22 Tips for Getting a Job as a Firefighter
You have to be strong, have a lot of drive, and care about the people around you to be a firefighter. Hiring managers ask questions about these and other important traits during interviews for firefighter jobs. You should prepare ahead of time for your interview so you can show off your best firefighting skills and experience. This article has 22 tips that will help you get ready for your firefighter interview. 22 Tips for Getting a Job as a Firefighter
How to become a firefighter
If you want to become a firefighter, think about the following steps:
1. Wear the right clothes.
Most likely, you should wear business casual clothes to your interview, but you can ask the firehouse to be sure. Make sure your clothes are clean and don’t have any wrinkles if you want to look good.
2. Tell people how much you enjoy putting out fires.
Show how much you care about firefighting by answering questions with enthusiasm and talking about fun times you’ve had fighting fires. When your interviewer asks about your career choice, tell them what you like best about it and what made you want to go into this field. You can tell the hiring manager at the beginning of the interview that you are interested in the job and want to learn more about the firehouse and its staff.
3. Give specific examples of what you’ve done before.
The person in charge of hiring will ask you about your work style and how you do your job. Make sure to give good, detailed examples of your past work and more information about the jobs you listed on your resume. To show hiring managers how you work, choose two or three skills that best show how you work.
4. Tell the truth about the problems you’ve had to face.
People often want to hear about the tough choices you’ve had to make in the past. Hiring managers ask you these tough questions because they want to know more about how you make decisions. People who work in the field know that being a firefighter is a hard, often dangerous job that requires a lot of dedication.
During your interview, be honest about the problems you faced as a firefighter and how you solved them. A good candidate doesn’t let hard times stop them from putting out fires. Instead, they use these times to push themselves.
5. Show you are ready to make a commitment.
Hiring managers look for people with a strong sense of commitment, which is a valuable trait. During your interview, the person in charge of hiring will want to know how much you want to be a firefighter. Before your interview, you should think about what commitment means to you and how you show strong ties in both your personal and professional life. Explain why you want to work at the firehouse for a long time.
6. Talk about ethics and being truthful
During your interview, the hiring manager might ask you about your integrity and ethics to see if you understand these values and show them in your work. As a firefighter, you have to make quick decisions that affect people’s lives and the safety of the community. When you make decisions based on your integrity and ethics, you make honest and trustworthy decisions.
Before your interview, take some time to think about times when you were honest and fair. This will give you something to talk about at the interview.
7. Practice how to answer some of the most common interview questions.
Practice answering common questions about being a firefighter is the best way to get ready for an interview. Once you find some common interview questions, think about how you would answer them based on what you’ve done in the past. Think about the questions people have asked you in the past and how you answered them. Practice your answers in front of a mirror or with a friend or family member to get feedback.
8. Take a look at the technical words
On the job, firefighters and other first responders use a set of codes and terms to talk quickly and clearly. Even if you can remember the most common terms and codes quickly, it can be helpful to review all the technical language in case an interviewer asks you about it. You can learn what things mean by reading your handbooks and guides or making flashcards.
9. Print your resume more than once.
Bring four or five copies of your resume to your interview and give them to anyone who asks for one. In some situations, you might be interviewed by a panel or a group of firefighters. Having extra copies means that no one has to stop the interview to print out copies. It also shows that you’re ready, which is a good quality for a firefighter to have.
How to Make a Resume to Become a Firefighter
10. Listen to your interviewers
Make sure you pay close attention to your interviewer’s questions and comments to make sure you fully understand them. When you actively listen, you don’t just hear what they say; you also understand how they say it, how they look, and how they move. By figuring out how to use all of this information, you can give answers that will keep the hiring manager interested.
11. Know the names and jobs of the people who work at the firehouse.
Each firefighter has a job at the firehouse that tells what they are responsible for and what they do. Go to the firehouse’s website and read about each firefighter to find out what their titles are.
During the interview, call these people by their proper names to show that you respect their power. If you don’t know the title, ask during the interview and write it down so you don’t forget.
12. Say what you know honestly.
Fire stations need firefighters who are honest and open because they can be counted on. People usually talk quickly and clearly when they are fighting fires so that no one gets confused. Show that you are honest by giving clear answers to questions and making sure they match up with your resume. If you don’t know how to answer a question or don’t know what a word means, tell the interviewers.
13. Talk about your leadership skills.
Even if you don’t start out as a leader, it’s important to have leadership skills in firefighting because everyone has a lot of responsibilities. You have to use your leadership skills when you have to make decisions that affect the lives of other people. During your interview, talk about your leadership skills and how you use them at work.
14. Use the STAR method to answer a question about a situation.
During your interview, the person in charge of hiring will ask you questions about different situations that require you to give detailed answers. When asked to give a specific example, use the STAR interview technique to tell your story and talk about what you learned from it.
STAR stands for:
- Tell me about a problem you had to deal with.
- Task: Tell me what you did when this happened to you.
- Tell us what you did to figure out what was wrong.
- Explain what happened because of what you did.
This is a great way to make a clear story outline that shows what will happen.
15. Talk about what you do to help the people around you.
A firefighter’s job is to keep people safe and healthy. During the interview, you can talk about any community events or groups you belong to. When firefighters give their time and energy to the community and its people, it shows that they care about them.
16. Prove that you care.
Because the firehouse spends time and money on each trainee, loyalty is an important quality for a firefighter to have. Your hiring manager wants to know if you plan to stay at the firehouse for a while and give yourself to the team. Think about what you think makes a firefighter loyal and how you compare to those traits.
17. Tell people how you handle customers.
As a firefighter, you talk to a lot of people in the community, so it’s important to talk about your customer service skills during your interview. At the firehouse and on the job, you work with people who have different styles. Make sure to talk about the customer service skills you’ve gained at other jobs and how you use them as a firefighter.
18. Be personable and friendly
The firehouse wants to know if you fit in with how they do things at work. Show that you get along well with other people by being friendly and outgoing at the interview. At the start of the interview, give a firm handshake and a smile. Hiring managers will remember these small things because they pay attention to how you act during the whole hiring process.
19. Show you are willing to learn.
As a new firefighter, you have to go through a lot of training and learn and remember a lot of new things. If you want to learn, it means you take your education seriously and train and study on your own. Talk about how you got ready for different kinds of tests, like exams and physicals, during your interview.
20. Demonstrate a positive attitude
Think positively to stay happy in a world that can be stressful at times. By being happy yourself, you can make other people feel good. This helps them stay calm and keep their minds on the job, which is important when they are responding to calls.
Keep your answers to the interview questions positive, but don’t be afraid to talk about the hard things you have to deal with as a firefighter. Show that you know it’s important to have a good attitude when taking on hard tasks and responsibilities.
21. Show that you can handle yourself.
Even though firefighters work as a team, there are times when you have to make your own decisions and act on your own. Be sure in your answers and talk about times when you worked on your own to show that you can work on your own.
22. Arrive early and prepared
If you get there 10 minutes early with your resume, a notepad, and a pen, it shows that you want the job. Since firefighters often have to act quickly in different kinds of emergencies, many firehouses look for people who are ready.
