Cleveland Fire Dept., Fire exam, July 31st, 2010

[laddernhook]

For the candidates who were in the second wave of medical exams, have any of you received your results from the blood work & pulmonary test? It's been more than a week since I had my labs done, but I haven't heard anything. Just wondering if no news is good news.

[fromCLE]

For the candidates who were in the second wave of medical exams, have any of you received your results from the blood work & pulmonary test? It's been more than a week since I had my labs done, but I haven't heard anything. Just wondering if no news is good news.

I never received anything, and I was in the first batch. I had to have blood/**** tests done anyways for a 3rd party, and all came up crystal clear. I would assume no news is good.

[Buffalo21]

I never received anything, and I was in the first batch. I had to have blood/**** tests done anyways for a 3rd party, and all came up crystal clear. I would assume no news is good.

I'm not a doctor, but if your blood was clear, you might have a problem.

[laddernhook]

Any updates on the start of fire academy?

[johnsmith1989]

April 1st/2nd
pulling ~90 from this list
promo exam in july

[Buffalo21]

When will the final notice be sent out? They going to call you the night before so you can give your current job a 2 hour notice?

[johnsmith1989]

Ha!!
I'm not sure about when they will send it out, hopefully in a week or so, so you can give notice.
but I know a guy on the job, that the city sent out letters less than a week before.

Also heard for the rest of us not in the first class of 35, that they want to do one later this year. but idk if they put it in the budget for two classes this year.

they have to do something to cut down on the overtime, plus the fact that there are 70 - 90 guys retiring this year.

idk.......we will see.

[fromCLE]

When will the final notice be sent out? They going to call you the night before so you can give your current job a 2 hour notice?

That's what I'm wondering... I've heard that is just about what you can expect though, yes. Experienced it once with a guy who started at the police academy, I think he left on a Wednesday to start the next week, so it's not just a fire thing in Cleveland. Every exam/test/interview has had at best a weeks notice, so to expect any different is foolish. Start a career in fire by burning a bridge, I suppose.

[laddernhook]

That's what I'm wondering... I've heard that is just about what you can expect though, yes. Experienced it once with a guy who started at the police academy, I think he left on a Wednesday to start the next week, so it's not just a fire thing in Cleveland. Every exam/test/interview has had at best a weeks notice, so to expect any different is foolish. Start a career in fire by burning a bridge, I suppose.

The 11th hour notice before academy is the City's modus operandi, and has caused some firefighters problems in the past - especially the most recent class. If you recall, these guys were hired after waiting on the list nearly 10 years. As you can imagine, many had accumulated decent time on their previous jobs. But the city called them to academy the Friday before class was to begin the following Monday - leaving absolutely no opportunity to give notice to their employers. Then, as soon as they graduated academy, the City laid them off. Because bridges were burned with previous employers, I was told that most could not go back to work at their previous jobs.

Doesn't seem fair, but I guess that's the risk we take to accept a dream job, right.

[laddernhook]

Much has been said about the poor conditions at CFD firehouses. I have just one question...does anyone know if all (or most) of the firehouses are equipped with exercise machines and/or weights?

[Buffalo21]

The 11th hour notice before academy is the City's modus operandi, and has caused some firefighters problems in the past - especially the most recent class. If you recall, these guys were hired after waiting on the list nearly 10 years. As you can imagine, many had accumulated decent time on their previous jobs. But the city called them to academy the Friday before class was to begin the following Monday - leaving absolutely no opportunity to give notice to their employers. Then, as soon as they graduated academy, the City laid them off. Because bridges were burned with previous employers, I was told that most could not go back to work at their previous jobs.

Doesn't seem fair, but I guess that's the risk we take to accept a dream job, right.

That's one way to look at it. The way I see it, you are being hired as a professional, and expected to act professional. I expect the organization that is hiring to be professional, which would include giving you proper notice, so that one may act professional with their previous employer. I'm sure The City of Cleveland requires minimum two weeks of notice for someone to leave in "good standing," and I'm sure they would consider it a negative if a previous employer stated that you did not give two weeks notice when they called for your references. Just setting themselves up for failure right from the beginning.

[future fire]

So john1989 did they go threw the first 90 people on list just to get the first 35 people if true that's crazy??????

[johnsmith1989]

no, they sent conditional letters to the qualified ppl from the top ~105, those who made it thru background, interview etc got conditional offers.
they took the top 35 and processed medical and psych for the first class.
they will then do the same with the second group of cadets for the second class.
remember there were a lot of ppl eliminated from the list during the background portion of the process.

[laddernhook]

I presume PT at the fire academy will be conducted paramilitary style and involve running a few miles every morning. Does anyone know if CFD has any running cadences to keep the cadets motivated?

[Buffalo21]

Perhaps you can ask one of the classes from that last 12 years that they didn't hire. I propose:

grab your balls turn your head and cough,
pray to god you don't get laid off

[fromCLE]

Since this Friday is Good Friday (city offices closed), it seems to be a good chance that we get a call before then, assuming the 1st is still the hot rumor.

The wait sucks...

[mdd2121]

start date is now april 15

[Buffalo21]

Yeah, April 15th... for now... Even if that is the date, you can expect the call/letter on the 12th.

[laddernhook]

It has been a long time coming and I can hardly wait to finally get THE call. With that said...over the past several years I applied to many departments in Ohio as well as in other states (big and small cities), even turning down a job elsewhere because I received an offer from Cleveland. And I must admit, Cleveland's process was by far the most disorganized of them all - from start to finish. Not sure what it is about Cleveland. Observing from the outside, it seems to be their normal way of handling things.

[FIREJAWZ]

@ laddernhook, in an earlier post I thought you asked whether anyone received an e-mail asking for documents. Perhaps that post was deleted or something. Well, I did receive an e-mail today. Did anyone else? Not sure if that means about the start date. We'll just have to keep waiting.