What do you know about this town? oral board

[rookiehosa]

I have my first oral board this week with my hometown. I have some info to personalize my answer but how much is too much as far as facts? I mean I was practicing with my fiance and she had to stop me and say that it was too much. I stated the population, square miles, and then went into a brief description of the town government, how many schools, and then started on a long journey into the 3 fire stations here in town and how many shifts, guys, etc etc. Should I not get into the fire part of it for this question? How much is too much or how much is too little? Neither captain bob or paul lepore touch on this as I have both of their material. Thank you.

[JayDudley]

I'm sure Chief Paul Lepore and Captains Bob and Rob will jump in....My two cents is this:
If asked "What do you know about our City just give them an overview. Highlights if it were and don't get too detailed. I had a Candidate give a brief overview and then repeat the city mission statement verbatim. He was hired. The Oral is time sensitive and you need to be direct and to the point. I wish you good luck and above all remain calm and you'll do fine.

[BoxAlarm187]

I agree with Jay. An overview is fine, getting too detailed not only takes away from the time allotted, it makes it sound too "canned" of a response.

[rookiehosa]

Thank you. Yes I was saying too much. So what exactly would be the highlights? Town motto maybe or is that corny? Population, square miles, maybe total number of fire and ems calls? Thanks for the responses.

[BoxAlarm187]

Yes, that's corny.

Population and square miles are good, and maybe recognize significant hazards or special places (mass gathering events, etc). However, I'm afraid you might be putting too much thought into this. Just go in and answer the questions...you can work in some of the information about the local demographics should the time arise. If it doesn't, no worries - if the rest of your answers are smart and thoughtful, you'll likely get a positive nod from the interviewers.

One thing to remember: always wait 5 seconds before you answer any question. It provides you time to think and also maintain some control of the interview.

[rookiehosa]

So don't mention schools or government?

[tcd]

I've never done oral boards, but I would think that throwing in some knowledge of the the town's strategic plan as it relates to public safety might be worth something as well.

For example, you might mention knowledge of expected population growth rate, planned infrastructure projects, new schools, hospitals and of course fire stations. It seems like this would not only show what you know about the town as it is today, but would also display that you have an understanding of the direction it's going in the future.

[JayDudley]

I have to stress that this is a time sensitive part of you process. There's only so much time allotted for your interview. You'll be telling the board about the schools and government and they'll drop a bomb and say we're out of time. Just relax and pause before your answers and just hit the highlights of your town. You'd be surprised with all the time you've spent remembering things about your town they might not even ask you a question about it. Good Luck and please let us know how it went.

[CaptBob]

I agree with the postings above to not go to overkill on this answer. Yes this question and information is covered in our book Becoming a Firefighter under this chapter:

Shot Gun Effect

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 the panel looks puzzled after your answer ask them if they want more. They will tell if they have heard enough and you can be onto the next question.

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.

[rookiehosa]

Great thank you for the responses. The only other question I'm concerned about is the initial tell us about yourself. Paul lepore says to basically not mention education or anything fire related which is basically the exact opposite of what I'm doing. My interview is for my hometown. I'm touching on 3 objectives, townie, education, what I'm doing now. Granted it will make me repeat what I will answer if they ask what have you done to prepare but that's what I'm going with. I dont think they care if I fish or ride atvs etc. Hey what do I know?!? That's why I'm here

[skitahoe]

Rookie, if you have Capt. Bobs stuff, his answer is in there and I tHink he and BCLepore may disagree. I've always stuck with a really short answer. Name, live in ..., married?, kids ?, quick overview of hobbies/interests. Hope that helps although I'm sure you will get differing opinions regarding this.

[suffolk police]

I18 terrrncr@gmill.com no a lot about the fire home

[tcd]

I18 terrrncr@gmill.com no a lot about the fire home

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