Recruit Hire Interview Questions

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Permalink Reply by Larry Lasich on March 21, 2009 at 12:44pm

I don't know what is driving the time requirements, but I've got to tell you, 15 minutes for a Cop, Firefighter, EMT type job just isn't enough. Unless you already know the candidates and are checking off boxes.

Maybe enough for a greeter at S-mart. Shop Smart! Shop S-mart! ;-]

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Permalink Reply by Michael Bricault (ret) on March 21, 2009 at 1:39pm

I agree with Larry on the time requirements. Also, sticking to scenario questions will give you limited insight into the individual. I remember my interview also had questions dealing with personal ethics.

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Permalink Reply by Shawn Tibbitts on March 21, 2009 at 2:26pm

I agree about the 15 minutes, I would bet a hopeful at Mcdonalds would get at least 30 min. I would think any fire scenario questions should be general ie if your on the way to work and see an accident do you? stuff like that lets face it a lot of guys are not going to have any idea of the technical stuff and probably dont know the right answer yet. I can remember my interview was pretty generic, any mental or physical probs, scared of heights? typical interview stuff. good luck, sorry I wasnt more help, 15 minutes..bad idea

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Permalink Reply by Don Huneke on March 21, 2009 at 7:48pm

Are you looking for combat type question or a ethical question....Call me or write me back...

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Permalink Reply by Ariel Villarreal on March 21, 2009 at 8:38pm

I couldn't agree with you more, the problem is we reveived a SAFER grant for new hires. Once the grant is received, you have 90 days to hire the members. It took over 6 weeks to get the commisson to approve it, two weeks for advertising, two days for testing, one week for PAT, six days for interviews, three weeks for background and physicals and we are at 90 days.

I am in total agreement with all of you, but when given an assignment with this type of time restraints its time to improvise, adapt and overcome. I did allow 20 minutes per interview, but unfortunately it is what it is. That's 114 interviews and application reviews (which will be done after hours of course) in six days. Fortunately there are a number of candidiates which are known locally. Those that wash out in the Probie class (hopefully not), were still hired by the deadline and the grant requirements are met.

I was interested more in ethical scenario questions, I have a bank of questions we have used previously wanted to change it up a little. So I am placing a call out to my Brothers for any suggestions or to those who have been placed in the same position.

Larry Lasich said:

I don't know what is driving the time requirements, but I've got to tell you, 15 minutes for a Cop, Firefighter, EMT type job just isn't enough. Unless you already know the candidates and are checking off boxes.

Maybe enough for a greeter at S-mart. Shop Smart! Shop S-mart! ;-]

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Permalink Reply by Ariel Villarreal on March 21, 2009 at 8:38pm

I couldn't agree with you more, the problem is we reveived a SAFER grant for new hires. Once the grant is received, you have 90 days to hire the members. It took over 6 weeks to get the commisson to approve it, two weeks for advertising, two days for testing, one week for PAT, six days for interviews, three weeks for background and physicals and we are at 90 days.

I am in total agreement with all of you, but when given an assignment with this type of time restraints its time to improvise, adapt and overcome. I did allow 20 minutes per interview, but unfortunately it is what it is. That's 114 interviews and application reviews (which will be done after hours of course) in six days. Fortunately there are a number of candidiates which are known locally. Those that wash out in the Probie class (hopefully not), were still hired by the deadline and the grant requirements are met.

I was interested more in ethical scenario questions, I have a bank of questions we have used previously wanted to change it up a little. So I am placing a call out to my Brothers for any suggestions or to those who have been placed in the same position.

Shawn Tibbitts said:

I agree about the 15 minutes, I would bet a hopeful at Mcdonalds would get at least 30 min. I would think any fire scenario questions should be general ie if your on the way to work and see an accident do you? stuff like that lets face it a lot of guys are not going to have any idea of the technical stuff and probably dont know the right answer yet. I can remember my interview was pretty generic, any mental or physical probs, scared of heights? typical interview stuff. good luck, sorry I wasnt more help, 15 minutes..bad idea

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Permalink Reply by Ariel Villarreal on March 21, 2009 at 8:38pm

I couldn't agree with you more, the problem is we reveived a SAFER grant for new hires. Once the grant is received, you have 90 days to hire the members. It took over 6 weeks to get the commisson to approve it, two weeks for advertising, two days for testing, one week for PAT, six days for interviews, three weeks for background and physicals and we are at 90 days.

I am in total agreement with all of you, but when given an assignment with this type of time restraints its time to improvise, adapt and overcome. I did allow 20 minutes per interview, but unfortunately it is what it is. That's 114 interviews and application reviews (which will be done after hours of course) in six days. Fortunately there are a number of candidiates which are known locally. Those that wash out in the Probie class (hopefully not), were still hired by the deadline and the grant requirements are met.

I was interested more in ethical scenario questions, I have a bank of questions we have used previously wanted to change it up a little. So I am placing a call out to my Brothers for any suggestions or to those who have been placed in the same position.

Don Huneke said:

Are you looking for combat type question or a ethical question....Call me or write me back...

• ▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Ariel Villarreal on March 21, 2009 at 8:39pm

I couldn't agree with you more, the problem is we reveived a SAFER grant for new hires. Once the grant is received, you have 90 days to hire the members. It took over 6 weeks to get the commisson to approve it, two weeks for advertising, two days for testing, one week for PAT, six days for interviews, three weeks for background and physicals and we are at 90 days.

I am in total agreement with all of you, but when given an assignment with this type of time restraints its time to improvise, adapt and overcome. I did allow 20 minutes per interview, but unfortunately it is what it is. That's 114 interviews and application reviews (which will be done after hours of course) in six days. Fortunately there are a number of candidiates which are known locally. Those that wash out in the Probie class (hopefully not), were still hired by the deadline and the grant requirements are met.

I was interested more in ethical scenario questions, I have a bank of questions we have used previously wanted to change it up a little. So I am placing a call out to my Brothers for any suggestions or to those who have been placed in the same position.

Don Huneke said:

Are you looking for combat type question or a ethical question....Call me or write me back...

• ▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Ariel Villarreal on March 21, 2009 at 8:40pm

I couldn't agree with you more, the problem is we reveived a SAFER grant for new hires. Once the grant is received, you have 90 days to hire the members. It took over 6 weeks to get the commisson to approve it, two weeks for advertising, two days for testing, one week for PAT, six days for interviews, three weeks for background and physicals and we are at 90 days.

I am in total agreement with all of you, but when given an assignment with this type of time restraints its time to improvise, adapt and overcome. I did allow 20 minutes per interview, but unfortunately it is what it is. That's 114 interviews and application reviews (which will be done after hours of course) in six days. Fortunately there are a number of candidiates which are known locally. Those that wash out in the Probie class (hopefully not), were still hired by the deadline and the grant requirements are met.

I was interested more in ethical scenario questions, I have a bank of questions we have used previously wanted to change it up a little. So I am placing a call out to my Brothers for any suggestions or to those who have been placed in the same position.

Michael Bricault said:

I agree with Larry on the time requirements. Also, sticking to scenario questions will give you limited insight into the individual. I remember my interview also had questions dealing with personal ethics.

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Permalink Reply by Larry Lasich on March 22, 2009 at 10:19am

How many candidates. How many people that can read and grade responses. Get help from other trainers/supervisors from neighboring Depts. Divide the pool up and keep it to 4-6 candidates per evaluator.

You can also pre screen and move to the top if any of these people are coming from Vollie depts and you trust the Company Officers.

In the worst case, have six to twelve month probation. Keep the top eight names on your Rolodex.

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Permalink Reply by Ariel Villarreal on March 22, 2009 at 10:38am

Thanks for the response Larry, are hiring board is made up of floor members (5) and 1 HR rep with no voting rights. My training staff will review all apps prior to the interview. As far as keep the next 10 candidates handy thats a givin the olt choice I have. FYI, as the Training Chief I also do not have a vote, I simply chair the committee after the interview the committee to delect the hire. It's a pride and ownership phylosiphy, although in this type of situation adjustments have to be made.

Thanks again

Larry Lasich said:

How many candidates. How many people that can read and grade responses. Get help from other trainers/supervisors from neighboring Depts. Divide the pool up and keep it to 4-6 candidates per evaluator.

You can also pre screen and move to the top if any of these people are coming from Vollie depts and you trust the Company Officers.

In the worst case, have six to twelve month probation. Keep the top eight names on your Rolodex.

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Permalink Reply by Shawn Tibbitts on March 22, 2009 at 4:14pm

The nice thing is if they do come from a vollie back ground send a letter to their chief to find out good and bad points and if their a decent person. Lets face it we can train a moron to do this job its not rocket science, we want to make sure its some one we can live with and work with. That should be some thing to focus on that should help speed up the interview. We would do a cpat in house before the interview process which weeded out at least half the candidates, lets face it if you cant pass it now, why invest the money if they cant pass it when it counts. if you pass the cpat then you can move onto the interview process, a board of 2 batalion chiefs and our deputy chief sat in to ask the questions, if that went well and you were hired then the physical and then to the fire academy, you are then on probation for 1 year from your date hired. The in house cpat showed ahead of time with out the physical if this guy can do the job, however he was required to bring a doctors note saying he was physically fit to do the cpat. Hope this helped.

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