Posted By Philip Cook After 3 months out of work the local fire service has given me an interview as there is a position in there safety team. My background is in manufacturing but i made sure that my application showed that i am a willing learner and able to adapt. Does any of you who work in the emergency services have any interview advice?? or any advice from anyone for that matter. The interview consists of being given a topic on arrival and then giving a ten minute presentation on that topic followed by an interview based on the presentation. Any advice or guidance is greatly appreciated.

Posted By Bob Youel *dealing with the public *work at heigh for the fire service when tacking certain work areas is different for the FS than others * violence towards the FS when attending fires etc Are some things to think of Stick to the logical basics as against getting to conmplicated and understand what the role is before attending the interview as a generalist is not expected to be a fire expert & VV Best of luck

Posted By Tanka-Ray First of all, well done on getting an interview. The basics: - If they have support materials for the presentation USE THEM. It will probably be a whiteboard or flipchart; they won’t expect you to be Steve Ballmer but will expect you to vary your format if you can. - Check their website thoroughly for details of recent activities and have a run through Google for any local news or major incidents they have recently attended. - Remember you will not just be looking after firefighters, there will be a lot of support staff too so demonstrate how you can adapt your skills to different working environments. Even the operational staff have a huge remit – shift work, driving, community events, traffic accidents, inspections etc as well as things like cooking and cleaning. - Don’t use the word ‘Brigade’. - Brush up on your Equalities and Diversity knowledge – not all Services are the same but it’s certainly a hot topic in many at the moment. - Enjoy the interview and feel free to email me if you need anything. Good luck

Posted By AMelrose Firstly Congratulations on getting an interview! Agree with others about not focusing on fire (though no doubt it will come up at some point in the conversation!!). Most jobs offered with a salary band / range will expect the candidate offered the position to start at the bottom of that band and gradually work their way up. If you really believe you are worth more than what they offer initially, then argue your reasons for a higher salary point; "my last salary was X and I'm unwilling to take a cut in salary as I have financial commitments" if it was higher for example. Or if you have any additional experience / qualifications then you could add "I have a masters in X and am able to provide your organisation with XXX, which other candidates you may interview probably won't have..." - worth a shot. Working alongside HR, it's unlikely someone will be offered the highest point on the salary scale without you arguing why you deserve it!

Posted By RP Look at the Association of Chief Fire Officers website. Stick with the basics, Policy, Planning, Arrangements, Monitoring, Review, etc. Do not mention fire poles...!!

Posted By Philip Cook Thank you so much for your feedback. I'm happy with the pay scale and really want the job as i feel i could do some really good work in a positive environment. Dynamic Management of Risk at Operational Incidents ISBN 0 11 341221 5 - could i get this from my local library??

Posted By Philip Cook No worries i've managed to get hold of one at the last minute. Hopefully it will give me the edge!! Thanks again for all of your feedback help and support Cheers Phil

Posted By Decimomal Bad luck Philip. Keep positive and persevere and you will get there eventually. (Been there and got the T shirt!. How do you feel the interview went, were there any major issues and did you get any feedback afterwards? You may not want to share your experiences just now but if you do you might pick up some tips from colleagues here for the next time. All the best, Decimo.

Posted By Decimomal All is not lost, the first candidate may decide not to take the job after all and you could still be in with a chance.

Posted By Tanka-Ray Sorry to hear about the first interview, always good to practice interview skills though. May I ask, how did you find out about the Royal Mail job? I would LOVE to go back to them (ex-postie) but never see any H&S vacancies. Are you a Mason or am I just not looking properly? Thanks Oh and top issues for RM will be manual handling (when I was there something scary like 92% of posties over 50 had severe back problems), driving, personal safety, language and communication issues and agency workers. Good luck!

Posted By Philip Cook Well aint that just the way. They've offered me the job on a 6 month trial - I am to say the least extremely happy (if a bit nervous) and looking forward to getting stuck in. Thanks for all your pointers and also if anyone has any advice for starting in a new management role covering a pretty large geographical area then please feel free to impart your wisdom!!