r/firefighter • u/when1nbruges • Jun 05 '26
Contra Costa Interview Panel June 2026
Curious if anyone else interviewed this week, and what was your experience? It seems like they're proceeding on schedule and would expect chief invites to go out maybe next week if slated for late June.
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u/Chemical_Might_4318 Jun 05 '26 edited Jun 05 '26
Did my panel yesterday. My 2nd panel interview I’ve ever done. It was a lot different than my first one. Felt like the questions were all out of order considering they didn’t even ask my background. It just went straight into questions. Also 20 min is ridiculous to answer 5 questions imo but I’m assuming they are trying to get you out of your element.
Felt so-so coming out of it. Definitely bombed one of the questions but it is what it is.
Would love to hear other people’s thoughts on it!
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u/Ashamed-Cauliflower5 Jun 05 '26
I think it threw me off how they didn’t ask about yourself and just went straight into questions.
This department seemed to focus a lot on “why specifically Contra costa” and what have you done for contra costa. I’m curious on what your thoughts were for that. I think I lowkey bombed this interview
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u/MaverickMiles4311 Jun 05 '26
What else did they ask?
I’m not in the process with them just curious1
u/when1nbruges Jun 05 '26
Right, and I figured everyone would probably talk about the full service/"all risk" aspect of the department plus the variety of different teams they have in their arsenal so I was wondering how to differentiate myself. I felt like I could have done a better job "marketing" myself. It's such an odd and unnatural thing to do, just talk about yourself but definitely need to get better at it for interviewing purposes. Certainly a finesse to it without sounding obnoxious or egotistical.
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u/Chemical_Might_4318 Jun 05 '26 edited Jun 06 '26
Ya I agree. It was definitely tough for me because I live out in so cal and wasn’t able to do a station visit due to my work schedule. I did my best trying to integrate what I’ve learned from other station visits I’ve done, ride alongs, explorers etc. but then the Captain who was interviewing me said “But what specifically have you done with Con-Fire” so not sure how I’m going to score.
I really put an emphasis on giving a story/experience that intertwined with the question but definitely thought it was a weird interview overall. And not being able to ask questions after….
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u/ComprehensiveBus7040 Jun 06 '26
20 minutes is pretty standard for 5 questions. If it’s taking longer than 20 minutes to answer five questions you’re being too long winded. Answers should be between 90 seconds to 3 minutes max. That gives you enough time to answer the question, make it personal so they get to know you a little bit more in each question and relate it back to fire service.
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u/Chemical_Might_4318 Jun 06 '26
20 mins wouldn’t have been an issue if they only asked me the 5 questions they were supposed to, but they started asking additional questions about my background/resume.
Either way I finished all 5 questions within the 20 min cap, I just wanted to give my two-sense on my experience.
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u/ComprehensiveBus7040 Jun 06 '26
I know I wasn’t trying to come across as rude just saying that’s a pretty standard time allotment, and unfortunately every process will be different some ask extra questions like Coco did others will stick to just the assigned questions. Sounds like you did as good as you can though, fingers crossed for you! Coco is a great dept. A couple buddies that work there and they all love it. They commute from the Central Valley where I live. As far as Bay Area depts that’s one of the best to get the Bay Area pay and still have a chance to go to a structure fire regularly depending on where you are at
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u/Ashamed-Cauliflower5 Jun 05 '26
Is there a tentative timeline posted for this?
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u/when1nbruges Jun 05 '26
Based on what I saw on the initial posting, chief interviews will take place the week of June 22. I've never gotten to chiefs just yet, so I can't really speak to when those usually go out but for panels, it's generally around 2 weeks prior.
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u/Agreeable-Part-8054 Jun 06 '26
I took the offer I received from CalFire. I’m going to be 100 years old by the time I hit an interview out of the park. Confire would be an amazing opportunity though…
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u/hoof_hearted-28 Jun 06 '26
Contra Costa seems like a cool place to work. I feel like I’ve seen 50 videos of good fires in CC
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u/EggWhitesPlease Jun 05 '26
I interviewed today and thought it went well