Fire Officer Promotional: The Interview

Reason:  Is the candidate here for the right reason?

Good responses – “I think the direction the department is headed is great and I am excited to contribute to that mission and supporting it in this new position.”

“This position has challenges, and I am excited to apply my knowledge to tackle them both personally and professionally.”

“I want our personnel to thrive in their roles and the community to receive the benefits of this growth.”

“This new role is aligned with where I want to go in my career and places me in a unique position to help achieve a strong culture to support the mission of this organization.”

Reason:  This is to assess the candidate’s self-confidence and their ability to meet the responsibilities of this position. If they don’t answer well, it may show they will perform poorly later down the line.

Good response – “A combination of my skills, experience, and professional approach demonstrates the contribution I will make to succeed in this position and contribute to the success of the department’s mission.” (Add in relevant skills and experience as appropriate)

Reason:  This is to understand if you learn more from your failures than successes. It shows introspection and a desire to improve. A person who has never failed has never taken risks.  They may not be right for the position.  

Select something that demonstrates a negative experience in the past where you took a calculated risk and failed, but you learned from it and improved moving forward.  This response should take some time, since you must tell the story of the risk taken, the results, what you learned, and what you changed to be successful in the future.

Good response –“When I was asked to do a task on a call, I thought I knew what my officer wanted.  I took an approach  with this in mind.  As a result, my coworkers had to do extra work to correct it.  I learned to never assume that my understanding of a task was perfect and to ask questions up front to clarify what was being asked.”

Reason:  They want to know what you consider important in your work life.  This response should be a key accomplishment you feel is important to you, your team, or your organization.

Good response –“Worked as part of a team, or individually, on a project that seemed impossible at first because it had a deadline, legal terminology and laws incorporated into it, and a large group of people that would have to come together and contribute to it.  However, we were able to do just that to complete the project.”

Reason: Conflict is unavoidable, and they want to know if you handle it constructively or destructively.  Or if you ignore it – which is not appropriate.

You should show how you work to defuse the situation and how you resolve it.  Stay calm, maybe even remove yourself from the environment, to gain perspective.

Good Response:  “I was consistently receiving an under-stocked unit from the previous shift, and my initial response was frustration and anger.  Instead of engaging the crew while I was angry, I opted to accept pass-on and allowed myself to cool down.  The next shift I spoke with the personnel involved in a professional manner, and explained the importance of having a stocked unit, only to find out that both of them thought the other person was restocking after the calls.  The issue was resolved and didn’t need to be pursued further.”

Reason:  These are two separate topics that are required of any officer position.  They want to know if you understand when you will have to apply each.  It is a two part question.

Good Response: “Leadership is the ability of an officer to influence others towards the success of the organization, where as management is about managing people and their tasks.”

“I have been a leader on the job by inspiring people to pursue continued education to better support the department’s mission.  I have been a manager on the job by holding coworkers accountable for completing their daily work tasks.“

Reason:  This is a humility question, and can identify possible red flags on a candidate.  Answer this question with caution.  Remember, if you name a weakness that still exists, you aren’t doing anything to improve it.  This requires you to be honest with yourself, and figure out how you improved on something in your life.  Or, something you are working on currently to try and improve.

Good Response:  “I used to be afraid of public speaking, and was nervous to explain our job and equipment to citizens when we had special details.  I knew this was something we did all the time, so I did some research and found out about Toastmasters.  I joined for free through the organization and have overcome my fear of public speaking since.”