My Psychological only lasted 15 minutes?

[Scot45]

Well I just finished my psych interview for Las Vegas Fire and Rescue. I had been told to expect the interviewer to try and mess with me, to get a reaction. It was nothing like that. The whole thing lasted 15, MAYBE 20 minutes. She asked about my complete job history, family life, etc.

They told us to expect 30-45 minutes. My question is - is it a bad thing that I was only in there for 15-20 minutes?

[CaptBob]

They told us to expect 30-45 minutes. My question is - is it a bad thing that I was only in there for 15-20 minutes?

A good thing! The written sets up a profile of you. The evaluation with the doc is to verify that profile and your lifes journey. Did anything stump you?

It has been my experience that candidates interviews lasting around 15 minutes pass.

Those candidates with longer interviews increases their changes of the wheels coming off their wagons and failing.

[Scot45]

Hey Captain,

No they didn't really stump me at all. They asked a ton of questions about my military experience - very exacting questions as to what rank I was, what I did, etc.

It seemed more like a background interview.

There was a section that was very weird. It was about 500 questions that you could either answer never, yearly, monthly, weekly, or daily. One question was "do you ever have restless nights when sleeping?" I answered that I do monthly. She asked me to clarify and I said when I have something important like an oral board, I tend to toss and turn the night before. She said ok. There was a question about being forgetful at work, again I answered monthly and she wanted me to clarify it, I did and she was fine.

Oh yeah, I did the private coaching with your son back November in anticipation of going to Las Vegas's oral boards. It really helped. Let him know that the Air Force Officer/Pilot that he coached made it past the orals!

[CaptBob]

There was a section that was very weird. It was about 500 questions that you could either answer never, yearly, monthly, weekly, or daily. One question was "do you ever have restless nights when sleeping?" I answered that I do monthly. She asked me to clarify and I said when I have something important like an oral board, I tend to toss and turn the night before. She said ok. There was a question about being forgetful at work, again I answered monthly and she wanted me to clarify it, I did and she was fine.

Sounds pretty typical.

Oh yeah, I did the private coaching with your son back November in anticipation of going to Las Vegas's oral boards. It really helped. Let him know that the Air Force Officer/Pilot that he coached made it past the orals!

Copy. You're riding winning pony!

[mikeco5]

CaptBob,

For the pysch portion, I was on an anxiety/depression medication 3-4 years ago for about a month. How will this affected my status?

[CaptBob]

Mike:

It can. Was this an isolated incident? Who prescribed the meds? Your family doctor or a psycologist?

If you list on your background and psych information that you have seen a psychologist or took anxiety/depression in the past, the psychologist who interviews you is going to want to know why. If your medical insurance paid the bill there is a record. In the process you will sign off your rights and they can look at anything they want.

Psycologist view a firefighter job as a stressful position. If you have been on meds in the past that the additional pressures of the academy, being on probation and exposed to situations in life that many will never experience will cause you problems that can lead to alcolhol and drug abuse. Sounds silly right. But I have seen it written exactly like that on an evalualtion that declined a candidate.


Call me if you want more.

[IBQwerty21]

I just did my psyche/suitability interview for Denver today, it was also very short. They said it may take up to an hour, i was done in literally 10 minutes! Sounded very similiar to the original poster's experience, and there was nothing he had to go over from the written evaluation i took that was bad or anything. So im hoping I am in a good spot as well? Ive got the polygraph Friday so im just taking it day by day...

[boojie32]

I had my psych. today. I thought that the interview took place after you turned the test in??? I had 4 tests total to complete, 570 questions being the largest one, which i took first. I was halfway through that test when the Dr. came in and called me. She interviewed me for about 15 minutes with the information she had from my background packet.

After i completed all the tests, about 4 hours later, i turned everything in and was told to wait about 20-30 minutes for the Dr. to go over my test. Well after about 20 minutes, the receptionist just said, "o.k., you can go ahead and leave." Is this the way it's "normally" done? Thanks for any info!