FireZineJul05

Firefighters

Since 100% of your score in obtaining a firefighter badge is in the oral
board, what are you missing that's keeping you from gaining that badge?

Over 2,282 badges and counting have received their badges from this program! Thousands more have been hired by using the free information from our web site and having their questions answered by phone or e-mail.

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Perseverance and spirit have done wonders in all ages.—

--General George Washington

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know that wants to shorten the learning curve to get
that badge!

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             In This Issue
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1. Quick Presentation Skills Tip

2. Entry Level Skills Tip

3. Robs Corner

4. Promotional Level Skills Tip
     (Entry level should read this too)

5. New Badges

6. Humor

7. Resource Websites for Candidates

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1.      Quick Presentation Skills Tip
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Salvo Drop Answers

I gave a free collage seminar titled, “It’s Your Turn in the Hot Seat” last week. The format was for candidates to volunteer to sit in the hot seat and answer an oral board question. One candidate who arrived late leaped at the opportunity for the next question. Once he was in the hot seat I asked him the question, “What do you know about our department?”

The candidate proceeded to give this fast, rapid fire, long endless answer. It was like he was trying to cram everything in he could think of down to fine details. Just when you though he was coming in for a landing, he touched down and took flight again. You could see the glaze coming over those in the room (as you would see from an oral board panel) as he continued.

When he finally ended the first comment from the room was, wasn’t that answer too long? The attendees saw first hand how these long endless salvo drop answers can start to work against you to the point of overkill, making you sound anal. Oh, yea this is the guy we want to stick in a station and drive everyone else crazy.

One candidate said he had been told by many other candidates and firefighters to keep answering until they stop you. Well, put your self in the position of a panel member and you have to stop this guy to get him to shut up. How would you rate them?

Keep in mind too that in a 20-minute interview you will have about 5 questions and answers. If you go endless in your answers, you might get cut off before you got to deliver some of the best stuff. If the interview is timed, you could not have enough time to complete all of the questions.

We refer to these long answers as Salvo Drops.

Salvo Drops

This is from my friend and associate Tom Dominguez: Answering the question longer than a two minute response can be considered a salvo drop. A salvo drop is where an air tanker drops the whole load of retardant or water on a fire all at once instead of spreading it out. All retardant compartment doors are opened at the same time. This is done when the retardant is needed all at once. Do you need to “salvo drop” the interview panel on every interview question? One exception is the answer to the question, “What Have you Done to Prepare for the Position?” You don’t want to hold anything back here. Dump the whole load.

Tom is right about salvo drops. I’ve had candidates where the instant we would finish a question they would immediately start like a parrot on this salvo drop, never coming up for air, or giving the raters an opportunity to interact. Often it was word for word, without being personalized to the candidate, out of one of the many books out there with suggested oral board answers. Valuable points are lost here.

Once again, since oral board scores are calculated in hundredths of points (82.15, 87.63, 90.87, etc), the goal is to keep building on a few hundredths of points here, a few there, pulling away from the parrot salvo dropping clones.

More on Salvo Drop answers here: http://www.eatstress.com/bonusnugget.htm

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Check out http://www.eatstress.com/newpage2.htm and learn how entry
level and promotional candidates are improving their interview scores up
to 15 points and nailing that badge!

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Want Captain Bob to come speak to your group? See
http://www.eatstress.com/seminar.htm

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Special Moment

Last year I met a candidate who had been trying to become a firefighter for 5 years.  Like many other candidates he was stuck somewhere in the process. We took him under our wing. Shortly after he was offered a job with a great department.

Yesterday I took two of my grandsons to a parade.  In the middle of the parade a huge fire rescue rig with lights and siren passed by.  Someone called out, “Hey, Captain Bob!”  On top of the rig was this same proud firefighter, standing tall in his uniform with a big smile.  He pointed to his badge, put his hands over his heart, and bowed his head.

Humbling.

Made my day.

"Nothing counts 'til you have the badge . . . Nothing!"

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2. Entry Level Skills Tip
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It has Nothing to do with Age – Younger, in the Middle or Older!

This from an oral board rater:

To all of you out there who think you're too young to get hired, guess again. My Dept. is in the process of hiring a candidate who is 20 yrs. old. This individual has a FF Academy and an EMT-B card and that's pretty much it. No medic cert., volunteer time, reserve time, nothing! However, I had the pleasure of sitting on the oral board for this candidate and I must say I was truly impressed.

We were handed a very simple one-page resume, which was easy to read and not time consuming. I was very impressed by the maturity, honesty, and basically just the overall likeability that this candidate was able to show us. The candidate had definitely practiced and been coached on the oral board portion of the hiring process which is the reason this person will soon be wearing a badge.

It was also obvious that the candidate took everything very seriously and had well prepared for every aspect of the oral interview. Even though the only work experience this candidate spoke of was a part time restaurant job, he was able to use that to his advantage during the interview.

The candidate moved on to the Chief's interview and must have done incredibly well because he is soon to start our academy. This is not a fluke or a one-time thing. It happens all the time! Great mentors such as Captain Bob continually pound into you guys that the interview is everything and he is absolutely right!

Don't sell yourself short when it comes time to take advantage of a golden opportunity. Visit the stations, research the city and the dept., get a nice suit, do mock orals, ask for help, or whatever it takes. I hope you guys feel some inspiration from this because it is true and it does happen. Good Luck!!

Reply CB: Younger Candidates

I’m not surprised because I talk to younger candidates all the time who figure out early to gain a few credentials, learn how to take a firefighter interview, marry their skills with the qualifications of the job, become beyond their years in maturity, stun the oral board panel with a clean fresh presentation that enable them to fly past the flock of other candidates with more credentials and nail that that badge like the one above.

I’ve heard from a number of candidates whose first oral ever was with LA City where they scored high enough to leave with a background packet. At first their friends and classmates didn’t believe them. Then, they were angry because they’ve been testing for years and didn't make the cut. Bottom line these candidates learned how to take an interview!

This just in:

Captain Bob, I got the phone call today! I start June 27th at Prince William County, VA. Thanks for all the help. It Gold Package must work because I am only 20 years old and only a Basic EMT. Thanks Again. Recruit Stuart

Another:
While I was going to school, many of my friends with similar resumes were testing for Fire Departments, but not passing the oral board or the psych test. After seeing many awesome Firefighters have troubles with interviewing, it became blatantly apparent that the best resume in the world would not get me a job, but the best interview skills most definitely would. When it was time to finally apply for my dream job, I took your advise to heart. Now here I am living the dream just turning age 21. Thank You Very Much. Casey Johnson Anchorage Fire Department, Firefighter/EMT

Hope is the Anchor to the Soul

More on Younger Candidates here: http://www.eatstress.com/young.htm

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If someone asks you what you need to help you get a firefighter badge,
tell them you want our new Gold Package!!! Check it out here!:
http://www.eatstress.com/goldpackage.htm

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Wait! You can now listen to segments from our Gold Package CD Program on your computer or MP3 player here: http://eatstress.com/mp3entryintro.htm

Bottom line getting a badge is all presentation skills!

Check out http://www.eatstress.com/faq.htm for the FREE 101 Inside
Secrets How to Get a Badge!

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New Feature: The Inside Secrets on the CPAT or Agility. More Nuggets here: http://www.eatstress.com/agility2.htm
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Ask Captain Bob any questions

E-mail Mailto:captbob@eatstress.com

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The secret Formula to get a badge here: http://www.eatstress.com/formula.htm
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3. Robs Corner
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You’re doing What?

I was talking to a medic the other day and he told me he was making extra money cage fighting while he waited to get hired. He is in the process right now with a big department. Please be careful.

You need your mind to pass the written test, your personality and intellect to get you through the oral, but you have got to have your body to get through the physical and then the academy. Protect your assets. You may be passing physicals with no problem, but you haven’t seen anything until you go through an academy. We have guys loose 10-20 pounds regularly. If I thought I might be going to an academy in the near future, I would be out running every day, doing finger tip push-ups and anything else I could think of, to get into the best shape possible.

I’m sure there would be some red flags concerns raised during the psych test when up to 40% already fail.

When I was on probation as a captain, I didn’t snow ski the hard runs, and didn’t surf in the dangerous areas, and I was not in danger of loosing my job. If you get hurt, either in the hiring process, or while you are on probation, it is a rare department that will keep you on. You have to work too hard to get to the point where you can see the light at the end of the tunnel, don’t take any unnecessary chances. Capt. Bob and I get calls quite regularly from people wanting to know what to do after they got hurt on probation, or during the process and couldn’t start. It is sad to say, but there is very little that can be done. They don’t owe you anything and they will send you packing. So be careful, you will have your whole career to try and be Evil Knievel.

From a candidate:

Do every thing you can to make sure you are a top candidate and get the chief's interviews. The best $200 I ever spent was with Capt. Rob. After my coaching session my interview scores soared and I started getting Chief's interviews. I knew then the badge was possible. My wife could see it and the time I devoted to my quest was less noticed. You will need to sacrifice some personal time for family time.
Good Luck!

CAPTAIN ROB (Thank you)
NRTC@SONIC.NET
http://www.eatstress.com

You can read more of Rob's wisdom by visiting
http://www.eatstress.com/robs_corner.htm

Captain Rob is Captain Bob's Son. He does all the entry level coaching
by phone nationwide. You can contact him direct with your questions or
set up a coaching appointment at 707-869-1330. or e-mail Rob at
nrtc@sonic.net

For more on entry level coaching visit
http://www.eatstress.com/private%20coaching.htm

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4. Promotional Level Skills Tip
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Topic Selection

In an assessment center you might be given the task of picking one of a few topics that are affecting your department, given up to an hour to prepare a presentation on your solutions to a panel. The Nugget here is to try to pick a topic that does not involve a budget item or spending any money.

One candidate selected overlapping station coverage areas for medics that would shorten the time to be back in service.

Good day, Capt Bob.

You may add one more badge to the list. I spoke with two friends who enlisted your help for company officer assessments and both were promoted first round. I am already a captain and have been testing in other departments for battalion and division chief positions. Having never been through a formal assessment center I invested in your program. I am happy to say that I begin as a shift deputy chief with a department in Ohio next month. Thank you for your kind assistance; I will continue to recommend your program. In appreciation, Joe McLean

Captain Bob, I just wanted to drop you a thank you note. I just tested for Lt. in Arlington TX., pop. 350,000. I had finished #1 on my Engineers test just 2 years before and felt like I had a pretty good study technique down. Well, we changed testing vendors and just like you state in your intro., the test was less than quality; I finished 5th. A friend of mine called me about 5 days before my assessment testing and told me that he had found your website and that I should look into it. I did and was impressed. I overnighted your program and long story short, I moved into 3rd place on the list. Thanks; it really did make a difference for me. Respectfully, Wes Montgomery

For more on our promotional program visit
http://www.eatstress.com/promo.htm

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5. New Badges
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Dear Capt Bob, and Rob

I just want to send you both this email to let you know how thankful I am for all the help you given me over the past 5 years. You can share this with the visitors on your site and who ever else you wish. I have been waiting a long time to write this letter, and I’m happy that I’m finally able to write this.

On February 25 I received the call I’ve been waiting a long time for. After testing with 20 different fire departments in the last 6 years, I’ve finally received the call after testing for #21!! I had to listen to my voice mail 3 times because I couldn’t believe it. Even to this day I haven’t erased that message and I listen once every couple of weeks. Man does it get my blood pumping. Like many of the candidates out there testing, this has been an uphill battle every step of the way. I even stopped testing for about a year and half, which is unusual for me because I’m not one to settle. However, after a couple of frustrating testing experiences, and a very well paying job, I found myself slowly giving up on my dream. I then had the opportunity to take a college level fire academy and it sparked the fire inside me again. I pulled out the tape of my private coaching session and started practicing like there was no tomorrow. I even went a step further in practicing for my interviews by cutting out head shots in magazines, blowing them up on my copier, and taping them on my bathroom mirror to serve as my mock oral board. Doing so really helped take off the edge when it came time for the real thing. After that I went to my first oral board since “my break”, and I passed it! Unfortunately I didn’t get hired. However, on my next attempt… Well, that’s why I’m sending you this email. You both have been the best mentor’s anyone could have in working towards this career. I can’t even begin to count the endless times I called for advice. You both were always there to help. Captain Rob thanks for the wonderful coaching session. I think my tape is about to fall apart. The best part of all in this long journey was that I was able to surprise my VERY PATIENT wife at work. I went to a sign company and had them print this big thank you sign. I then set it on her desk next to huge arrangement of calla lilies, which happen to be her favorite. When she made it back to her desk she had quite a confusing look on her face. That look soon turned to disbelief, and then again to just as big of a smile as I had on my face. I still get chills thinking about that moment.

Now that it’s early June I’m almost finished with the academy. I’ve passed all the written and practical testing, and now have a few additional classes before graduation on June 24. Once again thank you so much. You both helped my dreams come true.

Sincerely, Chris Folse

More badges here: http://www.eatstress.com/badgesnew.htm

To see how candidates have improved their position in gaining a badge
visit
http://www.eatstress.com/newpage152.htm

Wait! Captain Bob wants to give you a 10 day test drive of selected inside secrets how to get a badge. Learn more here:

http://www.eatstress.com/testdriveintro.htm

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Check out the current "Bonus Nugget" oral board tip
http://www.eatstress.com/bonusnugget.htm

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6. Humor

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Yes, it's that magical time of the year again when the Darwin Awards are
bestowed, honoring those misfit members of our world who deserve most to be removed from the gene pool. Here then, are the glorious winners:

1. When his 38-calibre revolver failed to fire at his intended victim
during a hold-up in Long Beach, California, would-be robber James Elliot
did something that can only inspire wonder. He peered down the barrel
and tried the trigger again. This time it worked.....

And now, the honorable mentions:

2. The chef at a hotel in Switzerland lost a finger in a meat cutting
machine and, after a little hopping around, submitted a claim to his
insurance company. The company expecting negligence sent out one of its
men to have a look for himself. He tried the machine and lost a finger.
The chef's claim was approved.

3. A man who shoveled snow for an hour to clear a space for his car
during a blizzard in Chicago returned with his vehicle to find a woman
had taken the space. Understandably, he shot her.

4. After stopping for drinks at an illegal bar, a Zimbabwean bus driver
found that the 20 mental patients he was supposed to be transporting
from Harare to Bulawayo had escaped. Not wanting to admit his
incompetence, the driver went to a nearby bus stop and offered everyone
waiting there a free ride. He then delivered the passengers to the
mental hospital, telling the staff that the patients were very excitable
and prone to bizarre fantasies. The deception wasn't discovered for 3 days.

5. An American teenager was in the hospital recovering from serious head
wounds received from an oncoming train. When asked how he received the
injuries, the lad told police that he was simply trying to see how close
he could get his head to a moving train before he was hit.

6. A man walked into a Louisiana Circle-K, put a $20 bill on the
counter, and asked for change. When the clerk opened the cash drawer,
the man pulled a gun and asked for all the cash in the register, which
the clerk promptly provided. The man took the cash from the clerk and
fled, leaving the $20 bill on the counter. The total amount of cash he
got from the drawer... $15. (If someone points a gun at you and gives you money, is a crime committed?)

7. Seems an Arkansas guy wanted some beer pretty badly. He decided that
he'd just throw a cinderblock through a liquor store window, grab some
booze, and run. So he lifted the cinderblock and heaved it over his head
at the window. The cinderblock bounced back and hit the would-be thief on the head,
knocking him unconscious. The liquor store window was made of Plexiglas.
The whole event was caught on videotape.

8. As a female shopper exited a New York convenience store, a man
grabbed her purse and ran. The clerk called 911 immediately, and the
woman was able to give them a detailed description of the snatcher.
Within minutes, the police apprehended the snatcher. They put him in
the car and drove back to the store. The thief was then taken out of the
car and told to stand there for a positive ID. To which he replied,
"Yes, officer, that's her. That's the lady I stole the purse from."

9. The Ann Arbor News crime column reported that a man walked into a
Burger King in Ypsilanti, Michigan, at 5 a.m., flashed a gun, and
demanded cash. The clerk turned him down because he said he couldn't open the cash register without a food order. When the man ordered onion rings, the
clerk said they weren't available for breakfast. The man, frustrated, walked away.

A 5-STAR STUPIDITY AWARD WINNER!

10. When a man attempted to siphon gasoline from a motor home parked on
a Seattle Street, he got much more than he bargained for. Police arrived
at the scene to find a very sick man curled up next to a motor home near
spilled sewage. A police spokesman said that the man admitted to trying
to steal gasoline and plugged his siphon hose into the motor home's
sewage tank by mistake. The owner of the vehicle declined to press
charges, saying that it was the best laugh he'd ever had.

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7. Resource Websites for Candidates: http://www.eatstress.com/hotlinks.htm

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For Back Issues of Fire-Zine
http://www.eatstress.com/firezinearchive.htm
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To subscribe or leave
http://www.eatstress.com/firezine_signup.htm
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==> SHARE YOUR TIP or STORY. Send it to captbob@eatstress.com

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Nothing counts til you have the badge . . . Absolutely Nothing!
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Code 3 Publishing. Fire Captain Bob Smith, Speaker, Author, Publisher
Information Products on How to Get a Badge.
Web site: http://www.eatstress.com Over 300 pages of helpful
information.
5565 Black Ave. Pleasanton, CA 94566 (near San Francisco)
Phone: 888-238-3959 local 925-846-3959 Fax: 925-846-9650
E-mail Mailto:captbob@eatstress.com

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