I received a call from one of our candidates. He has made it to a few oral boards and one chief's oral
without success. He has been invited to a large city oral and wanted to set up a private coaching session. In just a few moments I was aware of something critical. Then I asked him if he were using a tape recorder to
practice? Like most people, he hemmed and hawed and finally said, "Well, no. But, I'm thinking about it."Even though he bought our audio/video tape program that hammers and hammers the point home that you
have to use a tape recorder and hear how you sound, he still did not get the message. His answers were garbage. I do not get it. You folks want this job so bad you say you will do almost anything ethically and morally
to get it. I guess that does not include using a tape recorder to get your timing, inflection, volume, where to cut out material, and find out if you really sound like Donald Duck. You need to get married to your
hand-held tape recorder. You need to hear what the oral board is going to hear from you. It is the closest distance between you and the badge you are looking for!
This is usually a guy thing. Guys think
about their answers in their head and write them down. Then they think their answers are going to come out of their mouths like magic in the oral. Trust me, after being on over 100 oral boards, they don't!
Let me tell you how critical this really is. If you are not using a tape recorder to practice, practice, practice, rehearse, rehearse, rehearse and over learn your material until it becomes second nature
to you, YOU MIGHT AS WELL NOT SHOW UP FOR THE INTERVIEW. YOU ARE WASTING THE ORAL BOARDS AND YOUR TIME! Seek out another career. Understand you still have to interview there too. The above candidate has already lost
some great opportunities. Had he been faithfully using a tape recorder to prepare for his oral boards, he probably could have had a badge already.
Some will say, "Well, if I practice it too much it
will sound canned." NO it will not! It sure will be planned though. Practice makes permanent. "Luck is where preparation meeting opportunity." One practice session with a tape recorder is worth 10
speaking out louds. After practicing, you will get to a point where your answers will get into your subconscious. That's where the magic begins. You can't be fooled.
Everyone has butterflies in an oral
board. The trick is getting all the butterfly's to fly in the same formation that can make the difference. Practicing with a tape recorder will remove up to 75% of the butterflies. You want the other 25% to carry you
through the interview.
We think this is so important that we will not do private coaching with a candidate if they are not using a tape recorder. It is a waste of our time and their money.
Be advised that your competition knows the value of using a tape recorder. They are catapulting past you if you are not using one too.
Here is what we know after 30-years of experience.
Those candidates who get our audio/video program, use the work booklet that will become their script to audition for the job of a firefighter, USE A TAPE RECORDER TO PRACTICE and come back and do private coaching end up
catapulting themselves into the Olympic Camp to get a shot at the badge. A proven inexpensive way to gain a 25+ year career. To be one of the last of America's heroes.
Instead of posting messages on
bulletin boards asking others where they are at in the testing process for this city and I am in the top 40 on this list or that, start asking yourself this question: What am I doing that can best prepare me for the
most important part of the hiring process? . . . The oral board. Because if you cannot pass the oral board to score high enough on the list, you do not get the job. Never! Ever! Ever! Period! Now, where is your tape
recorder?
How would you like to get ahead of the curve with the cutting edge interview skills to get that badge? Then you want to sign up to receive Fire "Captain Bob's" exclusive information rich
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