Why Does It Take So Long To Hire?

[S_M_G]

If a department has been approved to hire and the final list has been established then why does it take such a long to offer the job? What is the process like behind the scenes that drags the hiring process out?

[fire5555]

depends on alot of things

some may just do a list to do a list

some may get the approval to hire than get it yanked

some may have to set a target date if they do some type of academy

some may get the aprroval to hire but it may be a certain date in the future

many things affect the date someone may start

[trevolp]

the simplest answer is that there are way to many factors involved in government, and they vary from one agency to another. Just stay calm and focused. This is not anything that can be forced, it will happen when the time is right.

[S_M_G]

Thank you both for your responses. I placed number one on the final eligibility list... The wait is killing me!

[FFDOH63]

Too many chiefs

[BCLepore]

Too many chiefs....funny.
I am one of the chiefs who does the hiring. I already have a full time job. This is just one more thing that is put on my plate. Now we have to sift through applications. Most recently we weeded down from 800 to 100 for the written exam. Why? Simple, it costs us $8 for every exam sheet that is scored. This is how the test companies make money. Since we were only hiring a few, it makes no sense to test the entire group. The screening process aloe took 3 chief officers 3 days to complete. The next step is the written exam. Once completed we need to send the answer sheets to the test company (two week turn around).
Next, we need to schedule interviews, reserve rooms, mail out dates for interviews to the candidates. Imagine the leg work needed to coordinate 100 interviews including the staff to conduct the interviews. Next is to schedule the Chief Interviews. As I mentioned above, we already have full time jobs. Trying to coordinate our schedules is very challenging.
Next, we make our selections. We have to schedule medical exam, polygraph, psych and backgrounds. It's a long process that takes at least 6 months.
While it's a great deal of work, it's one of the funnest parts of my job!
Paul Lepore
Division Chief
AspiringFirefighters.com

[Thank You 4 Your Time]

I've wondered this: Why not have the written exams scored in an organized fashion as soon as the test is completed? The candidates could form multiple lines that end with colored tape on the floor, a line that is not crossed until told to do so. Roughly ten feet past that line is a rep. from the hiring Department who takes the completed test, booklet, pencils, etc., and verifies the candidate with identification. Once the candidate is verified, the rep. then passes the completed answer sheet to a 'scorer' who passes the test through the scanner.

Once the test is scored, the candidate (and the hiring Dept.) immediately knows a) their score, and b) if they are moving forward or not. Say a Dept. has allowed 1,000 to apply, and 1,000 show up for the test. If the cutoff for the 'passing' score is stated at the time of application that a 'passing' score is, say, 92 or above, not only would the candidates not have to nail-bite for two months, but the Dept. would also save time and money as well. (By not having to mail out results ($), or utilize staff for score notification at a later date ($), not to mention the fact that the hiring process would be streamlined.) Since all the candidates have tested, and alotted time to take the test, they could stick around for an extra hour or two to get their results. (I know this would get fairly tedious, but which is better, waiting a few weeks or months, or waiting a few hours?) Also, as some candidates finish faster or slower, it wouldn't be 1,000 people lining up all at once. Of course, if the number of testing candidates were considerably more than a thousand or two, the idea of immediate test results would become a bit more challenging.

I'm sure there are testing regulations that prohibit this from occurring, but from an outsiders' perspective, it makes sense in the name of saving time and money. Just a thought.