WHAT TO DO ON A FIREFIGHTER STATION VISIT

WHAT A STATION VISIT ACTUALLY IS

You go to a fire station, you meet the crew, and you find out what the job and the department are actually like.

It is also, quietly, an assessment. Nobody scores it and nobody will tell you that. But you are being sized up from the moment you ring the doorbell, by everyone in the building, including people you never get introduced to.

DO YOU HAVE TO DO ONE?

No. Nobody is checking a box and you will not be disqualified for skipping it.

But candidates who do them get hired more often. That is not a rule anyone publishes, it is just what happens, and the reason is not mysterious. You learn the department, you come away with real questions, and people know your face.

One thing to check first. Not every department encourages station visits and some do not allow them at all. Find that out before you call. Turning up somewhere with a policy against it is worse than not going.

HOW TO SET ONE UP

Call the station directly. Not headquarters, not a recruitment inbox.

Mid-morning between nine and ten tends to work, or later in the afternoon. Do not turn up five minutes before lunch, and do not arrive when companies are out on inspections or training, which is what the phone call is for.

Do not offer your availability. Ask when suits them and be free whenever they say. It varies by department and by crew, and how you handle that question says as much as the visit does.

WHEN TO GO

Weeks before your interview, not days.

Two reasons and both matter. It gives you time to actually do something with what you learn. And it shows you did not leave it until the last minute, which people notice without ever mentioning it.

WHAT TO WEAR

Firefighters disagree about this, so here is the disagreement.

Some will tell you a suit and tie is overkill. It is a station visit, not a formal interview, and turning up in a three piece suit to stand in an apparatus bay can read as trying too hard.

Others, and this is my view, would rather you were overdressed than underdressed. You only get one first impression and nobody has ever been marked down for taking it seriously.

The safe answer is somewhere in the middle. A polo, slacks and dress shoes is acceptable almost anywhere. Shorts and a t-shirt are not acceptable anywhere.

Clean shave. Clean car, because they will see you arrive and they will see you leave.

WHAT TO BRING

Something for the crew. Ice cream and pie are always safe. Good coffee or something from a local bakery works too. Keep it small. You are saying thanks for their time, not catering the shift.

Nobody expects it and nobody will comment on it, which is exactly why it lands. It will not get you hired. It is the difference between someone who turned up and someone who thought about it.

Bring your resume, and bring more than one copy. This matters more than the ice cream. Somebody may ask for it, and handing one over on the spot is worth far more than saying you will email it later. If nobody asks, you have lost nothing.

Bring a notepad and your list of questions, along with whatever research you did. You will be nervous and you will forget things. Writing something down in front of somebody also reads as taking it seriously in a way that tapping at your phone does not.

WHAT TO ASK

Do the homework first. Department size, call volume, specialty teams, recent news. All of that is a search away. Crews will answer anything you ask them, and they will also register that you asked something you could have found in thirty seconds.

Save your questions for what only they can tell you.

The best one is “what will make me successful here?” It is specific to them, it cannot be looked up, and every firefighter has an opinion about it.

Others in the same shape:

• What surprised you most in your first year here?
• What does a normal shift actually look like?
• What kind of person does well in this department, and what kind does not?
• How does the department handle tough calls for crews?
• What are the current challenges on the front line?
• Is there any new apparatus or equipment coming?

A good opener: ask if they will show you their gear and the equipment on the truck. That conversation generates most of the other questions on its own, and it is easier than sitting across a table trying to think of something.

Pay attention to who is showing you around. There is a good chance it is one of the newest people on the crew, because that job tends to get handed down. That is lucky for you. They went through this process a year or two ago and they remember what it actually took.

The thirty year guy knows more about the job than anyone else in the building, and he is often completely disconnected from what it now takes to get hired. The process has changed and so has the competition. He may genuinely believe it came down to a firm handshake and a good moustache.

Talk to both. The veteran tells you about the job. The newer person tells you about the hiring.

THE QUESTION ALMOST NOBODY ASKS

Ask what their panel likes to ask.

Crews know. They have sat on boards, or they have friends who have, or they went through it themselves two years ago. Most candidates never think to ask, because it feels like asking for the answers.

It is not. It is doing your homework in the only place the homework actually exists.

WHAT NOT TO DO

Do not show up unannounced. Worth saying twice because it is the most common mistake and the hardest to recover from.

Do not be late, and do not cancel. You asked them for their time.

Do not be obnoxious. You are being sized up from the moment you ring the doorbell.

Do not act like one of the boys.That is earned, and you have not earned it yet. Nobody will correct you and everybody will notice. Sir and ma'am until somebody tells you otherwise.

Do not ask about the worst call they have been on. This is the one candidates do not see coming. It is the question tourists ask. You are asking somebody to walk you through the worst thing they have seen so that you can find it interesting, and every firefighter has been asked it too many times by people who wanted a story.

Do not ask which brand of helmet or apparatus they run and why. Nobody is impressed and it is not why you are there.

Do not ask whether you will have to work the ambulance. It reads exactly the way you think it does.

Do not expect everyone to be positive about the job. Some of them will tell you it has been hard on their family, or that the department has problems. That is not a warning and it is not a test. It is somebody being honest with you, and how you take it says something.

Do not be thrown if they get a call while you are there. They will go. You wait or you leave. Some departments will let you ride along, which is the best thing that can happen to you that day.

Do not expect to be spoon fed. If you are engaged and interested, so are they. If you turn up expecting them to hand you everything, that is not how it goes.

TWO THINGS THAT ARE FINE

Being nervous. Every person in that station was nervous doing this. Nobody is scoring your composure at a kitchen table.

Not knowing something. They are not testing your knowledge. They are working out whether they would want you in the back of the rig.

HOW LONG TO STAY

Plan on about fifteen minutes.

If it is going well, stay longer. Crews will happily talk for an hour when they are enjoying it. But when someone asks whether you have any more questions, that is your cue. Take it.

Leaving slightly early is better than being the person who would not leave.

BE READY FOR A REAL INTERVIEW

This is the part that catches people out, and it does not look like what you expect.

Nobody will sit you down. Nobody will say the interview is starting. Somebody will lean against the bumper and say “so tell us about yourself.” Or “what do you know about the department.” Or “why do you want to be a firefighter.”

Those are not small talk. Those are the questions. They are the same three you will get in the room, asked casually, and the crew is listening to the answer the same way a panel would.

Some departments go further and will run you through a proper practice interview on the spot if you ask, or sometimes if you do not.

So turn up with your answers ready, not only your questions. If you have never said them out loud to another person, standing in an apparatus bay in front of three firefighters is a bad place to find that out.

BEFORE YOU LEAVE

Introduce yourself to everyone you meet. Firm handshake, look people in the eye.

Shake everyone's hand on the way out and thank them for their time. Mean it.

That sounds small and it is not. Firefighters will bend over backwards to help someone they think is worth it, and that judgement gets made in the parts of the visit that have nothing to do with the job.

WHAT TO DO AFTERWARDS

Sit in your car before you drive away and write everything down. Especially any question they mentioned the panel likes to ask. You will think you will remember and you will not.

Then practise against those exact questions, out loud. Not a generic list off a website. The ones this department actually asks.

That is what a station visit is for, and it is the part almost everyone skips.