Becoming A
Firefighter or Officer-----The Complete
Guide to Your Badge! Fire "Captain Bob"
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HomeDon't Chitty Chat!Capt. Bob. I recently passed a written and agility for a dept. and had my oral interview the next day. I felt the interview went pretty well and am waiting to see if I made the final cut. During the course of the interview I was asked what have I done to prepare myself for this career. I had prepared 4 copies of several training cert. from classes that I have attend and passed them out to the board members. there were 5 cert. in each packet. Was this a giant boo boo ? They all looked at the packets and didn't seem to be negative. I was able to get all of the board members laughing when they asked me if I had any questions and I asked "How did I do ?" This seemed to relax them a lot (all of the board members were firefighters that were at the written and agility test) and we talked for 10 more mins after the interview was over, very informal with them asking me about the dept. I currently work for as a paid reserve firefighter, my family, ect. Good? Bad? Mathew "Captain Bob's" Reply Generally handing out material in an entry level oral is not a good idea because it upsets the normal flow of the interview and takes up too much time. They probably won't read them anyway. The time to have this material read is before you walk into the room. Have it placed with your application before the day of the test. This seemed pretty informal so it probably OK. You don't have enough time to chitty chat. I would be careful chatting after your interview. You might say something that you weren't prepared for (like them asking about the department) or something that could hurt you. You are applying for a snotty nose rookie position. If you came across as too familiar, it could work against you. Just because you work as a paid reserve doesn't give you any time in this situation. In fact it can give you false impressions that it can give you an advantage. You can find out more about this situation in the "Volunteer to Paid" section of the "Inside Secrets How to Get A Badge on our web site. Absolutely nothing counts 'til you have the badge. Nothing! "Captain Bob" Ask "Captain Bob" Any Question Fire "Captain Bob" Smith has coached countless entry level and promotional candidates to get their badge. He is a retired 28-year Hayward, Ca. Captain, speaker/author of the audio/video program "Conquer the Job Interview," the book "Fire Up Your Communication Skills" ISBN 09657620-6-8 and a member of the prestigious National Speakers Association. You can book him as a speaker or get a copy of his books and tapes by calling toll free at 888-238-3959. E-mail: captbob@verio.com Web site: http://www.eatstress.com |
