By John M. Malecky
FACING THE PROMOTIONAL INTERVIEW
By John Mittendorf
Available from:
FIRE ENGINEERING BOOKS & VIDEOS
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Price: $49.00 + $2.00 S & H
Order: ISBN 1-59370-0024
This soft-cover book measures 8 1/2inches by 11 inches and has 206 pages plus an audio CD-ROM. The author served in the Los Angeles City Fire Department from 1963 until his retirement in 1993. His extensive biography can be found on the back cover.
This book is written to help candidates proficiently pass a promotional review. It is easy-to-read with seven chapters plus an index. The chapters are: Priorities before the Interview, Anatomy of an Interview, Opening Impressions, Preparing a Response to the Opening Question, General Questions, Closing the Interview and, Preparing for a Fire Department Entrance Interview. At the end of each chapter is a summary checklist which reviews several points.
Members of fire departments who give their own exams utilizing a review board will benefit from this book. Those facing an oral exam will also get much out of it.
The book includes information on how to study, study partners, and “professionalizing” oneself (writing an application, resume and cover letter, clothes and appearance, handshake, and seating position). The candidate is here because he wants the promotion. Selling himself to the board is tantamount to success. The book describes how to promote your expertise while avoiding narcissism. It covers many aspects of the jobs expected to be handled by different ranks.
Best of all, the author stresses being genuine and truthful, not trying to simply tell the board what you think it wants to hear.
The author also provides the reader with sample resumes, cover letters, and responses to opening questions in which each is analyzed.
John M. Malecky is a 32-year veteran of the Bayonne (NJ) Fire Department and a battalion chief (retired) with Battalion 2. He joined the department in 1970 and was named a lieutenant in 1987, a captain in 1994, and a battalion chief in 2000. He is author of Apparatus Deliveries in Fire Engineering.
