Becoming A Firefighter
or Officer-----The Complete Guide to Your Badge!
Fire "Captain Bob"
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Becoming A Firefighter
or Officer-----The Complete Guide to Your Badge! Fire "Captain Bob"
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Get an Immediate Edge and Bonus when you sign up for our Free Newsletter here FREE 101 Inside Secrets How to Get A Badge Store/Shop Got A Question? Call or e-mail us here LA City Fire Now Testing Monthly Here! Los Angeles County Fire Testing 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
"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.
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Leave FireZine easily here:
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http://www.eatstress.com/firezinearchive.htm At an auction a violin was the next item up. There were no takers on the opening bid of $200.00. One of the bidders asked if he could play it? After a few minutes of tune up he started to play the violin. The room fell silent with the stunning quality of this violin. When the bidding re-opened the price soared. Closing bid was $6,000. It’s the same with you oral boards. The panel members will never know the quality of you as a candidate until you can tune up (learn how to take an interview) and stun them into silence with a quality seamless presentation so when the bidding is over you take home the prize. At the Chabot College seminar last week everyone quickly learned what they thought was prepared and unique fell short of getting top scores, especially those candidates who volunteered to sit in the hot seat to give it their best shot. This also applied to many in the packed room who gave their .02 cents as the questions were opened up to the attendees. It proves what many on this board have tried to get across. Learn how to take an interview because it will be the deciding factor in whether you will gain a badge or not. Here are some of the comments: There were so many critical points that I was not aware of. Pat The interactive format getting info from many people was amazing. Jim The grilling of everybody was a great learning experience. Nathan Then this: Captain Bob, I'm a Chabot College Fire technology student. I'm just emailing you to say THANK YOU! A fellow classmate let me listen to the double CD. I've attended all of your seminars at Chabot, but after being able to put the CD's in my car and let it "soak" in (while I'm stuck in traffic)...the information really hit home. I just had my interview for L.A. City last week. I went in with energy, and enthusiasm... basically letting my hunger and desire for the job shine through. Since I was prepared, I felt more relaxed...and I couldn't wipe that smile off my face. Lo and behold, I was scheduled a background interview for next week. This is the farthest I have ever been in a FF interview process. So now I'm just filling out my BG packet...waiting to get back to L.A. next week. I know you hear this all the time...but THANK YOU for pointing me in the right direction. I do feel more confident in my interviews. Zeki
Reply: In order to get a background packet, Zeki had to have a high score on his oral. He was tuned up and ready to play his music. Your tune up package is waiting for you here: http://www.eatstress.com/goldpackage.htm An update: Capt Bob, The day is almost here. April 24,2005, that is my 1 year mark I have passed my Rookie test and am counting the days to completion of probation. It has been truly an incredible ride. The help you gave me was wonderful and it allowed me the chance to prove I belong with my dream department. The fun that I get to call work, if everyone knew how great this was they'd pay you Thousands upon thousands of dollars for your help. Thank you, John Vail Reply: The above testimony is the best reward.
========================================== Question: Just recently, I began testing for fire departments in California (predominantly southern California). I am a fire academy graduate and I have two years of experience on a basic life-support ambulance. I am also currently testing for auxiliary and volunteer positions for added experience and my firefighter 1 certification. In January, I’m planning on going to paramedic school. My question is this... I’m only 20-year old- I won’t be 21 until August. Does being this young hurt me whether or not I shine on my written and oral tests? I don’t see too many rookies this young with departments and I don’t hear about people being hired this young. LCM. Reply: As long as you can present your package at the oral board, age should not be an issue. The problem is many younger candidates don’t think they have the life experience needed. You never tell the board your age. They won’t know until the day you’re hired. That’s the law. Many students at Shasta Fire College didn’t feel they had any experience that would apply to the position. That was until I asked several candidates to tell me about their first and succeeding jobs in life; no matter how menial it seemed. Many had paper routes, mowed lawns or worked at Burger King. O.K., what did you learn? Once the answers started flowing, we heard how they learned to work hard, had responsibility, provide customer service and how to work as a team. Did you participate in sports in school? Isn’t that working as a team? Do any of these areas apply to the fire service? You bet! So any time you can relate your personal life experience in answering an oral board question, you are telling the oral board that you not only know the answer the question, you have already lived it! When the board asks what you have done to prepare for the position, don’t forget to rewind the videotape of your life and create an early trail of how you learned how to work hard, have responsibility, and work as a team. The biggest part of getting a high enough oral board score that will get you the badge is convincing the oral board you can do the job before you get it. Stories are convincing evidence that you are the match for the badge! I knew several fire explorers who were too young to test. They handed out flyers at written tests in exchange for products and coaching. At an Oakland Fire badge ceremony, one of the fire scouts got a badge on the first test he was old enough to take. You have never seen a happier rookie firefighter. This just in: I received a conditional offer this last Thursday April 8th!! I just wanted to say thank you to everyone on this board that has given advice or helped in any way. I also wanted to thank Capt. Bob. I received his gold package about two weeks before my interview. I read it everyday as much as I could; I watched the DVD and listened to the CD. I went into the interview with so much confidence it was amazing. It was like I knew the answers to all the questions before they even asked them!! And just for a little history. This was my fourth test! I went to an academy and have my E.M.T and some other stuff, but I'm still so new to taking tests. This was my second oral board I have ever had, and I got hired! I also just turned 25. So for all you young guys out there, it is possible, if you work hard enough, and want it bad enough. To everyone on this board, THANK YOU!! I have received so much helpful information from so many of you on this site, I am so grateful!! Thank you so much for everything. Again, thank you Capt. Bob!! Your info truly played a huge part in me getting the offer. I learned so much from your material and from you, I am forever grateful!! THANK YOU EVERYONE!! It's an honor and a dream come true to be apart of your great profession and brotherhood!!! Will. In addition to the above we have had several younger candidates with few or any orals get invited to a LA City interview and leave with a background packet. Their friends and classmates with more education, experience and years at trying at first don’t believe them. Then are angry how they got a higher score to get a background packet and they didn’t. Here are a few: I used your the tips in your Gold package, which gave he confidence I needed To do well on the LA City Oral. I scored a background check. I was able to answer every question the interviewers threw at me with confidence. Capt. Bob! I took my interview for LA City on Wednesday and left with a background packet! This was my third interview and I felt confident going in. Your book and your e-mails have helped a great deal. Brandon This is Jeff. I had a coaching session through you last wed. Well I had my LA City oral yesterday. They let me know right away, they handed my a background packet. Jeff Reply:
If you’re not going forward in the hiring process you have to start asking
yourself why? More here:
http://www.eatstress.com/stuck.htm http://www.eatstress.com/testdriveintro.htm
Bottom line getting a badge is
all presentation skills! I
was talking to a firefighter at my son’s ball game the other day, and we got to
talking about attitude and being the new guy. He told me he had been on a
department for over five years when he decided to lateral to another
department. I don’t remember if it was for the call volume, or chances for
advancement, but he decided to switch, and he knew how to do it. A promotional rater for an outside agency had some interesting comments on written exercises after a large city testing process. He said overall too many candidates had poor writing skills, poor syntax, grammar, punctuation and spelling. The most important observation though was that the majority of candidates didn’t grasp the big picture of what is entailed in advancing to an officer position. The key here is if you know you have a written exercise as part of an upcoming promotional testing process is to start writing reports, goals, plans, and current issues affecting you department. To more you write, the better you will be on test day. This simple formula for writing exercises that can help you through the process:
1. Introduction 2. Three major points (and examples to support major points) 3. Questions & Answers 4. Summary 5. Closing Leave two or three spaces between paragraphs so if you want to come back an addition point or two there is room. Strike a couple more promotional badge! Capt. Bob, My name is Bobby and this is my success story, so please read it. I would like to Thank You for the information that you have provided for hundreds of firefighters nationwide, like myself, with the tools to succeed in our chosen profession. I purchased your promotional package about a year ago and had made up my mind that I wanted to be a Fire Captain for my department. Although I never called you personally or had any coaching, your program gave me the CONFIDENCE I needed to carry me from start to finish. I was an Engineer for over 2 years and I had some experience under my belt and was willing to accept the responsibilities of a Company Officer. I was competing against 24 other firefighters with more years and experience than me, but I never let this discourage my efforts and ability. I had studied all the information provided in your package along with several other study materials pertinent to my department. I used all the resources available to me in order to prepare myself for this stressful process which I had chosen to be a part of. I spoke to aspiring Captains and other supervisors (listen well-they know what their talking about), became involved in my departments education advancement program (received 2 A.A.S. degrees), participated in our Chief's Advisory Board (find solutions for problems), and started making that leadership transition of taking care of the troops by setting the example. This was my first time taking our Captain's test which proved to be an extensive process. The first thing we did was take a written test and I scored #1. This was a motivational booster for me, but I knew this only counted for a small portion of the overall score. Only the top 12 written scores advanced to the next phase. Next came the assessment center which included a leaderless group exercise, essay writing skill exercise, oral panel exam, and a fire scenario exercise. A week later, the scores came out and I received a phone call from our HR department telling me I had the highest score and I was #1. I had those butterflies running from my head to my toes all over again. Next came the meeting with my Chief. Although I was nervous, I kept my cool and relied on all the things I had used previously to prepare myself. Days later, my Chief called me and told me I was going to be a Fire Captain for my department. This is the best feeling in the world. The first person I called was my wife of 18 years. Without her love and support, I would not have succeeded. Two days later, I was promoted to a Fire Captain and proud to be an Officer for my department. Semper Fi Captain B. Valles Fire Station #2 Odessa Fire Department Odessa,TX For more on our promotional
program visit I just wanted to let you know that after purchasing your program a year ago and using in my last couple of testing processes. I finally achieved my goal and today I received my final offer of employment with the Anne Arundel County MD Fire Department. I scored 100% on the oral board's in Anne Arundel and walked out of the interview knowing that I had nailed it like you said in your program. I also was offered employment with the Montgomery County MD Fire and Rescue Service and actually had to pick where I wanted to work. This was unreal to have to do since I have been testing for 6 years and finally have received the offer. Your program is excellent and I recommend it to everyone and I just can't Thank You enough. This is a dream come true and I just want to Thank You for your program. Thank You, Ronnie Carr III LaVale, MD I just wanted to write you to say thank you so much for your product!!! I had tried to get on with several departments in my area for almost 6 months before I ran across your web site. I had always done fine on the written tests, but struggled in the interviews giving the same clone answers-but didn't even know it. I decided to give your products a shot and bought the 'worth its weight in' Gold Package and the Fire Fighter Test Encyclopedia. I was constantly reading the books, listening to the CD, or watching the DVD! I went out and bought a new suit, shoes, shirt, tie, socks, and yes...even underwear! :) Also, I bought a tape recorder to practice my interview questions. I will start with the first department I interviewed with after using your product on May 9. Not only did I do better on the written portion of the testing, but also in the interviews, using my own personal "nuggets", wowed the oral board. They put their pens down, looked up and sat back in their chairs with wide eyes as I explained to them why I wanted to work for their department-using some of the tips I picked up from your book, CD, and DVD! Again, I cannot thank you enough for the service you offer...the information necessary to do well enough to gain the opportunity of a life time...WORK MY DREAM JOB IN MY DREAM DEPARTMENT! I am looking forward to joining the brotherhood of firefighters! Like you say, "It doesn't mean anything unless you've got the badge!"...and Now I will!!! Once again, THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU! -Michael
Capt. Bob, Hello, I am not sure if you remember me or not, but I have emailed you in the past about helpful tips and general questions about Fire Department hiring. Even though I never purchased your programs. I read all of your information and suggestions on your website and I am proud and honored to tell you that I got hired by a County Fire Department in Maryland. I got my oral results back and had a %100 and then I took the medical physical and passed. I got the call on Tuesday April 19 asking if I still wanted to work for the fire department. I just wanted to tell you that your help was very much appreciated and your websiteis awesome. Anyone that peruses a career with a fire department should be taking time and reading everything you offer on your site. Thank you once again, Lester CB: I don’t know if you remember me but you answered many of my pressing questions on the phone. I got your program. I did it! I start next week. Thank you for all your help. Gonzalo Miami More badges here: http://www.eatstress.com/badgesnew.htm
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========================================== You have 35
different members but only 2 last names on the roster. You've ever
walked through a Christmas display and came up with more than 3 new ideas for a
light scheme for your truck. ... the department slogan on your t-shirt is "get er done".
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Polygraph---Don’t even think
about going to polygraph without first checking out
www.polygraph.com
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