Chief Interview

[fire5179]

I have a chief's interview later this afternoon. Was seeing if anyone had any last minute pointers to share....

Thanks all

[Halligan80]

No pointers, but good luck. Report back

[CaptBob]

The chief and or his staff want to find out it you will fit into their culture. Why should they hire you over the other candidates?

[Halligan80]

ttt....How did it go fire 5179?

[fire5179]

I think it went well. Thanks for all the info you everyone. I should know my ranking by this weekend and will keep you posted. Special thanks to Capt Bob and his great resources along with everyone that has asked questions I wanted to know answers to and all the replies through out this forum. The suspense is killing me... well not literally quit yet but it makes it hard to sleep

[CaptBob]

Anything stump you?

[Halligan80]

Excellent.

Let us know that outcome.

[fire5179]

Well I got my results in finally and hit #19 on the list for a suspected hiring of 12. Was a little dissapointed in myself making it that far and coming up short. However looking at the bigger picture with a couple hundred applicants and top 20 something is being done right. That was my first go around with fire interviews and believe I learned a lot and will keep up the practice.

Looking back I believe what stumped me or was not expecting at the time when they asked tell us about our department. Was not sure if they were looking for a overview of what they did or more from the top (chief) all the way down.... Maybe you guys have some insight about that or it might be a little of both?

[CaptBob]

Well I got my results in finally and hit #19 on the list for a suspected hiring of 12.

Good work. You could still be in the running considering they could be calling in 3 candidates for each position.

Looking back I believe what stumped me or was not expecting at the time when they asked tell us about our department. Was not sure if they were looking for a overview of what they did or more from the top (chief) all the way down.... Maybe you guys have some insight about that or it might be a little of both?

The best way to handle this type of question about the city and department is to use the shotgun effect. Give them a smattering of areas like square miles, population, type of city government, number of stations, engines, trucks, number of personnel and target hazards. If they look baffled after your shot gun effect ask them if they want to hear more.

What would you think if you were on an oral panel and the candidate gave you a sample smattering answer? Right, you would think he had done their homework.

You don’t want to go endlessly here. Just a sample smattering. I had a candidate one day tell us so much he got down to the grid water system the city used. Definitely overkill. Another candidate during coaching had a good answer for city information. In the next two weeks before his oral he piled more information onto his answer. He ended up making a long answer endless, finally telling them the number of convention hotel rooms that were available. He committed suicide in his efforts to over impress the panel. Oh, yeah, this is the guy we want to put in a station that would drive everyone Nuts!

This mindless, endless, rambling not only hurts your score, it robs valuable time that you could be using to let the panel know the important stuff that could improve your chances to make the final cut.

[Halligan80]

Way to keep up the good attitude and walk away knowing that you have learned something new.

Good job.

I just had my Oral interview the other night. I hope I will make the Chiefs interview this time.

[CaptBob]

This is a good lesson.

OK, you're the fire chief and you ask candidates during the chiefs interview what they know about your department. The candidate is caught flatfooted. They stumble. This is one of the basic questions you should be prepared for. It can make the difference in being in the top 10 going forward in the hiring position or dropping down on the list.

You want to be as prepared as possible before you show up so you won't stumble on a question you've never heard before. You're preparing for that seamless no surprised interview. How many wasted opportunities will you have before you figure out the road map.

Here are some sample questions. Yes, what do you know about this city or agency is question #7:

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

I believe there are only about 30 oral board questions. Plus or minus a couple. But these 30 can be disguised into hundreds of different questions.

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. Once you have removed the disguise, you can place it in one of the 30 plus oral board questions you already have answers for.

Thirty-Plus Basic Oral

Board Questions

1. Tell us about yourself.

2. Why do you want to be a firefighter? When did you decide on this career?

3. What is the job of a firefighter? Are you qualified?

4. What have you done to prepare for this position?

5. What are you bringing to the job?

6. Why do you want to work for this city or agency?

7. What do you know about his city or agency?

8. What do you like to do? What are your hobbies?

9. What are your strengths? Weaknesses?

10. What would your employer say about you?

11. What are the attributes of a firefighter? What is the most important one to you?

How Would You Handle the Following Scenarios?

12. Drinking or drugs on the job? 13. Stealing on the job? 14. Conflict with another employee?

15. Irate citizen? 16. An employee crisis at an emergency? 17. Sexual harassment?

18. Racial situation? 19. Conflicting orders at an emergency? 20. An order that could place you in great danger or be morally wrong?

21. What do you say when you don't know an answer to a question?

22. Are you on any other hiring lists? What would you do if another city called you?

23. When can you start if we offered you the job?

24. How far do you want to go in the fire service? Where do you see yourself in 5 years?

25. What are the quality traits of a firefighter? Which one is the most important to you?

26. Have you ever been in an emergency situation? Tell us what you did?

27. What word would best describes you in a positive way? A negative way?

28. How do you handle conflict?

29. Why would we select you over the other candidates?

30. Do you have anything to add?