Becoming A Firefighter or Officer-----The Complete Guide to Your Badge!

Fire "Captain Bob"

"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.

Home

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?

Leave FireZine easily here:
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FireZine
Cutting edge interview skills to get that badge from Fire Captain Bob.
More than 2,204 candidates have received their badges from this program!
Oct 1, 2004.  Copyright Code 3 Publishing 2003
captbob@eatstress.com   web site:  www.eatstress.com  888-238-3959
(see bottom to leave "FireZine")

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     No one ever lost credibility by
           being interesting.
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Nothing counts til you have the badge . . . Absolutely Nothing!

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Please forward or recommend this FireZine to anyone you
know that wants to shorten the learning curve to get
that badge! 

If you are receiving this issue as a forward, and want
your own subscription, visit
 http://www.eatstress.com/firezine_signup.htm  

To leave this list see below

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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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First this:
Captain Bob will give a FREE presentation on What’s keeping you from
getting a firefighter Job? at Chabot College in Hayward (CA).

DATE: Sunday October 24, 2004

TIME: 1 pm to 3 pm

LOCATION: Room 916, Building 900 at Chabot

The free seminar is hosted by Captain Steve Prziborowski, Fire
Technology Coordinator at Chabot. If you’re planning on attending
please RSVP sprziborowski@chabotcollege.edu  to reserve a spot.

Bingo

You’ve played bingo right?  You have to have the right card (education), listen to the numbers drawn (experience), and be ready to call bingo when your final number comes up.  It’s the same thing trying to get hired as a firefighter.  You have to have all your ducks (numbers) in a row.

You get through the written and pass the agility with time to spare G-51.  You have taken your learned interview skills on the road so there are no surprises when you are invited to the departments you really want to work for.  You can’t believe how smooth your oral goes and how your signature nugget stories give you confidence and smiles from the panel I-22.   Two days later the call comes for your first chiefs interview.  The conditional job offer follows B-15. 

You prepared in advance by knowing what to expect in the background.  Your credit history is clear, driving record sterling, and previous employers praise you.  You educated yourself before going into the psych, poly and medical to know where the land mines are N-32.

Then all of a sudden with only one number remaining, the phone rings with that number you have been waiting for 0-74.  The call inviting you to come on down and take the prize.  You yell at the top of your lungs BINGO!  I said BINGO!  BINGO over here!

Just like this: Captain Bob: Just wanted to say thank you.

On Friday I got the call that so many have waited so long for. It was the

chief asking me to join his department. I managed to maintain my composure just long enough to schedule a meeting with him for today and get him off the phone. After that I let out a yell that left my partner's ears ringing worse than the siren on our ambulance.

Capt. Bob, you say, "Nothing counts till you get the badge." Thanks to your

help, everything counts for me starting November 1, 2004.

Brian M. Trotta

The complete story in the New Badges section below.

 
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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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2.      Entry Level Skills Tip 
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Question:

well capt i read some of the things you said on your web site about getting the badge and theres one thing i want you to prove me wrong on. i have been a voli for 13yrs and have tried two times to get the badge but because of politics i have been shot down twice,and every time i request a writen reason why all i keep hearing is at this time we feel that you are not going to move foward,but your name will stay on the list.the guys who where just hired are all friends or family of fellow firemen, or they licked somebody's boots to get the job, should'nt you tell people,that its not what you know but who you know or who your sleeping with. please prove me wrong!

A. Welcome to the ongoing sage of small town department and volunteer politics. I’ve seen many candidates who won’t test outside their area waiting years for the golden opportunity to get hired as a full time paid member of their volunteer department.  They have worked their way up the ranks.  Responded to as many or more calls as anyone else. Done all the jobs.  Some became training officers.  Run the Explorer program.  They put other careers and relationships on hold, get a carpet cleaning company or lawn service so in a moments notice they can move right into that paid fire job. 

What many don’t realize is that early on they made and impression that would keep them from ever getting that badge.  In their oral boards they forget to leave their time and rank in their locker.  Think they deserve the badge more than anyone else.  Blame everyone but them selves.  Demand a letter why they didn’t get the job.  

Even if they are considered by other departments when the background investigator checks out their volunteer department, one or more members tank their chances of ever getting hired.  Everyone knows why but the person who will never make it.  Then, all of a sudden years pass and it’s too late to test for other departments.  They’re devastated.

“Stop looking through a magnifying glass at others . . . and start looking in the mirror at yourself.”

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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

 

Take a free test drive of sample chapters from the new book Becoming a
Firefighter here:
http://www.eatstress.com/firefighterbook.htm

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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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==========================================
Ask Captain Bob any questions

E-mail Mailto:captbob@eatstress.com

==========================================
 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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This from 1097:

Man did I blow it!

I have been following the thread about coaching and just wanted to add a little from my own experience. I have been working at this for a long time. I have great experience, a bachelor’s degree, am in great shape and do well on all my written testing. Recently I scored No 1 on a hire list and was closing in on sealing it all up. My original oral interview which I did not expect to get to went great. I heard that folks where really excited to see me getting to move on to the chiefs interview and I reviewed just what I had done for the last interview, reviewed all of my notes and got plenty of rest.

The day of the chief’s interview I was the first one in. I wasn’t too happy about being the first to go but that’s the way it was. I was really nervous, hadn’t slept well the night before and was not feeling at all prepared even though I thought I had done everything I could have. The oral went like most do standard questions and took about 30 min. I thought I had done pretty well, some of the questions they had tacked on seemed to lead in another direction but I didn’t let it bother me too much and moved on out.

A week later I got the call and I was passed up. I have been here before but not for a long time and this time I was really shaken up. I couldn’t believe that this had happened; I was everything that this department wanted and more. How could they not see it? So I sat down and began to go through everything I had done. After days and nights go going over and over and over it all again I realized that it had to be me. There was something that I just wasn’t getting about this interview process. Something that I was not preparing for properly but this still didn’t make any sense to me. I have been speaking and presenting for years, I’m comfortable in most situations and can think on my feet and besides how is it they couldn’t see me for what and who I really am? But there I was and it looked like no matter how I examined it, it had to be something I was missing. So I reached out to Captain Bob and his son Rob.

I wrote to Rob and explained my situation and waited. He got back to me and we set up a time that we could get together on the phone and go through the basic questions. He asked me to prepare some answers but not to over work them and so over the next week or so I worked through them and by the time of our meeting felt pretty well prepared.

I called on the designated day with a tape recorder hooked into my phone to make sure I didn’t miss anything. From the very first question it was obvious to Rob that I was way off the mark and by the end of the session it was there plan as day for me to see just how I was torpedoing myself. I couldn’t believe I was so far off. I was embarrassed that what I thought was the right thing was so much the wrong. The hardest thing for me to get over was that I had really done some great stuff but this all had to tempered down to a level that showed any panel that I was the one person that they could: mould, depend on, trust and know that I was going to be 100% accountable for my decisions. I was walking into these interviews thinking that they already know all of that and man was I wrong.

I came away from this experience with a much better understanding of things and feeling 100% more confident. For anyone who is feeling the slightest bit uneasy about going to their orals get some coaching help and get it early. Make your oral presentation skills as big a part of your normal weekly routine just like you EMS exam questions, fire fighting questions and PT.

I now know I did myself in on this last exam and with that will be much better prepared for the next one. Shame on me and congrats to the person that just got hired.

Be safe

From Rob:

10-97 felt he knew what to do, had given classes, spoken in public, was a smart guy, and had a handle on it.  He found out different.  So did I!  When I went in for my first captains interview I felt the same, I had this down, and what is more, all of the people interviewing me knew me.
     
I coach a lot of people, and have been involved in the testing environment for years.  I have helped Capt. Bob give seminars all over the place.  I got passed over.  Talk about a shock.  I went and talked to my dad and sure enough the mistakes I had made were easy for him to see.

Even those of us that some may consider informed in the testing environment need to have someone evaluate our performance.  I doubt there is a person in the Olympics, from any county, doing any sport who does not have a coach or trainer.  Everyone in the PGA has a coach.   The people who are the best in the world at what they do, need someone to help them get the 10.0.  

It could be anybody, just make sure they know what they are talking about.  One little mistake could cost you big.

I cannot begin to tell you what a joy it is to work with someone like 10-97.  I have worked with people who were great; they did not need much from me, I just helped them polish a good presentation.  I have worked with people who will probably never get hired, but I have helped them all I could and sometimes been pleasantly surprised.  But with someone like 10-97, that is where I get the joy out of coaching.  He has a great resume, excellent work history, and speaks very well.  He was just slightly off base, just enough to keep him out of the very top spots.  Well, that is not the case any more.  

I think I am more excited for him, than he is.  I find it hard to explain the joy I get, when I work with someone who really has put in their time, and paid their dues, and I can hear it when they “get it”.  I can hear the light bulb go on over their head.  
    

I want to thank 10-97 and all of the others out there reading this who have let me be part of their preparation for the job.  I have a 30 minute long tape of the messages from people who got hired that I keep in my briefcase.  Sometimes after a bad shift, or when I need a little motivation, you guys give it to me.

 
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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Scenario Questions:

What would you do as a Captain? Your BC asks you to come in his office to review your final evaluation of probation. You notice a smell of alcohol on his breath?  How would you reply?

This is a perfect example how you can be fooled on a scenario question. I believe there are only 30 oral board questions. They can be disguised in hundreds of different ways. This is one of the disguises for drinking on the job, which is number 12 on our 30 plus list.  You can check out that list here http://eatstress.com/thirty.htm

Here is a simple way to break a disguised question down. Dissect the question down to its simplest term, one word, of what the question is really about (i.e. stealing, drugs, drinking, etc.). Once you have removed the disguise, you can place it in one of the 30 plus oral board questions you already have answers for.  You can find the list of 30 sample oral board questions here http://eatstress.com/thirty.htm

Understand that if the oral board fires up a question that sounds like drinking on the job, it's going to be about drinking on the job. If it's a question that sounds like taking drugs on the job, it's going to be about taking drugs on the job; It's not going to be aspirin. If the question sounds like it's about stealing on the job, it's going to be about stealing on the job. If they fire up a question that sounds like sexual harassment, that's what it's going to be about, or they wouldn't bring it up. 

One way to help you do this is picture a piece of paper with a line drawn down the center. On the left of the line are issues dealing with ethics, such as stealing, drugs, or drinking. With ethical issues, you ask appropriate questions to determine what you suspect.

If true, you don't deviate . . . you go straight up, take action or go to a next level supervisor. On the right side of the line is anything to do with getting along with others; you will go to great lengths to work it out. If you can decide what side of the line the question belongs, you have a better chance of knowing how to answer the question.

So take off the disguise that this is your BC. Dissect the question down to its simplest form; one word. What is this about? Right, drinking. What side of the line is this on? Right or left. If it's on the left side of the line what do we do? Drinking is not tolerated. Right again, ask questions to determine if your suspicions are correct (are you drinking?). If so, you go straight up (why don't we go to our supervisor) no matter who or what rank is on the other side of the table; and stick to your answer no matter what. YOU WILL NEVER BE WRONG! TRUST ME!

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


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 5.  New Badges
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I'm writing this email to say "Thank you". I have to admit, it is a bit late since I was hired almost 6 years ago! However, I've recommended your services to other firefighters who currently enjoy a professional career. I was trying to find your information on the net for my brother who hopes to be a Seattle Firefighter soon and remembered that I had never thanked you for it.

I had a bout 1 week to prepare for the interview and unfortunately I did not have my credit card on me when I had called you for information. When you found out how much time I had, you sent me the package overnight. You had said you would use the honor system for payment! I got home the next morning from my private ambulance job and it was waiting for me at my door step!

I have never forgotten your invaluable customer service!

Take care and I wish you the greatest success!

Edwin Burgado

Seattle Fire Department

E25D

Just wanted to say thanks you.

On Friday I got the call that so many have waited so long for. It was the

chief from the first and only department I tested with asking me to join his

department. I managed to maintain my composure just long enough to schedule

a meeting with him for today and get him off the phone. After that I let out

a yell that left my partner's ears ringing worse than the siren on our

ambulance.

I came late to the fire service. I didn't always want to be a fire fighter.

I'm 37, and I've only been a volunteer for two and a half years. And I

didn't decide this was what I wanted for a career until a year ago.

But as you've said many times, when you make the decision, make the

commitment. I did. I left my former line of work, took a big pay cut to

work on a commercial ambulance service, and started paramedic school. It's

the medic school that got me the job. The department I'll be working for

needs medics so badly they're willing to take people still in school, and

put them on the line, as long as they complete and maintain their medic

license.

It was your advice that pushed me into the school, and ultimately got me the

job. In my area, having your medic greatly improves your odds of getting

hired. Since I started school, a big department that has no EMS requirements

had 15 open positions, they got 350 applicants. A big department looking to

hire 2 fire/medics got a dozen applicants. My new department got only 20

applicants for 3 open fire/medic positions.

You also helped me squeeze the extra points I needed to be in the top 3 on

the oral board. While I had the basics of good answers down already, your

suggestions to repeat them out loud until they become fluent and natural

made all the difference. I wasn't stumbling, I knew what points I wanted to

make and I made them.

Capt. Bob, you say "Nothing counts till you get the badge." Thanks to your

help, everything counts for me starting November 1, 2004.

Brian M. Trotta

I'm writing this email to say "Thank you". I have to admit, it is a bit late since I was hired almost 6 years ago! However, I've recommended your services to other firefighters who currently enjoy a professional career. I was trying to find your information on the net for my brother who hopes to be a Seattle Firefighter soon and remembered that I had never thanked you for it.

I had a bout 1 week to prepare for the interview and unfortunately I did not have my credit card on me when I had called you for information. When you found out how much time I had, you sent me the package overnight. You had said you would use the honor system for payment! I got home the next morning from my private ambulance job and it was waiting for me at my door step!

I have never forgotten your invaluable customer service!

Take care and I wish you the greatest success!

Edwin Burgado

Seattle Fire Department

E25D

Capt Bob: I have used your program and I know that is the reason I figured it out early.

I think you need to take every test you can, it helps in many ways you get more familiar with the process, nerves and you get dialed in with your interview skills. Practice makes perfect.
  

I had interviewed with 3 departments in 3 weeks I got 2 job offers and each interview cost me air fair, hotel and car rental. I had a goal, I gave myself 1yr to accomplish it or I was going to stay put. I was willing to spend what ever it cost to accomplish it. I took advantage of every any and all things that could help me perform better.

A sincere thank you is in order, so thank you Captain Bob. I'm currently going through an Academy 4 weeks of 16 left. I really can't say thank you enough.
Mike

Captain Bob-

I was not getting the results that I had hoped for, but as you advised us all, we need to be the energizer bunny, and that is what I became.  To Seattle, Oakland, Oregon, you name it, I was on a plane somewhere to take a test. I practiced everyday for months and months.  I did the private coaching with your son, married myself to the tape recorder and video camera. 

I went down the week before to the interview site and knew exactly where it was at and exactly where I needed to park.  So when November 15, 2003 at 11:35 AM, I was there and ready.  They called me in and it was amazing, I did an oral presentation and my personality came into the room and then when the interview questions came, I was able to hit them with nugget after nugget after nugget, etc. 

This took a long time for me to actually get the opportunity to write you this letter but you can add me to your list of new badges!!  I just completed the 14 week academy for the Orange County Fire Authority and I cannot explain the feeling.  Last night, September 2, 2004, I got to walk up on a stage and be handed a badge by our Fire Chief and have my dad pin it on my chest. You want to talk about emotional moments in your life, I cried and my dad was pretty choked up also. I never thought in a million years that I would be there at that moment and I will never forget that moment for the rest of my life. 

I now believe that the oral interview is the only way to obtain this awesome career.  Considering I only passed the written test by 3 points, this is now a proven fact to me.  Those of you out there that keep going to academy after academy and certification after certification, please take the time to put your efforts into practicing your interview so you too can share the awesome feeling of getting that badge and asking yourself the question, who will pin the badge on me?  Thank you again Captain Bob, without your "nugget" concept, I would have never gotten that badge and a career where the satisfaction is like no other!!

Steve

Firefighter- Orange County Fire Authority

I would check out Capt.Bob's website - eatstress.com. He's also on the boards in firehouse.com in many areas. I have followed his advice and it just works. A few years ago I didn't know squat about hiring boards or the process. With his info I scored 10th on one list and 3rd on my last interview before being hired. Before that I was floundering along through each interview.

Regards, Courage04

Capt Bob,

Just wanted to drop you a quick thank you.  I made it....I am currently on the floor after a quick academy with East Fork Fire in Northern NV.

Thanks again,

Rick Ackerson

FF/Paramedic

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

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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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SO YOU THINK YOU KNOW EVERYTHING?

A dime has 118 ridges around the edge.

A cat has 32 muscles in each ear.

A crocodile cannot ! stick out its tongue.

A dragonfly has a life span of 24 hours.

A goldfish has a memory span of three seconds.

A "jiffy" is an actual unit of time for 1/100th of a second.

A shark is the only fish that can blink with both eyes.

A snail can sleep for three years.

Al Capone's business card said he was a used furniture dealer.

All 50 states are listed across the top of the Lincoln Memorial on the
back of the $5 bill.

Almonds are a member of the peach family.

An ostrich's eye is bigger than its brain.

Babies are born without kneecaps. They don't appear until the child
reaches 2 to 6 years of age.

Butterflies ! taste with their feet.

Cats have over one hundred vocal sounds. Dogs only have about 10.

"Dreamt" is the only English word that ends in the letters "mt".

February 1865 is the only month in recorded history not to have a full
moon.

In the last 4,000 years! , no new animals have been domesticated.

If the population of China walked past you, in single file, the line
would never end  because of the rate of reproduction.

If you are an average American, in your whole life, you will spend an
average of 6 months waiting at red lights.

It's impossible to sneeze with your eyes open.

Leonardo Da Vinci invented the scissors.

Maine is the only state whose name is just one syllable.

No word in the English language rhymes with month, orange, silver, or
purple.

On a Canadian two-dollar bill, the flag flying over the Parliament
building is an American flag.

Our eyes are always the same size from birth, but our nose and ears
never stop growing.

Peanuts are one of the ingredients of dynamite.

Rubber bands last longer when refrigerated.

"Stewardesses" is the longest word typed with only the left hand and
"lollipop" with your right.

The average per son's left hand does 56% of the typing.

The cruise liner, QE2, moves only six inches for each gallon of diesel
that it burns.

The microwave was invented after a researcher walked by a radar tube and a chocolate bar melted in his pocket.

The sentence: "The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog" uses every
letter of the alphabet.

The winter of 1932 was so cold that Niagara Falls froze completely
solid.

The words 'racecar,' 'kayak' and 'level' are the same whether they are
read left to right or right to left (palindromes).

There are 293 ways to make change for a dollar.

There are more chickens than people in the world.

There are only four words in the English language which end in "dous":
tremendous, horrendous, stupendous, and hazardous

There are two words in the English language that have all five vowels in
order: "abstemious" and "facetious."

There's no Betty Rubble in the Flintstones Chewables Vitamins.

Tigers have striped skin, not just striped fur.

TYPEWRITER is the longest word that can be made using the letters only
on one row of the keyboard.

Winston Churchill was born in a ladies' room during a dance.

Women blink nearly twice as much as men.

Your stomach has to produce a new layer of mucus every two weeks;
otherwise it will digest itself.


.............Now you know everything

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 7. Resource Websites for Candidates
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Perfect Firefighter Candidate.  Job listing and a complete resource web
site with a community bulletin board.  
http://www.firecareers.com

Don McNea Fire School, Inc. is the #1 Firefighter Preparatory Entrance
School in the Country.  They have the inside information how to tackle
those psychological and personality questions on the written.
http://www.fireprep.com  

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

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

Check out the specials for entry level and promotional testing:
http://www.eatstress.com/newpage6.htm

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