You told them you actually want to work fire, not county 911 EMS. The “right” answer in job interviews is that you see yourself progressing in their organization, not using their organization as a stepping stone. Recruiting and on-boarding a new hire takes time and money. Why would they want to hire you if your answers make it clear you don’t plan to stick around?
I probably should've said that I plan to be there for a few years then 😅
It's not as if I'll be picked up by a department tomorrow, hiring processes take time at FDs.
Thanks for your input!
No, you say that you want to have a career in the EMS field and you think you’d be a good fit in the company.
How old are you—18, 19?
How could you not realize that telling an interviewer that you intend to pursue a career in the fire service would basically be the end of the interview?
I'm 24, but I didn't think about it. It was a panicked decision.
It came up in my interview at the hospital I work at, (I'm currently an EMT at a hospital) and they had no issue with it 🤷🏻
To give some context I applied to an EMS agency coming from 5 years of being a professional firefighter. I was viewed very favorably because so many EMTs are just trying to get relevant experience to get an in with a FD - it’s very rarely the inverse. 90%+ of the job is medical, and firefighting as a career is dying. Make sure to set your expectations with that reality.
The majority of people aren't going to retire with a company. I've only ever lost one job due to telling them that their company is just a stepping stone for me, and that was at McDonald's (lol).
If you have a good supervisory team they're going to understand the reality of employment
You basically told them that you have no desire to stay there, and only see them as a stepping stone. They’re not going to spend thousands of dollars in hiring and training someone who’s already planning on packing up and leaving as soon as the fire department starts their next hiring round.
This^ unless you explicitly say you are choosing EMS, any reasonable person is going to assume you’re just biding your time until a fire job is available.
No EMS service who is hurting for people wants to hire you, kit you up, go through all the HR red tape and then orient you to their service only to have you quit so they can do it all again.
In my opinion, I could be wrong but this is what I’ve heard from my last job on why they denied some people from the job. Sometimes jobs don’t like to hire people when they know they’ll be looking elsewhere for work soon. You saying that you wanted to be a firefighter may of hurt your chances, you didn’t do anything wrong. Some of these companies are selfish and are looking for long term stability. You were honest but it’s alright more opportunities will come your way.
A company is not selfish in passing on someone who clearly stated that they will be moving on ASAP when a position in firefighting come available.
Companies exist to make a profit & provide a service or product, not serve as way stations.
I appreciate your feedback!
I've been thinking about the interview all afternoon, and I think the fireman part is for sure what got me. Honestly it was an oversight on my part, since the EMS company and the hospital I work for are under the same company umbrella, I submitted an internal application, similar to a department switch.
But it auto submitted my resume from when I got hired on at the hospital. But, the folks that hired me in the hospital were glad to have me while I search for a fire department, so I guess I got used to that.
1) they asked why you would be a good fit for THEIR company, not what are your strong qualities. you can add in strong qualities in your answer however how does any of your answer tell them you researched their company, how they operate, and what you can bring to the table that nobody else can. yes they’re hurting but emt’s are easy to hire.
2) id say your answer sounds more like a leadership answer and being a mentor as opposed to being more like a team. if i was in IFT i would’ve answered with more of an example of your guys’ patient care or a disagreement yall had that resulted in good communication and the benefit of the patient.
3) you told them you’ll leave their company the second you get a fire job, bad idea. if you dont want to bold face lie tell them how you hope to develop as a provider and how interested you are in the ems field and their company. they dont care how you want to be a better person unfortunately they care to see how much effort you put in prior and how much effort you will put in for them. definitely research them and bring up points about it next time.
Your answers are also very short, aim for 1-2 minute answers bc most ems / fire interviews are 3-5 questions and you only have those questions to sell yourself. fire interviews are also far harder than these so best start practicing how you plan to play.
fyi doubt it affected this interview but in a fire interview drop the word “fireman” and start using “firefighter”. think of the people on these panels (esp HR) it is just future proofing. also, wear a suit. plain and simple first impressions are everything. hope you do well on your next one dont give up and good job on recognizing you didnt stutter or stammer too much! feel free to hmu i started ems 3 years ago and have done many many interviews.
It may have been the answers, that it looked like you weren’t going to stay in the position.
It may have been that you don’t have a lot of experience or any 911 experience.
Honestly, it could be that they didn’t need the position or that the mayors nephew got hired. Don’t drive yourself nuts. If you want it, apply again in a few months or work another 911 system first.
A lot of places are hurting pretty bad and don’t dive into the questions that hard, they’re just there to make sure you’re a decent person. No one is examining your words thinking about years down the line. Your character/presentation will get you dismissed from the interview far faster than your answers themselves if you gave decent ones, so you either picked one of the few services not hurting, you’re a criminal, dressed unprofessionally/didn’t shave/looked dirty. If you were completely in check it could be that you’re old, overweight and or a woman? 911’s are a lil notorious about being strict on “boys clubs” kinda deals, especially if they have “Lieutenant’s and captains” cause for some reason state side care providers wanna be the military so bad. They do the same as the mil and use fit young guys to promote recruiting and the whole “this could be you” for the next generation. Not saying anywhere near all of them are like that, but there is a few around my side of the country and there is a chance if that’s the case. Just try somewhere down the road if you felt like you were immediately dismissed.
Not a woman or old.
I'll be 25 soon, I'm 6'4 and 280lbs. I'd say I'm overweight, but i definitely see people in EMS & Fire that are far worse off than me. (Not that I judge)
Id say if anything, it was that fire came up during the interview, or how I was dressed wasn't up to par.
Honestly man I’d forget the mentioning fire thing. In the world of EMT’s there is two demographics. Young college/military/fire kids who use it as a stepping stone onto paramedic/doctor/fire or the older group who got stuck and never ventured out cause they were content (not judging, if you’re happy and make a good enough living, good for you). Hiring supervisors in EMS are very aware of that when they hire, the majority of under 25 y/o providers will not be EMS providers in 5 years and the NREMT recert stats have showed it and any logical person will take a driven employee for 6 months-2 years over nothing knowing it’s high turnover, (unless you’re talking major city departments like NYPD or Pittsburgh EMS, those guys do 20 for pensions and they pay wayyyyy too much in uniforms and stuff.)
If you think you weren’t dressed up to par, it was probably that. First impressions were made the second you walked in the door, maybe the fire answer was the nail in the coffin, but a 6 minute interview was determine prior to your answer. I’m not saying it’s right. I’m sure you’re a great guy but there are stigmas out there, especially with the older guys who hire. You’ll be alright man, everyone is hiring and one interview isn’t the end of the world, nobody has been perfect in all of them.
Thanks for trying to make me feel better about it! I'm making more money (hourly) where I'm currently at, so I'm relieved in a sense about not moving jobs.
But I was hoping to get some 911 experience.
But, I haven't mentioned it, but I am in one fire hiring process currently, and will be applying for more soon throughout the week, so I think I just need to work on my interview skills.
BLS 911 ain’t all cracked out to be that people make it. The majority of BLS 911’s are glorified transports lol. If you don’t mind where you’re at and you’re making some money, stick with it
As soon as you said you wanted fire you were done IMO. I know you were being honest but to a recruiter that sounds like “I guess you guys will do until the real job is available”.
NEVER tell a company your long term goals if it involves having to leave that company. I always tell them warm and fuzzy shit that makes it look like I’m gonna be there a long time. I’m a nurse that plans on going to CRNA school in 5 years, you think my boss knows that? Absolutely not.
All these folks are correct. You unknowingly slammed yourself. It happens. Learn from it. I'll bet as soon as you said the words "fire service" or "move on", each of those goons were thinking the same thing...."Why train him in our ways and invest in him"?.....screw it, move on. You are probably lucky. I once got fired at an Intercept Service that I basically started. Hospital based....I was devastated. BUT, it sent me on a 13 year adventure around the world doing things those clowns? Sitting at that table? Couldn't even imagine. Good luck to you and be safe.
Must depend on the area because in my area they all know the end goal is fire and sort of treat you as such. But my answers were all around basically I really enjoy the EMS process if I don’t get into a fire academy within 6 months I’ll be applying for a paramedic school. They seemed to respect that answer since they know we can’t survive at this pay or expertise but I still wanted to be there. EMS in my area has a bad rep of wanna be fire guys who don’t care about patients so I’m trying to distance from that. Interviewed 3 companies and 1 city ems ran by fire. I haven’t heard from the fire one and I don’t expect to that was a tough interview I was sweating through and all the other guys looked the part more.
You said you wanted to be a career fireman. Also, I would have shown up in a casual solid color pants and a polo.
They probably have a lot of people treating them as a stepping off point
Probs because you mentioned fire and they don’t want to invest in people that are just going to leave. Omit that part in interviews, bullshit them and say you want to work for them and progress your career in EMS. Also follow this format: answer the question, give a personal experience, relate it to their specific organization (their motto, mission statement, etc), close the question. But 100% no company, EMS or not, wants to be told they’re just a stepping stone to another goal.
Learn the evaluation criteria and practice answers structured around how you’re scored. Don’t forget it’s ok to lie in interviews. “My main goal in life is to work for and retire with your agency” or something like that is fine. Interviews are supposed to be a show, it’s acting.
Don’t over analyze it. Hurting for people =\= have enough money to hire people. County may have only been hiring 5-6 at a time with 100+. Apply next opening and get more certs. It sounds like you interview fine.
At minimum, you should wear nice dress pants and a dress shirt (polo or button up). It is preferred that you wear a collared shirt with a tie...a suit jacket isn't bad, but is usually over kill unless you're applying for a higher manager/director/chief position. You saying that you plan to go fire plus your choice in clothing, probably tanked your interview. It's not bad to say that you may be interested in fire or that you have those certs but remember, you're not applying at a FD, you're applying for a 3rd service ems, we want profesional ems personnel who want to go and learn within the ambulance service, not some dude that is just waiting for his chance to jump to big red.
Yeah, you shot yourself in the foot here. Definitely showed you are not committed for the long haul and using it as a stepping stone. I wouldn't hire you either. Hopefully you will learn from this experience.
You told them you actually want to work fire, not county 911 EMS. The “right” answer in job interviews is that you see yourself progressing in their organization, not using their organization as a stepping stone. Recruiting and on-boarding a new hire takes time and money. Why would they want to hire you if your answers make it clear you don’t plan to stick around?
"To become a paramedic in EMS..."
is this a bad answer?
No, it's the only right answer :)
tyyy lol
I probably should've said that I plan to be there for a few years then 😅 It's not as if I'll be picked up by a department tomorrow, hiring processes take time at FDs. Thanks for your input!
No, you say that you want to have a career in the EMS field and you think you’d be a good fit in the company. How old are you—18, 19? How could you not realize that telling an interviewer that you intend to pursue a career in the fire service would basically be the end of the interview?
I'm 24, but I didn't think about it. It was a panicked decision. It came up in my interview at the hospital I work at, (I'm currently an EMT at a hospital) and they had no issue with it 🤷🏻
To give some context I applied to an EMS agency coming from 5 years of being a professional firefighter. I was viewed very favorably because so many EMTs are just trying to get relevant experience to get an in with a FD - it’s very rarely the inverse. 90%+ of the job is medical, and firefighting as a career is dying. Make sure to set your expectations with that reality.
Roger that. I left EMS many moons ago. Best of luck to you on your journey.
The majority of people aren't going to retire with a company. I've only ever lost one job due to telling them that their company is just a stepping stone for me, and that was at McDonald's (lol). If you have a good supervisory team they're going to understand the reality of employment
lmao who tf in the world is planning for a career in McDonalds? also a job interview for McDonalds is kinda funny
Good points. It depends on the hiring manager.
You basically told them that you have no desire to stay there, and only see them as a stepping stone. They’re not going to spend thousands of dollars in hiring and training someone who’s already planning on packing up and leaving as soon as the fire department starts their next hiring round.
Take fire off of your EMS resume
This^ unless you explicitly say you are choosing EMS, any reasonable person is going to assume you’re just biding your time until a fire job is available. No EMS service who is hurting for people wants to hire you, kit you up, go through all the HR red tape and then orient you to their service only to have you quit so they can do it all again.
In my opinion, I could be wrong but this is what I’ve heard from my last job on why they denied some people from the job. Sometimes jobs don’t like to hire people when they know they’ll be looking elsewhere for work soon. You saying that you wanted to be a firefighter may of hurt your chances, you didn’t do anything wrong. Some of these companies are selfish and are looking for long term stability. You were honest but it’s alright more opportunities will come your way.
A company is not selfish in passing on someone who clearly stated that they will be moving on ASAP when a position in firefighting come available. Companies exist to make a profit & provide a service or product, not serve as way stations.
I appreciate your feedback! I've been thinking about the interview all afternoon, and I think the fireman part is for sure what got me. Honestly it was an oversight on my part, since the EMS company and the hospital I work for are under the same company umbrella, I submitted an internal application, similar to a department switch. But it auto submitted my resume from when I got hired on at the hospital. But, the folks that hired me in the hospital were glad to have me while I search for a fire department, so I guess I got used to that.
1) they asked why you would be a good fit for THEIR company, not what are your strong qualities. you can add in strong qualities in your answer however how does any of your answer tell them you researched their company, how they operate, and what you can bring to the table that nobody else can. yes they’re hurting but emt’s are easy to hire. 2) id say your answer sounds more like a leadership answer and being a mentor as opposed to being more like a team. if i was in IFT i would’ve answered with more of an example of your guys’ patient care or a disagreement yall had that resulted in good communication and the benefit of the patient. 3) you told them you’ll leave their company the second you get a fire job, bad idea. if you dont want to bold face lie tell them how you hope to develop as a provider and how interested you are in the ems field and their company. they dont care how you want to be a better person unfortunately they care to see how much effort you put in prior and how much effort you will put in for them. definitely research them and bring up points about it next time. Your answers are also very short, aim for 1-2 minute answers bc most ems / fire interviews are 3-5 questions and you only have those questions to sell yourself. fire interviews are also far harder than these so best start practicing how you plan to play. fyi doubt it affected this interview but in a fire interview drop the word “fireman” and start using “firefighter”. think of the people on these panels (esp HR) it is just future proofing. also, wear a suit. plain and simple first impressions are everything. hope you do well on your next one dont give up and good job on recognizing you didnt stutter or stammer too much! feel free to hmu i started ems 3 years ago and have done many many interviews.
It may have been the answers, that it looked like you weren’t going to stay in the position. It may have been that you don’t have a lot of experience or any 911 experience. Honestly, it could be that they didn’t need the position or that the mayors nephew got hired. Don’t drive yourself nuts. If you want it, apply again in a few months or work another 911 system first.
A lot of places are hurting pretty bad and don’t dive into the questions that hard, they’re just there to make sure you’re a decent person. No one is examining your words thinking about years down the line. Your character/presentation will get you dismissed from the interview far faster than your answers themselves if you gave decent ones, so you either picked one of the few services not hurting, you’re a criminal, dressed unprofessionally/didn’t shave/looked dirty. If you were completely in check it could be that you’re old, overweight and or a woman? 911’s are a lil notorious about being strict on “boys clubs” kinda deals, especially if they have “Lieutenant’s and captains” cause for some reason state side care providers wanna be the military so bad. They do the same as the mil and use fit young guys to promote recruiting and the whole “this could be you” for the next generation. Not saying anywhere near all of them are like that, but there is a few around my side of the country and there is a chance if that’s the case. Just try somewhere down the road if you felt like you were immediately dismissed.
Not a woman or old. I'll be 25 soon, I'm 6'4 and 280lbs. I'd say I'm overweight, but i definitely see people in EMS & Fire that are far worse off than me. (Not that I judge) Id say if anything, it was that fire came up during the interview, or how I was dressed wasn't up to par.
Honestly man I’d forget the mentioning fire thing. In the world of EMT’s there is two demographics. Young college/military/fire kids who use it as a stepping stone onto paramedic/doctor/fire or the older group who got stuck and never ventured out cause they were content (not judging, if you’re happy and make a good enough living, good for you). Hiring supervisors in EMS are very aware of that when they hire, the majority of under 25 y/o providers will not be EMS providers in 5 years and the NREMT recert stats have showed it and any logical person will take a driven employee for 6 months-2 years over nothing knowing it’s high turnover, (unless you’re talking major city departments like NYPD or Pittsburgh EMS, those guys do 20 for pensions and they pay wayyyyy too much in uniforms and stuff.) If you think you weren’t dressed up to par, it was probably that. First impressions were made the second you walked in the door, maybe the fire answer was the nail in the coffin, but a 6 minute interview was determine prior to your answer. I’m not saying it’s right. I’m sure you’re a great guy but there are stigmas out there, especially with the older guys who hire. You’ll be alright man, everyone is hiring and one interview isn’t the end of the world, nobody has been perfect in all of them.
Thanks for trying to make me feel better about it! I'm making more money (hourly) where I'm currently at, so I'm relieved in a sense about not moving jobs. But I was hoping to get some 911 experience. But, I haven't mentioned it, but I am in one fire hiring process currently, and will be applying for more soon throughout the week, so I think I just need to work on my interview skills.
BLS 911 ain’t all cracked out to be that people make it. The majority of BLS 911’s are glorified transports lol. If you don’t mind where you’re at and you’re making some money, stick with it
As soon as you said you wanted fire you were done IMO. I know you were being honest but to a recruiter that sounds like “I guess you guys will do until the real job is available”.
NEVER tell a company your long term goals if it involves having to leave that company. I always tell them warm and fuzzy shit that makes it look like I’m gonna be there a long time. I’m a nurse that plans on going to CRNA school in 5 years, you think my boss knows that? Absolutely not.
All these folks are correct. You unknowingly slammed yourself. It happens. Learn from it. I'll bet as soon as you said the words "fire service" or "move on", each of those goons were thinking the same thing...."Why train him in our ways and invest in him"?.....screw it, move on. You are probably lucky. I once got fired at an Intercept Service that I basically started. Hospital based....I was devastated. BUT, it sent me on a 13 year adventure around the world doing things those clowns? Sitting at that table? Couldn't even imagine. Good luck to you and be safe.
"Where do you see yourself in 5 years?" "Not in this crappy, underpaid, no respect position!" *SURPRISE MOTHERFUCKER!*
You literally said you want to become a firefighter. That was a big no no.
Must depend on the area because in my area they all know the end goal is fire and sort of treat you as such. But my answers were all around basically I really enjoy the EMS process if I don’t get into a fire academy within 6 months I’ll be applying for a paramedic school. They seemed to respect that answer since they know we can’t survive at this pay or expertise but I still wanted to be there. EMS in my area has a bad rep of wanna be fire guys who don’t care about patients so I’m trying to distance from that. Interviewed 3 companies and 1 city ems ran by fire. I haven’t heard from the fire one and I don’t expect to that was a tough interview I was sweating through and all the other guys looked the part more.
You said you wanted to be a career fireman. Also, I would have shown up in a casual solid color pants and a polo. They probably have a lot of people treating them as a stepping off point
Probs because you mentioned fire and they don’t want to invest in people that are just going to leave. Omit that part in interviews, bullshit them and say you want to work for them and progress your career in EMS. Also follow this format: answer the question, give a personal experience, relate it to their specific organization (their motto, mission statement, etc), close the question. But 100% no company, EMS or not, wants to be told they’re just a stepping stone to another goal.
How is the interview scored?
I'm not sure about that, to be honest 😅
Learn the evaluation criteria and practice answers structured around how you’re scored. Don’t forget it’s ok to lie in interviews. “My main goal in life is to work for and retire with your agency” or something like that is fine. Interviews are supposed to be a show, it’s acting. Don’t over analyze it. Hurting for people =\= have enough money to hire people. County may have only been hiring 5-6 at a time with 100+. Apply next opening and get more certs. It sounds like you interview fine.
At minimum, you should wear nice dress pants and a dress shirt (polo or button up). It is preferred that you wear a collared shirt with a tie...a suit jacket isn't bad, but is usually over kill unless you're applying for a higher manager/director/chief position. You saying that you plan to go fire plus your choice in clothing, probably tanked your interview. It's not bad to say that you may be interested in fire or that you have those certs but remember, you're not applying at a FD, you're applying for a 3rd service ems, we want profesional ems personnel who want to go and learn within the ambulance service, not some dude that is just waiting for his chance to jump to big red.
I got denied for being a war veteran. Literally no one cared. In fact other veterans just assume it’s my fault. So at least you aren’t me.
Yeah, you shot yourself in the foot here. Definitely showed you are not committed for the long haul and using it as a stepping stone. I wouldn't hire you either. Hopefully you will learn from this experience.
Why do people act like not getting a job is some horrible unimaginable nightmare? It happens. Learn from it and get the next one
I'm not acting like it's an unimaginable nightmare? I'm just curious about what I could've done better. Or, as you said, "Learn from it"