10 Steps for success in the fire service promotional process.

This session is intended for anyone aspiring to a higher position in the fire service. Promotional candidates will learn 10 valuable steps to help them increase their overall score. Every point counts and it is crucial to have set yourself up for success well in advance of the promotional process.  The higher you promote, the fewer candidates you will usually have to compete against.  However, those fewer candidates will usually provide you more competition than you had ever imagined or prepared for! 

Thinking about taking a promotional exam? If so start preparing now! 

This session will reinforce the need to not wait until the last minute to prepare for that upcoming promotional exam. The question is not if the next process will occur as much as it is when the next process will occur. Many candidates enter the promotional process without having fully prepared themselves for the position they are aspiring to. The class will help the student prepare to be successful in the promotional process. Why waste your time at going the promotional process if you are not going to be the best you can be? Set yourself up for success long in advance of the promotional examination you are planning on participating in, and your odds of getting that badge will greatly increase!

Ace your promotional interview!  

This session is intended to provide the fire service promotional candidate with some valuable tools and tips to make them successful during their next fire service promotional interview. Topics covered will include: the opening and closing statements, types of questions to expect, what the oral panel is looking for, how to best answer questions to get the highest scores, how to create a promotional resume, how to overcome your nervousness, and how to best prepare yourself for the interview. People typically fail for two reasons: they are either nervous or they are unprepared. The next interview will be here before you know it; proper planning and preparation will lead to your success and help reduce your chance of failure. Do so well on your next promotional exam that you get promoted, so you don’t have to go through the process again!

What's keeping you from getting promoted?

This session is intended for anyone who was not promoted the first time they took a promotional examination, as well as future promotional candidates who want to learn what successful and not-so-successful fire service promotional candidates have. Instead of not taking responsibility and blaming others for not getting promoted, take a deep look at yourself and determine what you need to do to let go of your “baggage,” and ultimately get promoted. Students will learn methods and techniques to accurately perform a self-assessment/evaluation and determine what it takes to make them go from being the person that died on the promotional list, didn’t make the promotional list, or even worse, was passed over, to someone who smokes the promotional process the next time it is offered. Nobody said it was going to be easy getting promoted. Until you realize you are part of the problem – and more importantly, part of the solution, you will not be successful at getting promoted!

How to smoke the emergency simulator portion of the assessment center!  

The emergency simulation is one of the most critical events, and sometimes the most weighted events of a promotional process assessment center. In some departments, if you do not successfully pass the emergency simulation with a minimum score (typically 70%), you will not even make the final promotional list. Why? Because commanding an incident is something an officer will be doing every day of their career. Whether it is a single-unit response or a multiple alarm fire, commanding an incident can be very challenging, especially if you do not have a pre-determined plan to run an incident. If an incident is managed correctly from the beginning, the odds of successfully mitigating the problem increase; if an incident is managed incorrectly from the beginning, the odds of failure – and even worse, firefighter injuries and fatalities greatly increase. Learn how to go from just being the “check-box” incident commander to the incident commander who not only appears to be in control, but is in control! Following the guidelines presented in this session, students will learn how to increase their command presence, their organizational skills, and most importantly, their confidence when faced with their next emergency simulation and their next “big one.”

How to excel at fire service promotional examinations!  

This session is intended for anyone aspiring to a higher position in the fire service. Promotional candidates will learn valuable tips to help increase their overall scores, get themselves in the mindset of taking a promotional examination, and most importantly – prepare themselves for the position they are aspiring to. Every point counts and it is crucial to have set yourself up for success well in advance of the promotional process. The higher you promote the fewer candidates you will usually have to compete against. However, those fewer candidates will usually provide you more competition than you had ever imagined or prepared for!

How to excel at promotional exams - the personnel counseling session. 

This session will focus on one of the more challenging aspects of a fire service promotional assessment center – the personnel counseling session. While our personnel are indeed our greatest asset, at times they can also be our greatest challenge, especially if you are not doing your job as a supervisor or manager. Every day across the country, fire service personnel are in the news for some form of inappropriate action. Thus, a common event candidates are faced with during a promotional examination is the personnel counseling session. Understanding what you may be faced with in a personnel counseling session is critical when preparing for a fire service promotional examination. Attendees will learn tips about how to succeed in the personnel counseling session, including progressive discipline, the eight steps to a successful counseling session, the four major personnel issues that need to be addressed immediately, and how to be proactive by setting up your personnel for success by establishing personnel expectations. Either you manage your personnel, or they will manage you, and you may not like the results!

Think you're ready to be a company officer / It's your first year as a company officer - are you prepared? 

Congratulations on scoring high enough on the promotional exam to get promoted! However, are you really aware of what you’re getting yourself into becoming a company officer in today’s world? Regardless of what the department calls the position of company officer: lieutenant, captain, or some other similar term; going from being “one of the guys” or “one of the gals” to the role of the designated adult is not easy, especially if you want to be an excellent company officer. For some, this is the hardest transition in the fire service. There are going to be numerous duties and responsibilities that go with the position of company officer. The position of company officer is probably the most important and challenging position in the fire service. Not being properly prepared for what you are getting into when you take that promotional examination and ultimately accept the company officer badge, will increase your chances of having a difficult transition to the position of company officer.

Successfully making the transition from Captain to Battalion Chief. 

Successfully transitioning from company officer to chief officer can be very challenging or frustrating if you are not adequately prepared for your new position. Becoming a chief officer requires the company officer to go from a first-due station mentality to a first-due department mentality. Chief officers are expected to think more big picture and more strategically, something the company officer is not used to. Additionally, it is not uncommon to have administrative and program management responsibilities, something most company officers are not adequately prepared to immediately handle. Attendees will learn numerous tips to successfully transition from company officer to chief officer.

The top 10 denominators of firefighter fatalities. 

This session will assist fire service personnel stay safe on the fireground, and ultimately go home at the end of their shift. Using actual case studies of firefighter fatalities, attendees will be exposed to the 10 common denominators of firefighter fatalities. This is not a session to point blame or Monday morning quarterback the tragic events where firefighters died in the line of duty. This is a session meant to learn from history so we do not allow history to repeat itself. Various techniques will be discussed to assist fire service personnel with reducing future firefighter fatalities, and to also create a training program for their personnel to better prepare for surviving on the fireground.

Establihing Fire Ground Objectives. 

This session will assist fire service personnel who may find themselves as the first arriving officer or ultimately the incident commander at an emergency scene. Defining incident objectives and providing tactical objectives to personnel or companies on scene is critical to the successful outcome of an incident. Incident objectives are the big picture objectives that will manage the overall event in a methodical fashion. Tactical objectives are the direction provided to personnel or companies to support the Incident Action Plan, and will ensure the successful outcome of the assignment. Using simulated emergency scenes, attendees will identify incident objectives and determine tactical objectives to successfully mitigate any type of situation they may be faced with.

Responsibilities of the First-Due Company Officer.

This session will assist fire service personnel who may find themselves as the first arriving company officer at an emergency scene. The first-due company officer has the potential to make or break an incident, as they are the one that will be making the most important decisions that have to be made upon arrival. Effective command and control of an incident begins and ends with the first arriving company officer. Numerous line-of-duty death studies have shown that it is critical for firefighter safety and survival to have effective command and control, and that firefighters are more likely to get into trouble in the first 15 minutes of an incident. Not setting up an incident properly from the beginning can have serious negative consequences to the outcome of the incident, and more importantly firefighter safety and survival. Given a variety of simulated incidents, attendees will have an opportunity to perform size-up, establish incident objectives, assign companies, establish tactical objectives, learn from the experiences of other attendees, and most importantly, learn how to effectively command and control an incident as the first-due company officer.

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CALIFORNIA STATE CERTIFIED COURSES AVAILABLE

• ICS 200 (Basic ICS). 12 to 16 hours
• ICS 300 (Intermediate ICS). 18 to 24 hours
• Training Instructor 1A. 40 hours
• Training Instructor 1B. 40 hours
• Training Instructor 1C. 40 hours
• Fire Management 1. 40 hours
• Fire Command 1A. 40 hours
• Fire Command 1B. 40 hours

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PRIVATE COACHING

Entry Level Firefighter Private Coaching -

If you are interested in entry-level firefighter private coaching, I am available to meet with you and work with you on whatever areas you feel you need the most work in. Whether it is oral interview preparation, general assessment center preparation, personnel counseling preparation, or strategy and tactics review and simulation practice, I have extensive experience assisting entry-level and promotional candidates meet their dream of getting hired or promoted in the fire service. Entry level coaching includes free resume evaluation and critique, as mentioned below under resume assistance.

The cost is $100.00 per hour. Contact me at sprziborowski@aol.com for more information.

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Promotional Preparation Private Coaching -

If you are interested in promotional coaching, I am available to meet with you and work with you on whatever areas you feel you need the most work in. Whether it is oral interview preparation, general assessment center preparation, personnel counseling preparation, or strategy and tactics review and simulation practice, I have extensive experience assisting entry-level and promotional candidates meet their dream of getting hired or promoted in the fire service. Promotional preparation coaching includes free resume evaluation and critique, as mentioned below under resume assistance.

The cost is $100.00 per hour. Contact me at sprziborowski@aol.com for more information.

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RESUME ASSISTANCE

One of the keys to successfully selling yourself during a promotional process is having a resume that really highlights and accentuates your key points in a down and dirty fashion. Too many promotional candidates do not take adequate time to create a resume that will make them stand out from the crowd.

Resume Development:

Email or fax me your resume, I will take the time to develop a resume for you. Email me at sprziborowski@aol.com to first confirm I am available to do so, to discuss expectations, and to confirm payment method. Typically turn around time is one week. My fax number is 408-358-9400.

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Resume Evaluation / Critique:

Email or fax me your resume, and I will take the time to provide suggestions for improvement. Email me at sprziborowski@aol.com to first confirm I am available to do so, to discuss expectations, and to confirm payment method. Typically turn around time is less than one week. My fax number is 408-358-9400.