Josh and I have stressed the importance of being physically and mentally fit as you prepare for a career in Emergency Services… A San Diego Area Police Captain has written an excellent book on surviving the emotional challenges of our business. I’ve listed two links below… one to the the Author’s website and one to Amazon so you can check it out. This truly should be required reading for all first responders… take a look!
Blog
-
Failures happen… How you recover matters!
Nobody is perfect. We all make mistakes and fail on occasion…. Failure is part of the human experience. Have you ever noticed that some people come back bigger, better, smarter, stronger, etc. after they’ve failed? That just means that they used the experience as a way to grow and improve. If you fail during your career pursuit, you MUST redirect, refocus, and continue to work towards your goal.
No obstacles are insurmountable. No failure is so great that should warrant you stopping or quitting. Keep working, keep moving, keep pushing. Continuing on shows character… and character is what gets you hired.
If you look for people to blame, create excuses, or try to come up with some reason why the failure wasn’t your fault, then you’ve missed the opportunity in the failure and you’re likely going to be the same person in the same place moving forward. As much as failure hurts/sucks/costs at the time, you have to find the lesson and get something from it. Ask me how I know!
-
Enthusiasm… it’s more important than you think!
People that pursue a career in the Fire Service are usually extremely motivated and dedicated. Many will push through the required education, training, and experience required though a good portion of them may never get hired. Or those that do get hired may not be successful during their probation…. ever wondered why? One word – Enthusiasm!
I’ve seen plenty of candidates and probies during my career and the single thing that sets them apart from the masses is enthusiasm. We can train just about anyone to be a firefighter, EMT, or paramedic… but we can’t light that fire under their fanny that stokes a career-long fire. That has to come from within… and it’s painfully obvious who has it and who doesn’t.
So anyone that is reading this is likely to consider themselves enthusiastic. So let me explain what I’m looking for when I talk about enthusiasm. You have to be stoked to come to work. Stoked to train. Stoked to PT. Stoked to run calls. Stoked for hose testing. Stoked to wash rigs, clean toilets, etc. You should be approaching all of these things the same at the end of your career as you did on the first day. Your enthusiasm should last your entire career… and it will be infectious! Try it out and see for yourself!
Moral of the story… don’t be a “Ho-Hummer”. Make it look like there is nothing you’d rather be doing. Just saying it doesn’t work… you have to show it!
-
The ripple effect of hashtags
For some reason, someone came up with the hashtag and it has stuck. Please don’t ask me why… and as a middle to late generation Fire Service guy, I really don’t like it. Anyway, nobody wants to read about how this grouchy young old guy feels about hashtags… so let’s talk about how they can be a bad thing… because if we’re going to write something about them you can guess that there is a negative side of this fad…
Everyone is doing it, so what’s the big deal? The big deal is that some of you are using hashtags to self promote, self inflate, and down right create a false image of who you are and what you do. Let me give you an example… I saw a picture of an EMT in uniform on an Instagram photo (first no-no) and the hashtags were so over the top (#shecodedonthetable, #ihopeshemakesit, #flightmedic, etc.) for an EMT-Basic to be posting… that will actually hurt their image. It hurts their image to their boss, prospective bosses, and even their peers are hammering them. Because everyone in the know knows that it’s nonsense. 100% nonsense!
Just remember… people in our business don’t care how many people you say you’ve saved. People care that you can do the job and do it well. People care that you’ll be a part of the traditions and professionalism of the industry. People want to know who you are, the real, un-hastagged you. Be who you are. It’s enough. Continue to work towards your goals. Stay focused. Work hard. That’s enough. That’s what you need. Quit hashtagging… #thatstuffisbananas!
-
Are tattoos okay for Firefighters?
We get this question a lot… Is it okay to have tattoos in the Fire Service? Well, it depends. Most fire departments have policies in place to deal with this very topic. Here at FirefighterMedic we always suggest being conservative if you’re pre-employment. What does that mean? Consider this:
1. Would ANYONE consider it offensive? I understand that we all have first amendment rights… Fire Chiefs also have the right to not hire you if they choose…
2. Do your tattoos reflect a positive image? I know we were all young once, but if you have tears tattooed on your face I’d say that would be a solid no thank you.
3. Do you HAVE to get it now? If you’re thinking about getting a tattoo and you’re pre-employment, just wait. Make it a cool “off-probation” gift to yourself (as long as it complies with all policies). Don’t add the headache!
Most Fire Departments are becoming pretty strict. Some don’t care at all. Check in at the departments that you’d like to work at and find out what their policies are. Don’t get yourself bumped out of a process for something like this.
-
What does it take to become a firefighter?
What does it take to become a firefighter? Being a Firefighter sounds exciting, right? A rewarding career with a good dose of action, excitement, energy, camaraderie, fulfillment, and variety while providing you with a good living for you and your current or future family. That’s what the Fire Service is all about. Or at least that’s what it looks like from the outside.
Now I’ll tell you that all of the things above are true… the Fire Service is all of those. But what most people don’t see is that blood, sweat, and tears that are required to get here… and then the blood, sweat, and tears that we endure in the Fire Service. It’s not an easy job… it’s not easy on your body, on your mind, or on your family. But… the rewards are great enough (and I’m not talking money here) to endure the negative aspects of the career.
So what does it take to become a firefighter?
It takes dedication, motivation, perseverance, inspiration, honor, integrity, patience, humility, and a little bit of luck. Do you feel like you have all of those… well, you may, but you need more. Remember, there are thousands of people looking for a career in the Fire Service with these personal attributes but only a few will be selected for the job… you have to be the top tier, the top percentage to get in. Does it sound tough? Well, if it was easy, everyone would want to do it!
Ask yourself what you’re willing to do for a career in the Fire Service… are you willing to put in the time, effort, money, heart, sole, blood (hopefully metaphorically), sweat, and tears to be successful? Almost all “say” yes… but there actions dictate otherwise. I see candidates every single day that won’t be successful. Not because they don’t have the ability, but because they don’t get it… they don’t understand the actual “cost” to get in. If you think you’re entitled to weekends off, you don’t get it. If you think you can take a week off and go to Cancun for spring break, you don’t get it. Our business doesn’t stop… it doesn’t sleep… it doesn’t rest. There will always be someone willing to work harder than you… don’t let them!
An easy answer to the question, “what does it take to become a firefighter”
Commitment. You have to commit to the lifestyle early and make it your way for the rest of your professional life. You either do it or you don’t. There was a famous green guy from a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away that said, “Do or don’t do, there is no try” (for those of you that are old enough, you’ll see what I did there). So go out there and do it! Be successful!
-
Back from Washington DC – EMS Education
EMS Education
Last week I traveled to Washington DC for the JEMS EMS Today conference for EMS education. I had a few areas of study that I was most interested in: Improvements in CPR, Education, and Tactical Medicine. Something that I found was that though we pretty much do things operationally the same, the culture of the Fire Service and EMS around the nation is vastly different. At the core of all those differences and changes though are a group of men and women that want to make a difference in their communities and save some lives!
EMS conferences
They are a great source of information, great learning opportunity, and an outstanding networking platform. If you haven’t been, do your best to get to one.
But now it’s time to get back to work… starting with our first Firehouse/Gym workout of the day:
2 Rounds of the following exercises for time: 50 Squats, 50 Overhead Squats (45#/33#), 50 Front Squats (45#/33#), 50 Back Squats (45#/33#). I had to modify with a 40# barbell… no 45# available. 15:29
Enjoy!