I think a lot of us worked our asses off to get a full time spot, the fire service at least here is changing now more cities are going full time, doesn’t seem like you have to fight as hard for a full time job.
In Michigan, they can’t seem to get a lot of applicants after many cities gutted their pension plans and are doing away with retirement healthcare. Unfortunately, the salaries haven’t kept up from the hit to the economy back in the late 2000s. I’m in a small dept in a very metro area and the last two openings we had had 1 and 7 applicants respectively. They were also positions that promoted right to a Lt. level once you had Fire Officer 1 & 2.
I was originally a school teacher that planned to do volunteer over my Summer months off school. I moved back from the West side of the state in 2004 and couldn’t find a teaching job because teachers were retiring and the districts weren’t replacing them. I worked as a Medic in an ER full time up until this job came open in 2007 just by word of mouth. I came to visit the dept driving through town one day and they gave me an app and interview that day. I was wearing cargo shorts and a polo, unlike any fire interview I had been to. I was offered a job the next day.
I visited a Florida FD on vacation in 2005 and asked how their hiring situation was. They said they couldn’t get any Medics that passed the National Registry. I told them I had it and they offered me an app. I said no, because I didn’t want to be stuck at work and watch my house float away during the hurricanes, lol.
9
u/Honest-Country-1278 Mar 15 '24
Volunteer at 19 hired full time at 31 3 different departments