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Well, that went well...
Had my oral board with the County of San Mateo today. As always with me, I showed up very early, which meant I got to scope out the competition.
There were about 240 people who took the written exam, about 30-40 of whom left during the test. Of that, they are interviewing 45 people. Steep curve here folks!
About ten minutes before my scheduled interview, I was handed a hypothetical situation.. basically, you are given five calls for service that come in at the same time. You need to prioritize them, and explain why you listed them in that order. That wasn't too difficult.
After a short wait, I went in. There were three people on the board, a battalion chief from Hillborough FD, a sergeant from the County Sheriff, and a senior dispatcher. They asked seven questions, which were remarkably like the one dafydd passed to me from his experiences, thank man!
The second or third question was about the exercise, and I went through my reasoning while trying to read the responses I was getting. I do not want to play poker with these folks. I think I saw a slight nod from the battalion chief, but that was it.
Before I knew it, the interview was over. I'll hear next week. I think I did well. They are hiring 4-6 people, so it's down to a 1 in 9 chance for me. I've beaten worse.
There were about 240 people who took the written exam, about 30-40 of whom left during the test. Of that, they are interviewing 45 people. Steep curve here folks!
About ten minutes before my scheduled interview, I was handed a hypothetical situation.. basically, you are given five calls for service that come in at the same time. You need to prioritize them, and explain why you listed them in that order. That wasn't too difficult.
After a short wait, I went in. There were three people on the board, a battalion chief from Hillborough FD, a sergeant from the County Sheriff, and a senior dispatcher. They asked seven questions, which were remarkably like the one dafydd passed to me from his experiences, thank man!
The second or third question was about the exercise, and I went through my reasoning while trying to read the responses I was getting. I do not want to play poker with these folks. I think I saw a slight nod from the battalion chief, but that was it.
Before I knew it, the interview was over. I'll hear next week. I think I did well. They are hiring 4-6 people, so it's down to a 1 in 9 chance for me. I've beaten worse.
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Good job!
Go Doug!
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Warren tried out for a dispatch job but didn't make it past the written test.
I think you've got a terrific shot at getting whatever you're going for, especially given that you got as far as you did.
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The written was a mind-bender for sure, *very* difficult in parts, and none of it was overly easy. Even the English comprehension parts gave me a few pauses. Every thing is timed, with short limits.
To give an idea of the whittling process.. there were 260 people invited to take the written, and about 245 showed up. Of those, at least thirty left during the test. Of those 215-odd survivors, 45 scored high enough to be interviewed.
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Gesi
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