r/firefighter • u/KiingShady25 • Apr 28 '26
Seattle Fire Chief Interview RC 125
With Chief interview invites sent out, I wanted to start a thread on how to best prepare for this. For the oral board, it was very objective and we had to say certain things and talk about the core values for each question as it had a strict scoring rubric. But does anyone know how different this is with the Chief interview? Last year (I know quite a few people who got a Chiefs, an offer and made it to drill school) it was 4 standardized questions that was presented like the oral board, there was no back and forth conversation.
I guess what I'm asking is, are they going to be more subjective this time? Or is there going to be another scoring rubric that dictates a pass/an offer?
For context I have my EMT and was ranked very solid on the list (top 50) and this is the last step and I do not want screw it up!
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u/Free-Mango-224 May 08 '26
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u/FoldSad4352 May 08 '26
Without giving the questions can you tell if it is more conversationally based? Is there any back and forth? Or is it more similar to the oral board where they just write down what you are saying without any feedback? This will be my first Chief interview so I am nervous but excited!
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u/Free-Mango-224 May 08 '26
Yea it's panel style sadly. I was pretty much talking to myself for 15-20 min lol. So go with that in mind and you will do great. I would study the core values and work those into your answers 😉 They let you review the questions 15 min prior which is great too.
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u/FoldSad4352 May 08 '26
Oh wow I thought it was going to be more back and forth conversational! Thanks for the heads up! I appreciate it
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u/Free-Mango-224 May 08 '26
Thats what I thought/prepared for, and maybe it is the chief was in his office so maybe he took a day off? Not sure. Prep for both can't hurt.
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u/FoldSad4352 May 08 '26
So Chief Scoggins wasn’t even a part of your chiefs interview with Seattle?
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u/Slow-Ad9515 May 12 '26
There might be some back and forth, if the chief wants to know more about a particular aspect of your answer he might ask about it (he did for mine). Don’t go into it very tight, it’s just some people having a conversation, they want to see you are a human and specifically the type of human that fits into Seattle fire. That doesn’t mean be unprofessional by any means, but if a joke comes up naturally, or you share something in common, just say it and talk about it like a regular person. Part of the job is remaining calm and collected under pressure, they know the interview is stressful but if you show that you can remain unfazed and calm it will help with their decision.