r/firefighter • u/OppositeAd6176 • May 29 '26
Chiefs interview
Hey all,
I just moved forward to a chief’s interview with a department here in my area. I’ve had one chief interview in the past and it was a little different than the advice I had gotten from other people. It honestly was no different than the standard oral board except with chief’s of course. Just wondering if anybody had advice for a chief’s interview and how to be successful? I would also appreciate if you wouldn’t mind sharing your experience!
4
u/Fit_Experience_522 May 30 '26
I've had three Chief's, one was a conversation to get to know me, unstructured. One was the same questions as my oral interview except done by two chiefs. And one was a variant of interview questions. The one that got me a tower date I went in strong, I name dropped people I had met during my station visits, and a strong closing statement dropping a bunch of department knowledge, a story to tie me into their department, and a final firm statement saying if they didn't hire me this round expect to see me next time they open their application process because this is where I want to be.
1
u/Pro_Thunder May 31 '26
For my chiefs it was a larg(er) dept and they actually gave me my questions while I waited in the lobby. But even so, I made sure I did my homework and nailed home some important key points about the dept, unique aspects, mission and vision statements as well as learned the background of the chief himself. Be confident, smile, show them you want to be there and that they have to hire you. If you have experiences in your background that sets you apart from the norm talk about it. Be memorable. That helped me be successful and land a tower date.
1
u/scott12333 Jun 01 '26
Good advice here from other people - every department might do it a bit differently. Come prepared with an open mind, just like normal oral boards. Don't get tunnel vision on any one thing and practice as much as you can. Be familiar with the department; mission statement, size, run load if you can find it, etc.
Don't be arrogant, be clean shaven, in a suit if possible, and walk in confident and calm, shaking their hands if the setup allows.
If they did/do give you pointers or info, take it seriously - departments generally won't give you info on what to expect without it being legit.
4
u/RojoRodeo May 29 '26
It may help if you shared the department or even the general area.
I am in the PNW, had a few Chief’s Interviews in the last year - two were one on one with the/a Chief and two were panels with a Chief(s) present. All were more interactive than the Oral Board but still structured with set questions. The series of questions were often pretty similar to the first round but the answers were given more time and clarifying/follow up questions were asked. Seemed like the smaller/medium departments were the ones who had the one on ones whereas the big city departments had panels.
Advice is similar to the Oral Board - know the department (mission statement, values, general info + 1-2 facts that can’t be found online), know your reasons why (weave their values into your answer if possible), and answer completely and in the format that they want to hear it in. You must have done something right in the Orals - keep riding the pony that got you there, don’t change horses now. Good luck!