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Akira Blog > Categories
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8/6/2010
If you’re serious about becoming a firefighter... prove it. I want you to prove it to me and to yourself. I recently received an entry through the forum requesting me to review a resume. This was a service that I once offered if you purchased a membership to my site. To make a long story short, I’ve dissolved the resume review feature and I haven't been reviewing resumes through my website for a while, for no reason other than I've been focusing on other things on the site such as Twitter, blogs, answering questions in the forums, digg.com and so on.
When the request came through to review this recruit’s resume, I kind of chuckled to myself and it took just half a second for me to give my reply - that I would be more than happy to review his resume. The reason for my chuckle was that it had been a long time since someone had taken the initiative and cashed in on this resource. Just because I don't spell it out, doesn't mean I'm not willing to help out. The reason why it took only half a second to reply to this recruit is because I am more than willing to help those who are willing to help themselves. It was refreshing to see someone throw themselves out there with the mind set of having nothing to lose - it never hurts to ask. Turns out he took it even one step further and wrote me a lengthy email bringing me up to date on where he was regarding qualifications, his situation, and what his intentions are for the future. This was great to read and I'm sure it was beneficial to for him to write. I'll come back to why that is.
I would still like to focus on his initiative. Too many recruits have a mind set where they think they are doing everything they can to get hired, when in fact, they can always do more. If you ask me, if you haven't been recruited by a fire department and you aren’t sitting on the back of a fire truck then you haven't done enough.
To get back to why it would be beneficial for him to write an email giving me an update on his situation and recruitment experience is because sometimes I think we need to sit back and regain focus. There is so much going on at times and we forget what our objectives and goals really are. As I state in my book The Complete Guide to Becoming a Firefighter you need to set a series of small goals in order to achieve your main goal - getting hired! Do yourself a favor and accept this challenge: write me a "comment" back to this blog stating your name, a little bit about yourself, your current qualifications, qualifications you’re planning to get, and what your short term and long term goals are. You can do this in point or in paragraph form. I don't care how you do it - just do it.
So what if others read it? The funny thing is that you can learn each other. Most recruits have the same problems and are in similar situations. Why not hear a story about another recruit who has just quit their job to attend fire college? Why not share your story?
Let's do this together, you’re not alone anymore!
7/20/2010Becoming a firefighter doesn’t happen overnight. This career takes a great deal of commitment and patience. Sometimes it feels like you don’t get a lot in return for courses you take or things you do along the way, but when you get hired on a fire department and receive that badge, everything comes into perspective. Every single second spent to get there is worth it.
You should be able to accumulate all the prerequisites required in order for you to be eligible for most fire department recruitments in about a year. It may take another year if you decide to obtain your firefighter certification and take some other fire related courses. You may be able to complete all this sooner if you schedule everything properly, or it may take a little longer if the courses you need are only offered on a limited basis. That’s why the sooner you start the better. 7/9/2010
I had the privilege of speaking to the recruits at Lambton College yesterday in the Fire Science & Technology Program. These recruits are a month away from graduating form their program and will enter the real world.
This is where the true challenge will be in regards to the firefighter recruitment process. I stressed to each student to keep in touch with their classmates and try to learn from them as much as possible. It's important to network with other recruits so you can stay informed of recruitments, test writing, physical fitness tests, interviews, etc.
Knowledge is the key to success!
Best of luck to all you recruits!
6/8/2010Why is it so hard to get hired by a fire department? There are a number of reasons why it’s a challenge to get hired and because of all these reasons and variables the applicants must overcome tremendous odds. The applicant must remain focused throughout the entire recruitment process and keep an ear to the ground to make sure they’re getting accurate information the first time. I will discuss common reasons why it’s so difficult to get hired, but remember at the end of the day someone has to get hired and it could just as easily be you over someone else. So don’t be discouraged when pursuing this amazing career just make sure you do everything you can and take full advantage of every opportunity to get you one step closer to getting hired.
There are a number of different reasons why it is so hard to get a job on a fire department but the three main reasons are:
1. Interest Level: Firefighting is appealing to a wide variety of individuals because of the low education requirements (usually secondary school diploma or equivalency); you receive a pension upon retirement, as well as great pay with a flexible schedule. Firefighting also attracts individuals who are interested in the thrill of handling hazardous situations under extraordinary circumstances and those you want an active roll helping there community.
2. Limited Job Opportunities: Unfortunately the number of applicants applying far exceeds the number of available jobs.
3. Extensive Qualifications of the Competition: Not every applicant gets hired on their first attempt sometimes it takes years before a job offer is presented. This allows time for applicants to obtain some extensive qualifications while widening the gap between themselves and someone just starting to pursue a firefighting career.
4/25/2010
Visiting a fire hall can be extremely beneficial to potential firefighter candidates if executed properly. Throughout this article I will give you some vital tips that will increase your chances of making a great first and lasting impression at the fire hall.
Purpose of visiting fire halls: You should have a couple of objectives during your visit; one should be getting your name and face out there so the fire hall knows who you are. The second is to gain a better understanding about the fire department and the firefighters that work there. This will increase your chances of answering questions related to the fire department during an interview. 
Preparation for your visit:
Before you decide to visit a fire hall try to gain some general knowledge about that fire department. The more tools you have in your tool box the better off you will be. Things you may want to know about the fire department before you show up for a visit are:
• Number of fire departments in the city.
• Types of calls they are equipped to handle such as water rescue emergencies, high angle rescue, hazardous materials etc.
• Any new equipment the fire department has received such as a new fire truck. This type of news is exciting to firefighters and makes an excellent conversation topic for you during your visit.
• Find out the Chief, Deputy Chief, and the Training Officer’s names and/or what they look like incase you see them during your visit.
• Geographical area covered by that specific fire hall. This could be another great conversation topic for you. Example if the fire hall covers an escarpment or water-way you may want to ask questions about the equipment they have to handle these emergencies or the training they have received to perform a rescue in such an environment.
TO BE CONTINUED...
3/1/2010All right I just had a young man visit me at the fire hall. Never met him before in my life, and he had just found out about my service and my involvement with firefighter recruits. This guy worked at one of the local car dealerships as a mechanic. His question was “What courses should I be taking to improve my chances of being hired”. My first question is always do you have your NFPA 1001 or your Pre-Service Firefighter Certification? His reply was that he had already obtained his NFPA 1001 as well as all the other general list of qualifications such as D Z Licence, CPR – First Aid etc.
Well I was already doing some calculations in my head – he had all of his minimum qualifications, he has 7 years life experience working in the real world as a mechanic. Which means he is all ready convinced me that he is good working with his hands, employable, reliable, understands a good days work, and able to learn new things because as we all know the car industry changes all the time when it comes to technology, and their way of doing things.
So my second question to him was what are your hobbies, what do you like to do? He answered back and said, “I love cars”. I said “That’s Perfect!
He looked at me like I had two heads. I than suggested that he maybe start to combine his love of cars and his knowledge of cars and focus on vehicle extrication. Why not become the go-to-guy when it comes to cutting edge technology in vehicles such as Hybrid cars, safety systems such as air bags, seat belt pre-tensioners, ROPS (Roll over protection devices), terminology used to indicate these systems and alternate fuel sources, such as electric and hydrogen cars, etc.
His eyes were lighting up, and I could tell this was something he was very interested in. He told me that he had already given the fire department a mini crash course/demonstration regarding the Hybrid cars.
To make a long story short, this recruit has since taken every available course offered by his car dealership regarding all new car technology (Didn’t cost him a cent), as well enrolled in several vehicle extrication courses. To me he just enabled himself in both his current job and as a recruit not too mention gave himself what I like to call the X Factor on his resume.
Fire departments find a lot of value in having someone on the fire department who is educated, and accomplished in one specific aspect of firefighting, rather than having someone who is incompetent and inadequate in several areas. I will have to elaborate on this at another time, in another blog.
I’m sure this has shed some light on how you can start too achieve some depth in your resume, improve your current life and work status as well as how to think out side the box.
1/23/2010
 Sometimes the path you’re taking isn’t necessarily the path you’ll end up on. Have you been thinking about a career change and considering the fire service as an option? This seems to be a very common scenario lately especially with an unstable economy and jobs evaporating from under our feet. Does now appear to be the time to jump ship and dive into the career path you’ve always wanted to take – FIREFIGHTING?
All right so you’ve decided to leave you existing job, or have already lost your job. It doesn’t matter now how you got here. The fact is you’re here now and how can you make this career change happen. It is normal to feel like your starting over and everything you’ve been working so hard for in the past is ancient history now such as your role or position and seniority. You may also be looking at a pay cut, at least for the first couple of years upon getting hired by a fire department, and that’s even if you’re lucky enough to get hired right away. This is a very stressful situation especially if you have lost your job already and are forced into a career change. This time could be very trialing on the pocket book and not to mention your family if you have one.
There’s a saying I like to use that states “Those that have nothing to lose, lose nothing” so if you’re already at rock bottom as far as a job or career is concerned then you have nothing to lose and you need to believe in yourself and just go for it.
Before I get to far into this topic I should say that firefighting isn’t for everyone, and if at this point you’ve just been curious about this profession then I believe you are still on the right track because just reading this book will paint a very clear picture as to what your up against and what type of commitment you will have to make as well as what you can expect. So at the very least read this book from cover to cover and then sit down and decide if this is something you want.
If you have already made up your mind that this is what you want then lets get started. I myself did a career change, after 5 years in the refrigeration trade I had decided that I wanted to become a firefighter. It was like one minute I had my whole life planned out, and the next minute I was heading down a path completely unfamiliar to me. Never the less I just put my head down, did everything absolutely possible and I didn’t look up until I was recruited. I believe whole-heartedly that you have to pursue this career with all you’ve got. There can be no doubt and there can be no halfway. You must be completely 100% committed. Now the good news is that you’re not starting from scratch. Your past experience is going to payoff for you in one way or another, this is very important. Take me for example; I had my refrigeration licence as well as my gas fitting ticket. Here I thought I was starting over but that wasn’t the case. It turns out that these trades were extremely valuable to the fire service. I knew they would benefit me personally if I got hired, but I hadn’t really considered what the fire department would gain. Sometimes understanding how the world goes round allows you to take advantage. Those recruits who have worked before and/or have had been responsible for other employees understand what an employer is looking for in an employee. It’s easier to get a job when you know what the employer is looking for and how to be employable.
Realistically, The question is does someone seasoned in the workforce, with a family to feed, reputable reputation, clean medical and criminal record, with a whole lot of life experience to draw from a better hire than a young, inexperienced recruit with little/ no job history or references and a reputation that is yet to be determined? Maybe, maybe not? This comes down to a matter of opinion. However, this is probably the reason why fire departments have been recruiting this type of recruit. This use to be a young mans game, when departments relied on strength and stamina to beat down fires. But, these days fire departments can have their cake and eat it too when it comes to hiring a more mature recruit. These candidates with both brains and braun seem to be leading the race in the recruitment pool these days.
Over & Out 1/10/2010
 Becomingafirefighter.com is proud to say that we have graduated to the Blogging era. If you can’t beat them, join them. Blogging is the new age way of passing along information in real time. So it only makes sense to have this feature on my site. I look forward to relaying my thoughts to your every day questions and allow you to answer back to me in my forum.
 My intensions are to talk about current firefighter recruit situations and events. Day in and day out I am asked questions by my members regarding different stages of the recruit process. When things happen that I feel a cross section of you will learn from, I will pass the question or concern along to you with the answer I made.
Becomingafirefighter.com has been around for as long as I’ve been a firefighter. It’s hard to believe it’s been 6 ½ years. In this time I have authored two books regarding how to become a firefighter. The first one was self-published titled “Becoming a firefighter – The Ultimate Recruit Guide for Canadian Firefighters” my second book, the one that is available now is titled “The Complete Guide to Becoming a Firefighter”. This book is published by Fitzhenry & Whiteside Publishers.
I would like to consider myself as a problem solver or strategist for firefighter recruits – a consultant if would rather. I feel it is a valuable role I play in this almost impenetrable career to get into. Without my help I would like to think some of the firefighters that have been recruited over the last few years may not be where the are if it weren’t for my service. I’m not saying that they wouldn’t have done it on there own, but I am suggesting that it would have taken longer without my help – However some would have given up short of they’re goal. My book can be viewed as a resource for some, a guide to others and a motivator for the rest. No matter who you are or what stage your in, I can guarantee you there is something for all to get out of this great resource/book.
12/28/2009
The forum is here as promised! Look out 2010.
I am looking forward to helping firefighter recruits get the answers they’re looking for. I have received countless emails over the last few years regarding recruitment questions, and I have given answers too all. My issue has always been that I know other recruits are asking themselves the same questions, so now when answers are given to today’s recruitment questions everyone is in the loop.
This site is the real deal; I say this with all sincerity that It is very important to me to make sure you have a resource to help make your firefighting dreams come true.
I welcome my past members who have become successful and landed a firefighting career to help me educate out new and existing members. The fire service is constantly changing and with this new forum we will be able to adapt to the changes together.
I can’t wait to get started, I challenge you to make 2010 your year. If you are just starting to pursue this amazing career I challenge you to get educated and learn as much as you can about the fire service and choose a plan of attack. If you have been pursuing a career for a while, than I challenge you to change gears, get focused and make it happen.
I want you to BRING IT! I don’t want any excuses; lets get serious together and come up with a plan to get you HIRED in 2010!
I look forward to being involved in your recruitment process. I am here to help YOU!
Over & Out
12/9/20091) Research, research, research some more! - Understand exactly what’s involved, so you don’t have any surprises later. Like any new career choice you must be up-to-date with the process of how to effectively pursue it. It is vital that you research to the best of your ability everything you can such as what you’re up against as far as competition, odds, minimum qualifications, etc. as well as how fire departments operate, roles and responsibilities, involvements in the community and organizations, etc. I even went as far as visiting fire halls in my area and talked to current firefighters, I found this is a very effective way of determining what you have to do.
2) Determine the type of firefighter you want to be - It’s important to decide what type of firefighter you want to be before you have too much time invested. For example, structural, wildland, industrial, off-shore, etc.
3) Can I Achieve the Basic Minimum Qualifications? – If you can achieve the basic minimum qualifications, you’re off to the races. Early on in your research you will discover every fire department has a list in place stating the minimum qualification interested applicants must possess. Failure to meet these qualifications will stop you continuing in the recruitment process.
4) Can you commit 100% – Only the strong hearted make it in the end. Perseverance is sometimes all you need. Its one thing to say you want to be a firefighter and another to actually do it. Remember, fire departments only want the best and until you are the best you have lots of work to do. What I tell new recruits is to view the process of becoming a firefighter as a career in itself. That being said, understand there is a financial commitment involved as well, it’s up to you to figure out how much that commitment is. To put things in better perspective the financial commitment is no where near the emotional commitment required.
5) Time – If you’re serious about becoming a firefighter don’t be surprised if all of your spare time is consumed by the commitment. You will find it is like having a second full time job, where you have to work every weekend, nights, holidays, etc. I haven’t even mentioned the fact that you need to obtain post secondary fire education in some form or another, as well as certification in emergency medical or pre-hospital care example: paramedic certification or EMT certification. This is usually why it takes a couple of years or more pursuing this career to even get to the point where you can start considering applying to fire departments. Also, keep in mind fire departments like to draft from neighboring volunteer fire departments meaning you will have to be fortunate enough to serve there before considered for full time employment.
6) Testing - Fire departments use a series of tests to help ensure the quality of the recruits considered for employment. Since fire departments individually govern the stages of recruitment, understand testing can vary from fire department to fire department. Chances are you will have to complete a medical assessment, written aptitude test, and a physical aptitude test. These tend to be the staples in applicant testing, but be ready for anything because the fire service is constantly evolving and so is the applicant selection process.
7) Motivation – Motivation is key and the sooner you can muster up definitive answers for the question “Why you want to be a firefighter?” the better off you’ll be. The whole process of trying to become a firefighter can take a number of years in reality; sometimes candidates’ lose momentum and find themselves spinning their tires so to speak. It’s always the recruits that have a clear understanding of why they wanted to be a firefighter in the first place that make it.
8) Make friends – If you don’t know anyone in the fire service get out there and meet some firefighters. If you already know firefighters then make the effort to talk to them and find out as much information as you can about the fire service. Also, try to speak with the most recent hired firefighters and find out what qualifications they have?, what they did to get hired?, any advice they may have, and so on.
9) Locate related resources – There are books on the market such as The Complete Guide to Becoming a Firefighter that prepare you for what you can expect. Once you learn the process to becoming a firefighter then you can construct a plan to achieve it. Get informed as soon as possible, the more books you have the better. If you buy a book and learn one thing in it, you are better off. So don’t limit yourself from reaching your full potential. The internet is also a great place to get informed. You must capitalize on these resources because chances are those you are competing against will.
10) Do you believe in yourself – This is the most important ingredient of all. Your success will ride on the fact you can see yourself making the finish line.
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