Before interview practice
Tell us about yourself?
First off, i want to thank you for your time and the opportunity to be interviewed today for the role of a career firefighter.
Having researched the role thoroughly i am confident i have the skills and qualities that are required for this position.
I would describe myself as a confident person both resilient and adaptable and pride myself on my physical and mental well-being.
I take extreme ownership of my actions and strive for continuous improvement.
Over the years i have worked in a wide range of industries and gained a lot of skills and experience that i feel have prepared me for this role.
I have held multiple management positions where the need for interpersonal skills was vital for working with both the community as well as team members.
I also had to overcome problematic situations and challenges that would arise and act decisively in a professional manner.
I currently work in the building supplies industry but have experience as a personal trainer, gym manager and retail management.If you employ me as a fire fighter i will be able to transfer these skills i have gained from these positions and use them to provide an exemplary service to my team, the department and the community in which i am serving.
Lastly, on a personal level, i am a devoted father of three and enjoy keeping active and routinely visit the gym to ensure my physical fitness is optimal.
What is your biggest strength/weakness?
I will have to say that my biggest strength is my leadership skills.
Over the years i have managed to develop great interpersonal skills which has helped a lot with leading and working within a team.
I also put this down to the fact that take complete ownership especially if things do go wrong.
As for my weakness, i will have to say this would be my delegation skills as i tend to prefer to do things myself. This is something i have been working on both at home and at work by sharing the work load and asking for help when needed.
This is a skill i am very interested in improving as i understand how crucial it is in a team environment.
Why should we hire you over the other candidates?
You should hire me for three reasons.
First, i come with a lot of life experience both personal and work.
through these experiences i have gained many skills and attributes that are expected in a fire fighter.
Second, i hold my self accountable in all areas and take absolute ownership in my personal development.I don’t settle for second best and put my best foot forward every chance i get.
And lastly, i consider myself a compassionate leader and team member.
I believe that if a team member is struggling it is my duty to pick them up and if they fail i fail.
Again i take absolute ownership in all areas of influence and will ensure my team gets across the finish line successfully and more importantly, safely.
What aspects of this job appeal to you the most? the least?
I have always wanted to work within a team who were unified by the same goal, a team that conducts them selves with a high sense of integrity and work ethic in order to achieve a common goal, in this case the protection of life and property.
I would also like to utilise the skills i have acquired while coaching to help educate our communities on fire prevention and to hopefully one day assist new recruits or candidates to become excellent fire fighters.
Now i understand there are un desired aspects of the role as well.
I think i speak for a lot of people when i say my least desired aspect of this role would be to see people suffer, in any form.
If hired, what would you contribute to this fire department?/What skills and qualities do you have that will make you a good firefighter?
If hired, i will be able to contribute the skills and experience i have developed over the years.
During my time as a trainer i coached group fitness classes for the local community and feel i could utilise this experience to speak to the public and educate them on fire prevention.
I have experience with mechanical engineering and working on cars having briefly studied this while i was younger.I’m also handy with tools that I'm sure will be utilised while in the role of a fire fighter.
I have prior experience with Hazardous materials and was once certified in handling these substances.
I gained this experience while i was in charge of an unmanned fuel station and was responsible for the routine safety checks of the site as well as the bulk fuel tanks.
Lastly, over the years i have been working i have held a first aid certification and attended many refresher courses over time.
and in the past needed to utilise the knowledge gained from this to respond to medical emergencies.From minor sprains and breaks too having to resuscitate a heart attack victim using a defibrillator.I feel this experience will help when dealing with medical situations while in the role.
Why do you want to be a firefighter?
I want to be a firefighter because i have always felt compelled to serve my country and my community and to be able to make a difference with my work.
I want to be able to work alongside like minded individuals in a organisation that takes pride and upholds very high standards and values.
I understand the role varies and is not just a reactive role of attending to incidents and helping people in time of need.
There is also the proactive side that appeals to me which includes fire educating our communities on fire prevention.
Another reason why i want to be a fire fighter is because there have been incidents in the past where i have had to step up and be the first to respond and i can remember feeling a strong sense of pride and accomplishment from doing so.
I remember the moment that sparked my interest to be a firefighter, it was a situation i faced while working as a gym manager.
I had just witnessed a head on crash outside on a corner of a busy road.
Realising i was one of the first to witness the crash, i was faced with the task to ensure emergency services were called, further harm was prevented and the victims were ok.
I instructed a gym member to call 111 and with the safety of myself and others being my main priority i was able to use nearby road cones to divert traffic while others attended to the victims.
As a result, further accidents were prevented and local fire fighters were able to get to the scene and take over.
I have also witnessed other situations where fire fighter have made a difference in our community and have always thought it would be an absolute honour to serve along side them.
“Tell me about a time you exercised leadership.”
over the years, having been in multiple management roles, i have had to exercise leadership skills a lot.
One time that stands out the most for me was actually one of my first management roles.Which was the manager role for a chilled and frozen department in paknsave.
I was 23 at the time and had just taken over the role from another manager who unfortunately did not posses very great leadership skills.
Because of this the morale within the department was low as well as the willingness to work as a team.
When i took over i made this my responsibility to turn this around.
I held a few team meetings in the beginning to discuss the concerns my team had and listen to any suggestions they may have to improve things.
They voiced their opinions and i listened and showed compassion towards them.Because of this they felt valued and appreciated.
Which in turn increased their willingness to work as a team which in turn also increased Morale.
I noticed staff attendance had increased also and the willingness to pick up extra shifts when i called on them.
I also found i was often approached by staff in other departments asking if their was any vacancies within the department as they would like to have me as their manager.
I turned the department around by being compassionate and listening to my staff as well as working along side them to show we are a team.
This is one of my proudest leadership experiences i have.