CAL Fire 2013

[Gino_Galli]

from what I understand, rank 1 is scores 9-10 with 10 being a perfect score.Rank 2 is 6-8. Rank 3 is below that.

What they go off of is qualifications, experience, but also how you answer certain questions. Basically you got to nail the interview ( get a rank 1) to be considered. Rank 2 will come down to your qualifications, experience and certs. The most qualified win that usually. Rank 3 pretty much is a thanks but no thanks.

After I interviewed for STU this year, I got a 9.4. They told me I didn't go into full detail on one question. But my answer was very close to what they were looking for so they knocked a little bit off.
But after the interview I went back to my station in NEU and spoke with my BC and asked him how can I better the answer on the one question. And he told me so I feel confident for the upcoming interviews so far ( Yreka Tues, Tehama Glenn wed), Amador El Dorado wed March 6. And mendocino and NEU the week after. The other units I havent heard from yet neither has anyone else I know ( about 10 people).

Santa Cruz, Napa, Humboldt, Lassen Modoc, Santa Clara, etc

[stephgnzls86]

from what I understand, rank 1 is scores 9-10 with 10 being a perfect score.Rank 2 is 6-8. Rank 3 is below that.

What they go off of is qualifications, experience, but also how you answer certain questions. Basically you got to nail the interview ( get a rank 1) to be considered. Rank 2 will come down to your qualifications, experience and certs. The most qualified win that usually. Rank 3 pretty much is a thanks but no thanks.

After I interviewed for STU this year, I got a 9.4. They told me I didn't go into full detail on one question. But my answer was very close to what they were looking for so they knocked a little bit off.
But after the interview I went back to my station in NEU and spoke with my BC and asked him how can I better the answer on the one question. And he told me so I feel confident for the upcoming interviews so far ( Yreka Tues, Tehama Glenn wed), Amador El Dorado wed March 6. And mendocino and NEU the week after. The other units I havent heard from yet neither has anyone else I know ( about 10 people).

Santa Cruz, Napa, Humboldt, Lassen Modoc, Santa Clara, etc

Hey I also heard back from AEU and have an interview the same day, I also heard back from Sonoma Lake Napa last week and have an interview the 1st (you needed to have scored a 75 or higher on your application) and also Santa Clara called and offered interviews last week, I think they may have scored applications as well- I spoke to an engineer who said they only offered 100 interviews...

[49erfaithful]

Ya, I hear El Dorado Amador is a tough one. I live in Shingle Springs (Cameron Park), and am familiar with Cameron Parks (Cal Fire schedule A). I actually received an offer from Cameron Park as an Intern Firefighter 5 years ago, but had just started working as an Intern with a neighboring department about a month before Cal Fire-Cameron Park accepted me. I was in a tough spot because I was my departments first "Intern", and felt bad leaving- so I stayed. Looking back at it, I feel I would have been hired years ago had I left for the Cal Fire position.
I have already gone to 3 stations in the area to talk about the position recently and hope to go once or twice to an Amador station in the near future.

[SCCF_LPFR]

from what I understand, rank 1 is scores 9-10 with 10 being a perfect score.Rank 2 is 6-8. Rank 3 is below that.

What they go off of is qualifications, experience, but also how you answer certain questions. Basically you got to nail the interview ( get a rank 1) to be considered. Rank 2 will come down to your qualifications, experience and certs. The most qualified win that usually. Rank 3 pretty much is a thanks but no thanks.

After I interviewed for STU this year, I got a 9.4. They told me I didn't go into full detail on one question. But my answer was very close to what they were looking for so they knocked a little bit off.
But after the interview I went back to my station in NEU and spoke with my BC and asked him how can I better the answer on the one question. And he told me so I feel confident for the upcoming interviews so far ( Yreka Tues, Tehama Glenn wed), Amador El Dorado wed March 6. And mendocino and NEU the week after. The other units I havent heard from yet neither has anyone else I know ( about 10 people).

Santa Cruz, Napa, Humboldt, Lassen Modoc, Santa Clara, etc

I have heard from the same units as well. I didn't hear from Sonoma Lake Napa or Santa Clara. But I did hear the interviews for CZU Santa Cruz will be the second week of March. Ok so sounds like I need to get more into detail and give them a A-Z answer. We shall see how it goes after Siskiyou on Tuesday.

[Gino_Galli]

Yeah I haven't received anything from Sonoma Lake Napa yet but my mail is being forwarded so I am a couple days behind everyone else.

[49erfaithful]

I just got a letter from Sonoma-Lake-Napa for the first, pretty short notice. I havent heard from Santa Clara, NEU, or TCU yet. I heard that TCU didn't have very many applicants (compared to most units), so hopefully they interview.

[Galatia]

Shu already hired most their guys

[SCCF_LPFR]

I got a letter saying I didn't score high enough on my app from Sonoma-Lake-Napa 75 points. Even though I have my SFM firefighter1 and SFM firefighter2. Iv been volunteering with CalFire/County fire for more than 2 years. Are you guys medics who got interview with Sonoma-Lake-Napa? I just interviewed with Siskiyou yesterday and ranked a 1 90% How was your experience with Siskiyou? I have Tehama Glenn tomorrow. Any feedback from Tehama?

[adam4hire]

So I just scored Rank 1 with SKU. It was my first CAL Fire interview. What are my chances of realistically getting a conditional job offer? Does anyone know how many people that unit are looking to pick up?

[SCCF_LPFR]

So I just scored Rank 1 with SKU. It was my first CAL Fire interview. What are my chances of realistically getting a conditional job offer? Does anyone know how many people that unit are looking to pick up?

What was your score? Percent?

[adam4hire]

I scored 90%

[stephgnzls86]

I got a letter saying I didn't score high enough on my app from Sonoma-Lake-Napa 75 points. Even though I have my SFM firefighter1 and SFM firefighter2. Iv been volunteering with CalFire/County fire for more than 2 years. Are you guys medics who got interview with Sonoma-Lake-Napa? I just interviewed with Siskiyou yesterday and ranked a 1 90% How was your experience with Siskiyou? I have Tehama Glenn tomorrow. Any feedback from Tehama?

Not sure what my score was to be a "75 or higher" but I have all my cert- minus medic- I have my degree in fire tech, explorer time, reserve experience, 1 season as a ff w/cal fire, paid call ff experience and volunteer EMT experience. A buddy of mine (also a PCF) received an interview with 1 season of experience with USFS and FF1 & EMT I'm not sure he had his 67 hr cert either. I guess experience is what gets you big points. Never underestimate what you have cause every little point helps AND ironically (I was just told this yesterday) explorer experience gets you huge points I kept that out on a few of my apps because I ran out of room. Oh and congrats on the rank 1 GO OUT AND POLITIC, I learned the hard way that a unit can pick you up from any of the upper 3 ranks I was bypassed the year before I was hired ( I was 1 of maybe 7 with a rank 1) by a rank 3 because she went out and spoke with 90% of the captains. Don't give up and pass that resume of yours out like candy!

Also heard back from Butte today ... interview is the 12th see you guys there.

[49erfaithful]

I got a letter saying I didn't score high enough on my app from Sonoma-Lake-Napa 75 points. Even though I have my SFM firefighter1 and SFM firefighter2. Iv been volunteering with CalFire/County fire for more than 2 years. Are you guys medics who got interview with Sonoma-Lake-Napa? I just interviewed with Siskiyou yesterday and ranked a 1 90% How was your experience with Siskiyou? I have Tehama Glenn tomorrow. Any feedback from Tehama?

I've applied with Sonoma-Lake-Napa 5 times and this is my first interview. I'm not a medic but have everything else they were asking for except prior Cal Fire experience. A few things that could have helped me are FF2, Fire Investigation 1A &1B, A.S. in Fire Technology, and 5 classes away from my B.A. in Fire Prevention. Also have 2 years volunteer experience and 5 years as an Intern.
Irronically I have recieved my worst scores ever in my 2 interviews this year, compared to past years when I didnt have as many certs.
So maybe it all just depends on who's grading your app?

[SCCF_LPFR]

Where did you interview? And what did you rank?

[Gino_Galli]

I got a letter today from Sonoma Lake Napa and i didnt get a 75. I have my FF1, Emt, 15 other certs including Hazmat Fro, confined Space Awareness, CAL FIRE Basic Wildland 69 hr cert, as well as, volunteer experience with 3 departments including my current one with CAL FIRE Nevada Yuba Placer. I also have my AS degree in Fire Tech and a couple classes away from my BS in Fire Science. So I have no clue what they were looking for.

I tested with SKU and got a 90% ( a 9.0), and Tehama Glen yesterday and got a 8.3.

[SCCF_LPFR]

Yea sounds about the same with me! Iv got all those plus more but no degree, close but no cigar yet. FF1, FF2, confined space rescue tech, driver operator, S-212, command 1A. 35 certs with over 2 years volunteering with county fire. I got a 90% in Siskiyou also and a 8.5 in Tehama. It seemed like Tehama was grading tougher. They also gave me two questions I never heard so I was thrown off a bit! I can't wait to interview with CZU and see some familiar faces and not have a long drive

[Here and there]

I don't work for Calfire, but I wouldn't be surprised if an issue that effects us, is an issue for them as well. Firefighters don't rate applications, human resources people who wouldn't know a Pulaski from a chain saw do. As a result some people don't rank as highly as a firefighter would think they should. This also explains some of the oddities such as rating high enough for an interview in one unit, but not another because a different HR person rated your application.

My advice to people is to write their application / resume as though their mother (assuming she isn't a firefighter) was going to rate it. Use small words, spell things out and speak (write) slowly avoiding technical jargon. That Hazmat FRO may not get counted as Hazmat First Responder Operations costing you the points for that qualification.

Seasonal wildland positions are getting very competitive. Not as bad as the city jobs but I'm seeing some really well trained people who would have really stood out 5 or 10 years ago applying and not getting a job, because there are many others just like them. Getting your face out there is absolutely essential, make sure you have solid supervisor references and look at what your resume says. When I look at a resume I kind of make up a little story in my head, look at yours and see what it might tell a captain reading it. Does it still show a drive to get hired, or could someone read it and think you got the basics and decided to kick back. Does it look like you really want the job you are applying for, or maybe it suggest this job is just a stepping stone for the one I really want.

You are all applying to a primarily wildland agency. Does your list of training and certs show an even balance or do you have a ton of structure stuff and just the minimum wildland?

Just some things to think about, there are way to many moving parts in the hiring system to say exactly why someone ranks the way they did.

Good luck

[Gino_Galli]

All my certificates and resume show a balance of wildland and structure. I have Big city volunteer experience ( Sacramento City Reserves) little city ( Auburn City Fire) and then Placer County Fire ( CAL FIRE Contract county). I have 12 wildland certs and 10 structure certs. During my interview I tried to paint a picture for the interviewers by pretending they have no idea about anything fire related.

[stephgnzls86]

For the most part all those certs don't get scored in your application, except the standard cpr, emt, haz mat fro and confined space, and having your degree only gets you 5 points... 4 yr gets you -10, I was told once before (years ago) that they grade the way you word your job description, I'm not sure if that's true or if they still do it but if you go into detail on how you fight structure fires and use suppression tactics and go on veg fires ect --you're only going to get 1 point, there is limited space so be careful what you include and try not to be repetitive, try to think about how you would answer your interview question when they ask you "what are the roles of a firefighter", hopefully you say more than just fighting fire also I've learned from being too persistent with certs, some captains can tell when you're a "cert chaser" - try to focus on your degree it shows your dedication to what you do vs 30 certs, remember a degree shows someone you are willing to plan things out and attend classes on a regular basis for an extend period of time, a lot of certs only require a few days, but like it was mentioned above try to maintain an equal balance in all areas. If you volunteer is it just for a fire department(s)? or do you volunteer as an EMT or for the Boys and Girls club? at a church? As firefighters we do more than just fight fires, we are the face of the department and we are often out being liaisons to the public on behalf of the department....
I'm rambling but anyways, communication is key! If you have all of that experience and still don't have enough points it may mean you just need to reword what you have under your job description.

[Gino_Galli]

yeah I have noticed that. I have my AS degree and am working on my BS in Fire Science. They all told me its how you word the answers pretty much.