FireLink

I am a Captain with a suburban fire department in the Seattle area. I am also a former Marine who used the benefit of Veteran's preference to score high enough to get hired. (I was not a firefighter in the Corps, but an 03) Here's the truth. You get no preference because you were a firefighter in the military. The civil service exams you take add 10% to your score after the testing process is completed so the possibility is that you can score over 100% on the exam and take all the civilian folks out of the equation. For instance, if you score a 95, 9.5 points are added to your score for a total 104.5.% Pretty hard for those civilians to beat that. The most important thing to remember is that getting the highest score possible on the written is critical. Many hiring processes use that to weed folks out and often the low score is around 95%. Use the study books, recon the department you're testing for, be in great physical condition, and practice your interview techniques. For you military folks wanting to become career firefighters (and it is the second best job I've ever had; being a Marine NCO was the first) I would be more than happy to assist in any way I can. As a senior officer I know from 30 years experience that military folks make some of the best firefighters. I have sat on scores of entry level boards and understand what works and what doesn't. My payback for you defending our country is help if you want it. fireslayer10@comcast.net

Very helpful as I am still deployed and am getting out Feb. of 2010 to pursue a career in Southern California.

Just because you were in the military doesn't give you an advantage. I just got out of the military as a firefighter and I'm finding it to be the hardest thing finding a firefighter job. I see a whole bunch of young punks right out of high school walking in doing it just for the hell of it when some other people have devoted their lives to it and can't even get a single interview.

Remember to Get your DOD Certs beside your F/F one and EMT :)

Im not sure about this. There is a lot of false info in here. I was on active duty for 10 years. Navy. Loved it every minute. But the certification we are getting in navy and marines are not national. These depts don t look at anything. I am now a DOD ff as of June 23 but I had to pay to 3000 in Upstate NY for a fire academy and came out with 22 certs. They only ones that are good are FF1 and FF2 proboard. That is it. See in NY they are not on board with the whole national cert process and there are other states to that are like that. Each state is different. So I have take classes over and over again just to get them so I can get the credit need. And also each dept is different in what they take. There needs to be a better standard set national. Not state by state. And not all states take dod certs of even military hands on training. And every time I have moved while on active duty I volunteered all the time. Even had to sit though a ton of classes then to. Its crazy.