Have you ever been enthralled by seasoned firefighters describing old war stories at the kitchen table? As soon as they start talking, you rush over to the freshly brewed coffee and grab a cup. The room slowly starts to fade away, and the year they’re talking about begins to form in your periphery. You can’t help but get transported back in time with them. Time and reality cylindrically morph as your imagination begins to build on the detailed words floating in the air. Fresh, cold winter air bites your face in the open cab of the truck as the siren screams for dear life. The heat and smell of burning wood kiss your nostrils as they pull up to the house fire. You don’t even realize what has happened until you try and take a sip of your coffee and it’s all gone, snapping you back to reality. Stories are compelling in their message, but more importantly, they grab the audience’s hand and take them along for the journey.
- A ‘Best-Odds’ Scenario for Success on Your Next Promotional Exam
- Relax, It’s Just a Test
- Preparing For the Promotional Process
- PROMOTIONAL EXAMS FOR COMPANY OFFICERS
There tends to be a significant emphasis during any fire department promotional process on the interview. Depending on where you work, it can make or break whether you move up in the ranks or not. The interview process closely encompasses four key categories: public speaking ability, critical thinking processing, position description comprehension, and lastly—one that often gets overlooked by candidates—is your audience engagement ability. Some might argue that audience engagement falls under public speaking ability, but I disagree. Some people are good at public speaking but are quite boring and do not get their audience involved or curious about their information.
So, where are you at in your career? Are you at a point where you may be thinking about going up for a promotion? Maybe you already have but missed out on an opportunity to make the list. Wherever you are in your career, when it’s time for the interview, grab the panel’s attention and take them on a journey with your own story.
Objective vs. Subjective
If you have been through an interview recently, then you’ll know questions are asked in two distinct categories, objective and subjective. During your interview, you’ll most likely have a combination of both objective and subjective questions, and preparation is paramount to prepare for both forms of questions. Objective questions require a specific answer that doesn’t leave room for an opinion. These types of questions are often asked like this. “What is our department’s mission statement?” or “What are the five types of building construction?” When answering an objective question, you’ll notice that there is only one way to answer it. As a candidate going up for promotion, standing out when answering objective questions is something that’s not possible. You either know the answer or you don’t. Even if you stumble through an objective question and pull out the correct answer, you’ll have the points for answering it correctly. It might not have been pretty, but you aren’t getting points for pretty on objective questions. Answering these types of questions is straightforward and does not require any critical thinking—these questions are solely based on memorization and comprehension.
Now, subjective questions allow you to provide your opinion and experience to your answer. Subjective questions are often asked like this: “What are your strengths and weaknesses?” or “What have you done to prepare for this position?” These questions can be answered in a multitude of ways, and each candidate going for promotion should have answers that are specific to that person. When the panel asks you a subjective question, this is an opportunity for you to rise above the rest and stand out, leaving a mark on the panel and giving you the necessary points to promote. There isn’t a one-size-fits-all approach to how the panel requires you to answer a subjective question. There are, however, key aspects you must hit.
An example would be a subjective question like this: “Please tell the panel how you have prepared for the position in the way of education, training, and experience.” This is clearly a subjective question, but as you can see, you have specific benchmarks in the question you must hit to gain the total points. Missing one aspect of the question would bring down your points, and when it comes to a promotion, leaving anything on the table can mean you getting pinned at the ceremony or being one of the spectators. So how do you grab the panel’s attention when answering subjective questions? Tell a story.
What’s In a Story
What is it about a story that engages the audience and leaves a lasting impression? Engagement, influence, and validity are a few key aspects a story provides the audience when interwoven into an answer. Whether communicated in person, in print or online, personal stories have been credited with motivating individual action and support [1]. So why is that important when answering a question during a promotion? Simply put, you want the panel’s support and for them to believe what you are saying.
Let’s look at this example of a question: “What are your strengths?” Most people will answer that they are hard-working, motivated, work well with others, and competent in their position. Those are all admirable strengths, but if you only give those examples with nothing to back them up, how are panel members to know those are truly strengths and distinguish you from the other candidates saying the exact same thing? They can’t. That’s why developing a personal story behind your answer provides the panel a tangible explanation of your strengths and influences the panel in your favor to stand out. “Information communicated through narratives often result in greater information acceptance through their ease of processing and comprehension” [2].
Stories are relatable and something the panel can get behind. Let’s consider that one of your strengths is your motivation. You start off by saying, “I believe one of my strengths is being a motivated individual. Last December, I was faced with thinking about going back to school and finishing my associate’s degree. Considering my wife and I have a newborn baby, I’m working on advanced fire certifications, and working a second job, I didn’t think it would be plausible. But for me, I knew I wanted to be here today talking to all of you and vying for this position. Our department values higher education and requires an associate degree to advance through the ranks. I stayed up late most nights after the baby went to sleep or while I was at work, typing away on my computer and finishing up my weekly assignments. After six months of grinding out classes, I graduated. I want to be here today, and that motivation that guided me through my college courses spills over into my personal and professional life. That is just one reason why I think motivation is a strength of mine.”
How do you think the panel would grade that answer? You probably would get the full points while also being the person they remember. If you instead answered: “My strength is that I’m motivated because I always show up to work with a good attitude and perform to the fullest.” Well, okay, you might get some points. But most people are going to say that. You won’t stand out, and panel members don’t know if you are motivated. You haven’t proven anything to them. Having a personal story fills in the details and supports the answer you gave the panel. Stories can sidestep resistance, thereby enhancing persuasion [3].
Preparation
The key to any promotional process is giving yourself ample time to prepare for the process. Many people will wait until the week before to review some notes or start studying. Unfortunately, many of those people don’t get promoted. It’s not to say that they won’t, but if you are serious about moving up in the fire service, why would you wait until the last week to cram in your study time? Not only are you unprepared, but you will also have more anxiety going into the interview. When preparing for a promotional process, candidates should produce a large pool of knowledge about themselves to pull from. The interview is about you. The most challenging part of the initial preparation is learning how to talk about yourself. Contrary to social norms, this is when you want to boast about yourself. Being comfortable talking about yourself allows the panel to see why you are the best candidate for this position and that you are fully capable in the role.
For objective questions, setting up a study program that involves reading, highlighting, taking notes, and making flashcards would be your best approach to preparing for these types of questions. If possible, allowing yourself a minimum of at least a month out from the interview to prepare for objective questions would benefit you the most. When it comes to subjective questions, practice, practice, practice. Answering questions and speaking out loud builds confidence in your speaking ability and thought processing. Most people will not be able to answer a question with a personal story off the cuff, so allowing yourself ample time to prepare and develop a personal story that coincides with your answer is essential. Granted, you will not know all the questions asked on the promotional exam, and you never do. But the more practice you have in answering an array of questions, the better chance you’ll have of not being surprised by one.
Promotion Ready
The next time a promotional process comes up and you’re sitting in front of the board, grab the panel’s attention, take them back in time and along for a journey. Allow the panel to experience your words as their periphery fades away and they’re transported alongside you. Not only will you be the candidate they talk about, but you’ll be the candidate they remember. There’s only one way to do that—tell a story.
References
[1] F. Polletta and N. Redman, “When do stories change our minds? Narrative persuasion about social problems,” Sociology Compass., vol. 14, no. 4, 2020.
[2] M. Dahlstrom, “The Moderating Influence of Narrative Causality as an Untapped Pool of Variance for Narrative Persuasion,” Communication Research, vol. 42, no. 6, pp. 779-795, 2013.
[3] D. C. Zhang, X. Zhu, K.-J. RItter and A. Thiele, “Telling stories to communicate the value of the pre‐employment structured job interview,” International Journal of Selection and Assessment, pp. 299-314, 2019.
DANIEL VECCHIOLLA is a battalion chief and Virginia-certified fire investigator for Navy Region Mid-Atlantic Fire & Emergency Services. He began his fire service career with the City of Chesapeake (VA) Fire Department and transitioned into the Department of Defense six years ago. He has a bachelor’s degree in psychology and a master’s degree in public administration from Old Dominion University. He is currently working on his Ph.D in Organizational Management- Leadership at Liberty University. He received his Fire Officer and Fire Marshall designation through the Center of Public and Safety Excellence, for which he serves as a peer reviewer. He also has his Fire Investigation Technician designation through the International Association of Arson Investigators.
