**^& and he states this is a Great dept. in fact All the people I have spoken with state that this is one of the top notch dept. in our area. Something like that>>? A. I would never name drop. It comes across as clubbing the panel over the head trying to get more points.
========================================== We’ve all seen and heard the noise and distraction that a basketball player faces when making the free throw that will decide the game. A catcher will whisper things to a batter before he swings. The comments that go back and forth between linemen in football is the reason they don’t have microphones on the line. There is a term for all of these things; it’s called “getting into your kitchen”. It is the act of trying to distract the competition so they don’t perform at their best. When it’s your game day, the oral, you don’t want to let anyone into your kitchen. I would stay away from arriving early, Talking to people while you wait, or doing anything else that might cause you to loose your composure. Just seconds before my friend went in for a captains interview, he found out the guy sitting next to him had gotten a 100% on the written. If you have never been to where the test is, do some pre-planning. If it is a long distance away, or there could be traffic, get a hotel room nearby. Just a few seconds of being stuck on the freeway and thinking you might be late, could change all of your energy for you presentation and your delivery; not to mention people I have seen running from the parking lot because they cut it too close. If your interview is late enough in the day, I recommend exercising before you go. As long as you have time to cool off and shower, it helps in a lot of ways. First, a stressful situation will cause your body to produce adrenalin, which was great for our ancestors that needed to run away from things that were bigger than them, but doesn’t help in an interview. Adrenalin is a large muscle group stimulator and you can use some of it up by exercising. Second your body will release endorphins when you exercise and this will help you to relax. I don’t recommend that you have any coffee the day of your interview. You won’t fall asleep and it could combine with the normal nervousness you will have to give you the jitters. So, do what you can to put yourself in the right frame of mind for yourinterview and stay there? Don’t let anyone get into your kitchen.
CAPTAIN ROB (Thank you) Even if you’re a humorous
person, don’t plan on laying something funny on the panel. I’ve seen people
that weren’t funny to begin with try to include humor in their presentation. It
bombed. How would you feel in that situation if the room went dead silent and
everyone just stared at you? What if this humor was your opening statement?
This happened to Ted. He said it threw off his timing and confidence and he
really never recovered. If something funny happens naturally during your
interview or presentation, that’s a gift. Don’t plan on it happening.
CaptBob gives some great advice and has helped many of us knuckleheads get our badge, hopefully he knows just how much his advice means.
I would like to take this opportunity to thank you from the bottom of my heart. Nothing has rang more clearly in my head the last year than the words "Nothing counts until you get the badge absolutely nothing." I have been anticipating and preparing for the hiring process at my dream department for nearly a year now. Knowing that this opportunity only happens once every two years at best I intended to be prepared but where to start was a little less than clear. I knew that getting experience and education was a must especially for someone my age (20 years old) but I also know that a degree alone doesn't get you in the door. There is one thing that will get you your dream job that is more valuable than any skill, degree, or experience and that is your presentation. With Captain Bob's help, especially in preparing for the interview I was able to present myself in a way I never thought possible with my own personalized "gold nugget" answers. Captain Bob gave me the encouragement and direction to focus my efforts in the areas that helped me to succeed. This program gives you the confidence of a strong, tried and true foundation to work from. The advice is unparallel to anything else offered for one main reason, you learn how to best sell yourself and not be someone else. Pursuing a career in the fire service and accomplishing that goal at your dream department is the most exhilarating and accomplished feeling I have ever had and I wish this for anyone who is willing to work hard for it and never give up. I look at my experience with Captain Bob and his personal coaching as being my greatest ally throughout the whole testing process and being able to have peace of mind knowing that all my efforts were being focuses on a method that has proven itself thousands of times. Thanks for everything Captain Bob (especially the tape recorder). I start my academy tomorrow at the Anchorage Fire Department. Ryan Staten PWC, Here I Come! (Thank you CaptBob!)
Well, it appears some cosmic brain fart has caused the Fire
and Rescue in Virginia to decide they want to hire a knucklehead like me. (I
suspect a little "Puff, Puff, Pass" must have been occurring while they were
making this decision, but who am I to complain? Hi Captain Bob Just to let you know I got the job of my dreams!! Thanks for you help Sincerely, M. Rice You talked to me late one evening last November about what I could do to change my less than honorable military discharge. Well, it worked! Your program helped putting the pieces together in making my oral board rating number #2. I just got the call and start in 2 weeks. Mike Age 39 from Virginia. Captain Bob: I am already a Firefighter/Paramedic in Southern CA, but now I get to go work for my dream department!! This department has been my #1 for years and has one of the most rigorous testing processes in the state. Thanks to your help, I was able to pass every hurdle and get the badge! I have recommended your website and pamphlets to every person I know trying to get hired. This even goes for guys I know who are currently on the job and want to go to another department. Thanks again!!!! -Justin The biggest thing I learned from your program was to use my life experiences to draw the oral board panel in to listen to my stories. Add another badge to your list sir. Gary More badges here: http://www.eatstress.com/badgesnew.htm To see how candidates have
improved their position in gaining a badge ========================================== ========================================== We are sick and tired of hearing about how dumb people in the South are. We challenge any so-called smart Yankee to take this exam administered by the University of Arkansas Engineering Department:
1. Calculate the smallest limb diameter on a persimmon tree that will support a 10-pound possum. 2. Which of these cars will rust out the quickest when placed on blocks in your front yard? A '65 Ford Fairlane, a '69 Chevrolet Chevelle or a '64 Pontiac GTO. 3. If your uncle builds a still which operates at a capacity of 20 gallons of shine produced per hour, how many car radiators are required to condense the finished product? 4. A woodcutter has a chainsaw which operates at 2700 RPM. The density of the pine trees in the plot to be harvested is 470 per acre. The plot is 2.3 acres in size. The average tree diameter is 14 inches. -- -- How many Budweisers will be drunk before the trees are cut down? 5. If every old refrigerator in the state vented its charge of R-12 Freon simultaneously, what would be the percentage decrease in the ozone layer? 6. A front porch is constructed of 2x8 pine on 24-inch centers with a field rock foundation. The span is 8 feet and the porch length is 16 feet. The porch floor is 1-inch rough sawn pine. When the porch collapses, how many hound dogs will be killed? 7. A man owns a Tennessee house and 3.7 acres of land in a hollow with an average slope of 15%. The man has five children. Can each of his grown children place a mobile home on the man's land and still have enough property for their electric appliances to sit out on the front porch? 8. A 2-ton truck is overloaded and proceeding 900 yards down a steep slope on a secondary road at 45 MPH. The brakes fail. Given average traffic conditions on secondary roads, what is the probability that the truck will strike a vehicle with a muffler? 9. A coal mine operates a NFPA Class 1, Division 2 Hazardous Area. The mine employs 120 miners per shift. A gas warning is issued at the beginning of the 3rd shift. How many cartons of unfiltered Camels will be smoked during that shift? 10. At a reduction in the gene pool variability rate of 7.5% per generation, how long will it take a town which has been bypassed by the Interstate to breed a country-western singer?
|
|