Red Deer Emergency Services interview

Where the interview sits

Red Deer Emergency Services provides an integrated firefighting and emergency medical services response, and its members are cross-trained in both. Applicants must already be certified and registered as an EMT-Paramedic with the Alberta College of Paramedics to be considered, and must pass the Firefighter Applicant Physical Test.

The FireMedic requirements page lists four parts of pre-employment testing: an aptitude test, the oral interview, medical testing and physical activity testing. For the physical test, Red Deer recognizes the third party testing run by Red Deer Polytechnic and the University of Alberta. The Red Deer Polytechnic fitness test guide covers that test.

What Red Deer says about the interview

The department’s description is one sentence: “Senior Officers of the Emergency Services Department and The City of Red Deer Human Resources Department conduct individual oral pre-screening and final interviews with each candidate.”

So you are interviewed individually, in two rounds, by senior Emergency Services officers and City Human Resources staff. Prepare every answer for both audiences.

How the City of Red Deer interviews

The City’s Career resources page covers interviews for every City job, Emergency Services among them. It says interview questions “will include a blend of both Performance Based and Behaviour Descriptive questions,” and that each competition has the same set of questions and rating scale.

Performance Based questions

These describe a job related situation, scenario or challenge and ask what you would do. The City says answers are scored on how far the response is acceptable and complete.

Behaviour Descriptive questions

These rest on the principle that past behaviour is the best predictor of future performance. You describe a specific experience from your past in detail, and the City says probing questions may follow for more detail and clarification.

The STAR method

For behaviour descriptive answers the City recommends STAR: Situation, Task, Action, Result. It says the situation can come from a previous job, volunteer experience, school or any other relevant event, and that in the action part you should “focus on and highlight your individual actions or contributions even if you were working as part of a team.”

Before an interview, the City suggests reviewing the job posting you applied to, reviewing your skills and experience that relate to it, and getting familiar with behaviour descriptive questions and the STAR method.

When Red Deer hires

Red Deer accepts Emergency Services applications through Human Resources, on positions it is currently advertising. Watch the City’s job board for a FireMedic posting.

City postings stay up for a minimum of five business days and close at 11 p.m. on the date listed. Every online application needs an uploaded resume, and the City contacts the candidates it selects for interview. The department also says it runs aptitude testing regularly at its headquarters, and its requirements page gives a contact for dates and times.

What Red Deer asks of a FireMedic

The requirements page lists the “ability to establish and maintain effective working relationships with associates and the public,” and says a FireMedic must function effectively at an emergency scene and also be “capable of dealing well with fellow employees in the station.”

The About the Job page sets out what the career expects. Among the duties it lists:

• Strive to ensure a professional quality of service to the community.
• Work, eat and sleep in close proximity to fellow firefighters, harmoniously at all times.
• Take part in station housekeeping, from mopping floors to mowing lawns.
• Maintain the positive, professional image and integrity of the department on the job and off duty, including related volunteer work.
• Operate an ambulance and give skilled treatment to sick and injured patients.

The department’s Become a FireMedic brochure describes a team that values “a commitment to excellence on the job, ongoing training and advancement, camaraderie, volunteerism, and fitness.” The City of Red Deer names its RISE values: respect, integrity, service and excellence.

Use these lists as a map for your story bank. Station life, the public, professional conduct off duty and volunteer work all appear in what Red Deer publishes, so hold a true story for each. In the interview, tell the story and let it show the value.

How to prepare for this format

Two kinds of answer

A performance based question asks what you would do; a behaviour descriptive question asks what you did. Answer the first in order: what is happening, who is affected, what you would do first and why, and what you would do if that first step failed. Answer the second with one real event, told through STAR.

Probing questions

The City says probing questions may follow a behaviour descriptive answer. Choose stories you know in detail, so a second or third question adds depth to your answer.

Your individual actions

Paramedic and fire stories are almost always team stories. The City asks for your individual actions, so name the part you played: what you saw, what you decided and what you did.

Preparing for both rounds

A pre-screening interview and a final interview give the interviewers two looks at you. Keep your stories consistent between them and bring the same preparation to both.

What to practise

• Build a story bank first, with true stories covering working relationships, station life, service to the public, conduct off duty and volunteer work.
• Draw on all of your experience. The City accepts situations from work, volunteering, school or any other relevant event.
• Practise scenario questions and behavioural questions in the same session, so you switch easily between a scenario answer and a real event.
• Have someone ask two follow up questions after each story.
• Reread the posting before each round and link your answers to its qualifications.

To practise in front of other candidates, Firefighter Interview Night is a live two hour video session where each candidate answers in the hot seat and gets feedback.

Practice questions written by Northline

Northline wrote these questions for practice. The first three are scenarios; the rest ask for a real event, answered with STAR.

1. On a medical call, a patient’s family member is angry about how long the ambulance took and starts filming your crew. What would you do?
2. Your crew is back from a long call and the station duties are still waiting. A newer crew member says they are too tired to help. How would you handle it?
3. A crew member posts something off duty that reflects badly on the department. What would you do?
4. Tell us about a time you shared close quarters with people very different from you. How did you keep the relationships working?
5. Describe a time you gave your own time to a community cause. What did you do, and what came of it?
6. Tell us about a time you had to admit a mistake at work. What happened next?
7. Describe a time you stayed respectful with someone who was treating you badly.

If a question finds a gap in your story bank, add a story before you move on to the next question.