Preparing for interviews

[cali_hornhunter]

Non-Hunting related, but i see tons of great advice on this forum. What does everyone do to prepare for interviews. I jumped out of college into the fire service five years later, i have the opportunity to promote. Looking for advice and to see if any resources are out there.

Any advice is appreciated.

What department ? Biggest advice I can give you after just recently promoting in the fire service is to fully answer the question and be yourself and answer the questions with you would do. Don’t try and make something up that you think the panel would like.

 

[Big Sky Guy]

Interviews are probably 50+% social skill. Going to the bar, church or other public gathering and intentionally making legitimate 15+ minute conversations with complete strangers is probably the best practice I could suggest. If you are already fine in that regards you likely have little to worry about.

 

[Big Sky Guy]

Always ask questions, always!

Smile!

Look at everyone.

Manufactured answers sound so fake. Always pause and think about what you are going to say, even if you practiced that answer.

Great advice.

I’ll add one, dress nice. Likely doesn’t have to be a suit and tie but for guys minimum should be nice pants/khakis and a dress shirt. I’ve always worn a tie, I don’t think you can over dress. No jeans, sweats, or t shirts.

First impressions DO MATTER. Don’t start off looking like a scrub.

 

[CJohnson]

I know nothing about the fire service but I’ve had the pleasure of sitting through multiple interviews for an engineering position recently. The biggest thing to me was to just be a normal person who can carry on a conversation. All of the people we were interviewing were trying to prove their technical competence and show how smart they were. That was already proven via their resume and past experience. None of the people interviewing seemed like they would be easy to work with from just a communication standpoint. That could also be an engineering thing though.

 

[Kurts86]

Read the job description about 100 times. It’s amazing how often people in the same department don’t understand the roles and responsibilities of the people directly above them. How that differs from what you do today does matter.

Have a lots of good examples of how you handled difficult situations. That’s usually what most behavior based interviews drill into.

Try to understand the hiring process for internal promotions. Some places it’s a formality and others view it as truly open. The steps and details matter even if it’s for the next time a job comes available.

Figure out who is on the interview panel. If you don’t know them talk to people who do to get an idea of what is important to them.

After the interview send thank you emails or notes to everyone that took the time to interview you.

 

[fatlander]

Get AI to game out the types of questions you think you’ll be asked. Have someone ask you those questions and see how you do.

As others have said, eye contact, confidence, clear and concise answers. Nothing is less impressive sitting on an interview board than a candidate that doesn’t look at you while they babble on forever to never actually answer the question.

Have a solid list of questions prepared pertinent to the job and potential ways for you to make an impact.


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[arrow179]

You’ve gotten a lot of good answers so far. I would add that you should think about how you can add additional value to the “employer” whether it’s a company or a govt agency. Don’t ask questions about what the employer is going to do for you as they will see you as a person who is always figuring out what’s in it for you. Put the employers hat on and ask yourself what would I want to hear from a potential employee that I am interviewing?

 

[Cashcropper]

Different industry but in our interviews we use a lot of SBO (situational based outcome) questions. You can google SBO questions.

 

[Rich M]

Do you have to test as well as interview for the position?

Most firemen I know are good at the social aspect. Know your job and the position you are applying for.

 

[S.Clancy]

Get AI to game out the types of questions you think you’ll be asked. Have someone ask you those questions and see how you do.

As others have said, eye contact, confidence, clear and concise answers. Nothing is less impressive sitting on an interview board than a candidate that doesn’t look at you while they babble on forever to never actually answer the question.

Have a solid list of questions prepared pertinent to the job and potential ways for you to make an impact.


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My buddy had a guy actively looking up interview questions on AI during his (remote) interview for an engineering job. He said they would ask the question, there would be a pause and you could hear the guy typing in something, then he would parrot back an answer. The interview lasted something like 90 min where the rest were around 30 min....

 

[fatlander]

My buddy had a guy actively looking up interview questions on AI during his (remote) interview for an engineering job. He said they would ask the question, there would be a pause and you could hear the guy typing in something, then he would parrot back an answer. The interview lasted something like 90 min where the rest were around 30 min....

We’ve had that too, for engineering jobs specifically. I wonder if we’ve got mutual friends. We asked the questions to AI following the interviews, and immediately saw what the candidates were doing. They didn’t get an offer.

I think it is really practical on the prep side.


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[S.Clancy]

We’ve had that too, for engineering jobs specifically. I wonder if we’ve got mutual friends. We asked the questions to AI following the interviews, and immediately saw what the candidates were doing. They didn’t get an offer.

I think it is really practical on the prep side.


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My buddy worked for DOE then, he is currently switching to private sector.

 

[HuntHarder]

Better have a nice mustache if you wanna move up in the FD.

 

[VomSteinbruch]

Never say "we did" always say "I did" or "I was responsible for"
And never trash your current job even if you don' like it.

 

[Hnthrdr]

Better have a nice mustache if you wanna move up in the FD.

Mustaches and muscles will take you far in the fire service, and good jokes!

 

[S.Clancy]

Never say "we did" always say "I did" or "I was responsible for"
And never trash your current job even if you don' like it.

When I changed jobs 3 years ago, the hiring manager (my current boss) asked for my supervisors contact info. I said "I didn't include it in my resume because I don't think she understands my current job nor does she have the technical expertise to be useful in determining whether I am good at my job or not. She's really only going to be useful in determining whether I'm a good person to work with." The guy laughed and later hired me. He confirmed that my former supervisor was an idiot on the phone.

 

[rtkbowhunter]

As a Sr Automation Engineer, I've sat in on a number of interviews. Some for my own group, others for product design. As I am interviewing mfg engineers, tooling engineers, other automation engineers, one question most are not ready for is "Tell me about your biggest or greatest (pause a second or two) failure. And what did you learn from it. I've had some get a deer in the headlight look, others laugh a bit, then elaborate on what it was. Everyone is quick to own up to their successes. I also want to know who owns up to their failures... and their take aways from it.

 

[scaast]

A lot of good advice so far. I would suggest leveraging AI...ChatGPT, Copilot, Gemini...doesn't matter. Tell it exactly what you're interviewing for and ask it to step you through a mock interview (3-5 questions). Answer as if you were in an interview and then ask it to critique your responses. Ask for recommendations on how to improve your responses. You may not end up getting the exact questions during the real interview, but you will have a lot of practice framing your answers appropriately.

 

[VomSteinbruch]

The guy laughed and later hired me. He confirmed that my former supervisor was an idiot on the phone.

Exception exists. Also, the way you framed it, it asserts your professionalism and decisiveness.
Not many can articulate that.

In the corporate environment, here in the northeast, if you call your ex-supervisor an idiot in front of an interview panel and later it turns out she is a woman and/or ethnic minority you will be banned from that company forever, even if you are the best in your field.

 

[S.Clancy]

Exception exists. Also, the way you framed it, it asserts your professionalism and decisiveness.
Not many can articulate that.

In the corporate environment, here in the northeast, if you call your ex-supervisor an idiot in front of an interview panel and later it turns out she is a woman and/or ethnic minority you will be banned from that company forever, even if you are the best in your field.

I guess it's good I don't live there.