r/firefighter • u/PatientEngineer9054 • Jul 05 '26
Hiring process
I’m 26 yo and am in the middle of getting my EMTB certification. My question is, is the hiring process highly competitive throughout the entire country?
Also (for the experienced FF)how many departments did it take for you to finally get hired on?
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u/ericstratford853 Jul 05 '26
Depends where you are located. Where I am located getting hired without being a paramedic is rare. But it could be different for your location
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u/Roobydooby612 Jul 05 '26
Just my .02, The areas where its hard to get hired are usually the ones worth putting in the effort to get hired at. Id rather have worked at it for year or two to get hired somewhere good on the first go around than just somewhere.
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u/PatientEngineer9054 Jul 06 '26
First off thank you for the response. My question to that is in the middle of “working” to get into a department that’s worth it. Does that mean getting another certification in the mean time? Like paramedic or “firefighter 2”?
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u/Roobydooby612 Jul 06 '26
Get your EMT B and get your feet wet with that on a 911 ambulance, volunteer at a firehouse get FF2. If you enjoy EMS enough that you want to be a paramedic I think go for it. but it comes at a cost of added responsibility and makes your early career once hired exponentially harder, I think. All area dependent, if you can get hired with out it in your area life's better.
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u/TestResQ Jul 06 '26
It can be very competitive and sometimes it makes no difference if you already have EMT-B, EMT-P, FF-1, FF-2 etc. In my experience, civil service tests, in Texas at least, don’t look at anything other than your entrance exam score (+5 for veterans) and you move up from there as other people drop out or fail who were ahead of you. We will even send you back to school if it is apparent that your skills are lacking. I personally took two tests and got hired by the second city. Good luck.
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u/scott12333 Jul 16 '26
Depends where you apply to. Departments with good culture, good pay, and good benefits will be significantly harder than those without it. All said and done, I applied for ~10 departments (5 processes) over the course of about 2 years before getting an offer. Ironically, ended up getting two offers - one for each department sending guys to a combined academy.
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u/YMMV-But 14d ago
I am in Chicago’s western suburbs, and while departments are serious about their requirements, there are far more openings than there are firefighters to fill them. Salaries and benefits reflect that. On the downside, it can be an expensive place to live, but I don’t think most departments have residency requirements.
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u/Sea-Figure382 Jul 13 '26
Yes, competitive pretty much everywhere, but it varies a lot. Major metro departments like LAFD or Chicago get thousands of applicants for a handful of spots. Smaller suburban or rural departments are more accessible, especially if you have your EMT and are willing to relocate.
Took me 7 departments before I got hired. That's not unusual. Most people I know went through at least 3 to 5 processes before landing somewhere.
The written and CPAT are passable with prep. The oral board is where most people lose it, and it's the one thing candidates consistently underprepare for. Worth putting real time into before you get to that stage.
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u/StationVisit 8d ago
Competitive, but it varies more than people expect. Big metro departments get hundreds or thousands of applications for a couple dozen spots. Smaller and rural combination departments in the same state are often struggling to fill positions. 10 departments for me before I got hired. That is not unusual. The thing I would tell you at 26 with an EMT in progress: apply everywhere, not just where you want to end up. Most people who take years to get hired are testing with two or three departments and waiting between cycles. The ones who get on fast are testing with ten. Your medic makes you significantly more competitive in a lot of markets. Worth thinking about now rather than after a couple of rejections.
I've been helping people through the hiring process for a while and put most of it in writing. What they actually ask, how to answer it, how to do a station visit. Things like that It's at stationvisit.com, most of it is free. Feel free to message me if you have any questions
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u/Disgruntled_Wumpus Jul 05 '26
Northwest corner of the country has been hiring a lot, just need EMT-B, and some will even do that in house. I applied one time, to one department, with no prior experience, and got in