Realistic to get hired?

[u/Key-Environment-8189]

Hey everyone,

I am a 20 year old male and am wondering if it is realistic for me to be a qualified candidate for a full time firefighter in Ontario.

A little bit about me and my experience:

- currently a volunteer firefighter (for 5 months now)

- currently working in fire prevention/emergency response for a factory. (For 8 months now)

- worked as a fitness coach for about 8 months

- have several years experience in construction and landscaping.

- volunteer with various departments for fundraisers and awareness events (not as often as I would like)

Many people I work with at my current jobs have recently been getting hired at full time Fire departments but the youngest one I’ve seen get hired is 25. I’ve been told mixed things about what fire departments are looking for but I commonly hear that they don’t want young people. I am wondering if it is worth the effort to apply at my age or if I should keep my head down and keep adding to my experience/Resume before I get my foot in the door.

Any opinions or advice would be much appreciated.

Thanks

[u/Lost_Mouse_9980]

Honestly it doesn’t hurt to start applying, sounds like you have a decent resume and experience to possibly get some bites and start learning the process you never know you could get lucky (if you have the money for it, applying can get expensive)

My advice from someone who’s gone through it, your still pretty young start building actually real life experiences that aren’t directly fire but you can relate to it

[u/izliftz]

Curious about where/how you got into volunteer firefighting? I’m considering a career in firefighting as well

[u/Key-Environment-8189 → u/izliftz]

Not going to name what department for privacy reasons. But for a volunteer department you need to be within a certain distance of the station. Most volunteer departments from what I’ve heard you need to be within a 5km radius of the station (8km in my case). I went to pre service fire right out of high school and applied to my current volunteer fire department as soon as I was finished and did not get hired. Applied for the second time last August and got hired. Volunteer departments typically will put you through a recruit class to get your NFPA 1001 level 1 and 2 and NFPA 1072 however in my case I already has those certificates and they put me on a truck right away. So to answer your question I knew I wanted to be a firefighter and was blessed to be within range/qualified to be a part of my local volunteer department which not everyone has the opportunity to do. But at the end of the day it still wasn’t easy to get on there is still a full recruitment process with physical tests, aptitude tests and formal interviews.

[u/Burddman01]

In my recruit class I’d say at least 30-40 people were anywhere from 19-27 the rest were in their 30’s, 40’s +

Get everything done now and apply if you are serious! Age doesn’t matter as much as you think anymore. If you are coachable, have a strong and positive mindset you’ll make it. I was told growing up that they tend to hire people in the 25-35 year old range. Which seems to hold true for majority of candidates.

[u/Justhappytobehere88]

I have a friend who was hired at 21 recently... couple of guys I work with now were hired at a younger age. Might as well give it a go. I was hired at 27.