Getting Hired - Firehouse Forums

jasong6236 · 12-02-2002, 01:07 PM

I've been a volunteer for over a year now. I'm am certified in Fire I, Haz Mat Ops., CPR/First Aid. I am going for EVOC now. Should I go for EMS or a degree in Fire Science, or even another language to improve my odds of getting hired? Would sign language matter? Which is better, EMS or Degree? How long did it take some of you out there? Thanks for any info./ help.

wmfrffmedic · 12-03-2002, 01:17 PM

I'm not sure where you are applying so I can't say what they consider when hiring. I always figured there were two ways to get into the fire service. One was the fire side and one was the EMS side. I opted to go the EMS route. I ended up getting my paramedic and eventually an associates degree in Emergency Medical Science. Not sure if it helped, but I was hired the first time I applied. The department I work for is starting the hiring process in a week. It consists of a written test (like the practice tests in Norman Hall's book), a physical agility test and an oral board. They add the three scores and place you on a list which is used for two years. I am no physical specimen so I concentrated on the written and oral and did the best I could on the PAT and passed. I ended up #2 on the list out of over 1000 that started the process. Not sure if you are interested in coming out west, but my department is a great one to work for. (www.westmetrofire.org) I hope this helps being such a generic answer. Let me know if you have any other questions.

rnorwood · 12-06-2002, 06:51 PM

wmfrffmedic,

I'm located in Littleton, CO and am getting ready for the West Metro hiring process beginning on Monday that you mentioned above.

Do you happen to know how many they are looking to hire in this year's hiring process? Also, I'm currently enrolled in an EMT-B course with expected certification by June, 2003. I know one of the stipulations for West Metro is to have a EMT-B cert by no later than 30 days after hire. Do you think I'll be ok in this regard?

Thanks for the information. I look forward to learning more about West Metro.

--Reed

dmfireschool · 12-07-2002, 04:20 PM

Before taking any fire science classes we suggest that you become a paramedic first. The process starts by becoming a EMT(Emergency meidcal technician) and then applying for a paramedic program. The whole process will take you about 15 months. Good luck www.fireprep.com

CaptBob · 12-10-2002, 07:21 AM

Should you become a paramedic to get a firefighter job?

If you understand that there are 500-800 candidates for each firefighter job, that you could be running out of hope, the love of your life is not going to wait any longer unless she has a ring and a date, been the frequent flyer mileage king flying all over the country and unsuccessfully taking tests, your biggest income last year came from your credit cards. You have lost friends and relatives. Don't know how you're going to live without the job of your dreams. Can afford to take the time and loss of income to make it happen. Have a supporting partner. Know you would have to spend about a year getting certified and it will be the toughest thing you have ever done. A relative will pay for your education. Have GI Bill education money. Can get a student loan. Know that 80% of the job offerings now are for fire medics and up to 75% of our calls are ems related anyway. Know that even if you become a medic, you still may never get this job. Have been riding ambulance anyway and this will pave the way into many medic schools. Aren't going to take the chance of some college programs that only take 35 people a year and receive over 200 applications. Will step up and pay the $7,000 plus dollars to be in and out of a program in about a year. You're an energizer bunny who will keep going and going and going when others' would stop. Know that if you were a medic taking a regular firefighter entrance test you would probably get a better shot. Won't be happy until you can puff your chest out with a badge and have people wave at you in the jump seats, carrying on a family tradition. Want that shift work with great benefits that go way into retirement. A career position with chances of advancement. The opportunity to use the education and experience you have already gained and can continue. To work for a department that could offer you everything a firefighter could hope for. Calls that would cover anything from air land and sea. A place where you couldn't wait to get back from your days off. Being able to go from one call to another to another on a busy rig. Believe me there is nothing like it.

I know you will hear that if you really don't want to be a medic don't just do it to get the job. But, If you answered yes to the majority of the above there is no doubt where you will be the happiest. If I were in your position I would beg, borrow, and run with my afterburners on to get to medic school! Because unlike a regular entry level test where there are 500-800 candidates for each job, there are only 20 candidates for every fire medic job. It is by far your fastest way to the badge.

"Absolutely Nothing counts until you have a real BADGE . . . Nothing!

If you have found this information valuable, then you will want to receive our FREE FireZine e-mail newsletter to get ahead of the curve with the cutting edge interview skills to get that badge? Click here for more:

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

Click here to check out the Chiefs Oral section in our FREE 101 Inside Secrets How to Get a Badge:

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

www.eatstress.com

"Captain Bob"

firefighter763 · 12-11-2002, 12:52 PM

Well i tell ya what around here where i come from most departments do raly care if ya have a degree in fire science what they will care about is the Emt. it dosent matter if you have just about every class or course there is you wount get the job if you dont have Emt so my best advise to you is to get your Emt insted of your fire science first. then you can go a head and get your fire science degree.

The reason you got to have your Emt to get hired around here is because if you dont then your now good the ambulance crew when they call for a medical assist or if somthing happens on a call and or if you beat the Ambulance to an accident.

Well thats all i gots tosay so hope it helped.

villy7 · 12-12-2002, 07:00 PM

I have recently completed both a fire science associates degree and a EMT-P associates degree and think that it really depends on what the departments in your area you are looking for. On the west coast, where I am from, many department prefer you to be a paramedic and hire mostly paramedics. However if you are looking to promote in the future a fire science degree will be very helpful. Also with the tough competition to get jobs in the fire service many departments will look for a fire science degree.

wmfrffmedic · 12-13-2002, 08:36 PM

rnorwood,

As you know, the hiring process began on the 9th. Hope you got your app! The process is as outlined in the info you received when you picked up your app. Turn in your app w/ fee by Jan 3. Written test Jan 18. Not sure when your PAT will be because you are in-state. Do well on both and go to oral boards in late Feb. Do well on that and get a place on the list. The lists are good for 2 years. The first academy off the new list will be Aug 03. Then March 04, Aug 04 and March 05. (Your EMT won't be an issue) By that time they will have a new list. Can't tell you how many they are hiring over the course of two years. Can tell you there are several retirements coming up which open up several spots on the bottom. They have hired as many as 18 for an academy (one before mine) and as few as 6 (one that just came online). Study Norman Hall's and Barron's exam prep books and get yourself in the best shape you can. If you get through to the oral, study hard and get as much help as you can going into it. I know of several candidates who were in the top 10% going into the oral and failed it and didn't end up on the list. Let me know if I can help.

12-02-2002, 01:07 PM	#1
jasong6236 Junior Member Join Date: Nov 2002 Location: herndon, va., USA Posts: 2	Getting Hired I've been a volunteer for over a year now. I'm am certified in Fire I, Haz Mat Ops., CPR/First Aid. I am going for EVOC now. Should I go for EMS or a degree in Fire Science, or even another language to improve my odds of getting hired? Would sign language matter? Which is better, EMS or Degree? How long did it take some of you out there? Thanks for any info./ help. Last edited by jasong6236; 12-04-2002 at 06:04 PM.

12-10-2002, 07:21 AM	#5
CaptBob Forum Member Join Date: Aug 2002 Location: San Francisco Bay Area Posts: 1,932	Firefighter or Fire/medic? Should you become a paramedic to get a firefighter job? If you understand that there are 500-800 candidates for each firefighter job, that you could be running out of hope, the love of your life is not going to wait any longer unless she has a ring and a date, been the frequent flyer mileage king flying all over the country and unsuccessfully taking tests, your biggest income last year came from your credit cards. You have lost friends and relatives. Don't know how you're going to live without the job of your dreams. Can afford to take the time and loss of income to make it happen. Have a supporting partner. Know you would have to spend about a year getting certified and it will be the toughest thing you have ever done. A relative will pay for your education. Have GI Bill education money. Can get a student loan. Know that 80% of the job offerings now are for fire medics and up to 75% of our calls are ems related anyway. Know that even if you become a medic, you still may never get this job. Have been riding ambulance anyway and this will pave the way into many medic schools. Aren't going to take the chance of some college programs that only take 35 people a year and receive over 200 applications. Will step up and pay the $7,000 plus dollars to be in and out of a program in about a year. You're an energizer bunny who will keep going and going and going when others' would stop. Know that if you were a medic taking a regular firefighter entrance test you would probably get a better shot. Won't be happy until you can puff your chest out with a badge and have people wave at you in the jump seats, carrying on a family tradition. Want that shift work with great benefits that go way into retirement. A career position with chances of advancement. The opportunity to use the education and experience you have already gained and can continue. To work for a department that could offer you everything a firefighter could hope for. Calls that would cover anything from air land and sea. A place where you couldn't wait to get back from your days off. Being able to go from one call to another to another on a busy rig. Believe me there is nothing like it. I know you will hear that if you really don't want to be a medic don't just do it to get the job. But, If you answered yes to the majority of the above there is no doubt where you will be the happiest. If I were in your position I would beg, borrow, and run with my afterburners on to get to medic school! Because unlike a regular entry level test where there are 500-800 candidates for each job, there are only 20 candidates for every fire medic job. It is by far your fastest way to the badge. "Absolutely Nothing counts until you have a real BADGE . . . Nothing! If you have found this information valuable, then you will want to receive our FREE FireZine e-mail newsletter to get ahead of the curve with the cutting edge interview skills to get that badge? Click here for more: http://www.eatstress.com/firezine_signup.htm Click here to check out the Chiefs Oral section in our FREE 101 Inside Secrets How to Get a Badge: http://www.eatstress.com/faq.htm www.eatstress.com "Captain Bob" __________________ Fire "Captain Bob" ______________________________ ___________ "Nothing Counts 'til you get the badge . . . Nothing!"

12-13-2002, 08:36 PM	#8
wmfrffmedic MembersZone Subscriber Join Date: Nov 2002 Location: Colorado Springs, CO Posts: 8	West Metro test rnorwood, As you know, the hiring process began on the 9th. Hope you got your app! The process is as outlined in the info you received when you picked up your app. Turn in your app w/ fee by Jan 3. Written test Jan 18. Not sure when your PAT will be because you are in-state. Do well on both and go to oral boards in late Feb. Do well on that and get a place on the list. The lists are good for 2 years. The first academy off the new list will be Aug 03. Then March 04, Aug 04 and March 05. (Your EMT won't be an issue) By that time they will have a new list. Can't tell you how many they are hiring over the course of two years. Can tell you there are several retirements coming up which open up several spots on the bottom. They have hired as many as 18 for an academy (one before mine) and as few as 6 (one that just came online). Study Norman Hall's and Barron's exam prep books and get yourself in the best shape you can. If you get through to the oral, study hard and get as much help as you can going into it. I know of several candidates who were in the top 10% going into the oral and failed it and didn't end up on the list. Let me know if I can help. __________________ If a fire is an emergency to the fire department, who do they call?

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12-03-2002, 01:17 PM	#2
wmfrffmedic MembersZone Subscriber Join Date: Nov 2002 Location: Colorado Springs, CO Posts: 8	I'm not sure where you are applying so I can't say what they consider when hiring. I always figured there were two ways to get into the fire service. One was the fire side and one was the EMS side. I opted to go the EMS route. I ended up getting my paramedic and eventually an associates degree in Emergency Medical Science. Not sure if it helped, but I was hired the first time I applied. The department I work for is starting the hiring process in a week. It consists of a written test (like the practice tests in Norman Hall's book), a physical agility test and an oral board. They add the three scores and place you on a list which is used for two years. I am no physical specimen so I concentrated on the written and oral and did the best I could on the PAT and passed. I ended up #2 on the list out of over 1000 that started the process. Not sure if you are interested in coming out west, but my department is a great one to work for. (www.westmetrofire.org) I hope this helps being such a generic answer. Let me know if you have any other questions. __________________ If a fire is an emergency to the fire department, who do they call?

12-06-2002, 06:51 PM	#3
rnorwood MembersZone Subscriber Join Date: Nov 2002 Location: Littleton, CO Posts: 1	wmfrffmedic, I'm located in Littleton, CO and am getting ready for the West Metro hiring process beginning on Monday that you mentioned above. Do you happen to know how many they are looking to hire in this year's hiring process? Also, I'm currently enrolled in an EMT-B course with expected certification by June, 2003. I know one of the stipulations for West Metro is to have a EMT-B cert by no later than 30 days after hire. Do you think I'll be ok in this regard? Thanks for the information. I look forward to learning more about West Metro. --Reed

12-07-2002, 04:20 PM	#4
dmfireschool MembersZone Subscriber Join Date: Jan 2002 Location: Cleveland, Ohio Posts: 337	Before taking any fire science classes we suggest that you become a paramedic first. The process starts by becoming a EMT(Emergency meidcal technician) and then applying for a paramedic program. The whole process will take you about 15 months. Good luck www.fireprep.com

12-11-2002, 12:52 PM	#6
firefighter763 Junior Member Join Date: Oct 2002 Posts: 1	Well i tell ya what around here where i come from most departments do raly care if ya have a degree in fire science what they will care about is the Emt. it dosent matter if you have just about every class or course there is you wount get the job if you dont have Emt so my best advise to you is to get your Emt insted of your fire science first. then you can go a head and get your fire science degree. The reason you got to have your Emt to get hired around here is because if you dont then your now good the ambulance crew when they call for a medical assist or if somthing happens on a call and or if you beat the Ambulance to an accident. Well thats all i gots tosay so hope it helped.

12-12-2002, 07:00 PM	#7
villy7 Junior Member Join Date: Dec 2002 Posts: 1	I have recently completed both a fire science associates degree and a EMT-P associates degree and think that it really depends on what the departments in your area you are looking for. On the west coast, where I am from, many department prefer you to be a paramedic and hire mostly paramedics. However if you are looking to promote in the future a fire science degree will be very helpful. Also with the tough competition to get jobs in the fire service many departments will look for a fire science degree.

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