We have so many different uniforms, even for patrol, especially counting the units within special patroll. One of the reasons I dont wear a uniform. Also, we cant wear name or badge plates and the evaluators cannot ask us questions, but many do.
We have so many different uniforms, even for patrol, especially counting the units within special patroll. One of the reasons I dont wear a uniform. Also, we cant wear name or badge plates and the evaluators cannot ask us questions, but many do.
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Originally Posted by pablo
I wore a suit to every interview. Guys who were 10-8 on patrol at the time of the interview showed up in uniform. Every other person that I went against wore a suit. Make sure your shoes and belt match too. After spending almost three years working and testifying in court daily, you can only imagine the ensembles I've seen people wearing when they thought they were "dressed appropriately."
Again, wear a suit.
JR1572
Last edited by JR1572; 04-10-2016 at 09:00 PM.
As was mentioned, every agency is different. And the can be very different.
Start preparing early. Know where your office is going process-wise and how they intend to get there. Some questions constantly re-appear albeit with different phrasing. In addition to some very focused coaching by a couple retired Lts, spend time talking with the Lts and Captains who may be on your panels. Didn't go with the intent of getting answers, my idea was to ensure I was comfortable talking with them.
Andrew Borello authored a pretty decent book on preparing for sergeant interviews, regardless of how an agency does them.
Talk to those who went through the last testing processing or two. Both the successful & unsuccessful, there will be interesting insights.
Formal education & training are becoming more essential, have an answer as to what you've done.
Finally, don't work that day. Do nothing other than test. Take the rest of the day off. If you've really put in the prep time you owe it to yourself.
I'm not LE, but I have gone through formal Oral Boards for EMS and Search and Rescue several times.
In EMS, I usually dress professionally, but don't wear a tie. So like, a suit without a tie, but everything else very nice. EMS is a profession that requires following the rules every day when you're an EMT, but for Paramedics, it's often more fluid. You're usually in charge and need to be able to adapt to new environments. So, as an EMT, I wore a tie, as a Paramedic, I dressed very professionally, but didn't wear a tie. I wanted to give off the impression of professionalism without too much rigidity.
In SAR, I knew a connection coming in, and I had an informal board to come in, but a formal board before commissioning. I wore Class-Bs to that.
When I had formal boards for promotion, I've always worn Class-As, not because it was required, but out of respect for the Board, and you "dress for the position you want, not the position you have".
As far as interview techniques: I have passed every oral board I've done. I had a prior position in sales for about 8 years before EMS or SAR, so public speaking and "charming" on demand were skills I already had in my wheelhouse. However, I was mostly direct. When asked "what are your biggest weaknesses", I always gave straight shooting, very direct answers.
When I was being promoted to Lieutenant, there were a lot of questions regarding how I would approach something if my Captain did something that wasn't illegal, but was harmful. I told them that I would address it directly to the Captain and keep it "in house". They seemed displeased at my answer that I wouldn't report it. Later, I found out that they all agreed that the aspect of loyalty (but not approval of actions) was much more commendable than someone who always jumps rank to make complaints, and something they all wish they had. I passed that board despite the obvious frowns during that question.
My experience has been that the higher up in rank the Oral Board is for, the tougher the questions are. Your record by that point already shows what you would do in certain situations, and so there's no point in asking about the past (unless it's a disciplinary review board), usually the questions are about situations you haven't faced yet...
The best way to prepare for these types of things are to get a mentor who's already in this type of position, go for a long hike, canoe trip, whatever, and ask them what the toughest things they've faced on the job have been and how they handled it. Go home, think about what you would do, and you're 90% there.
Last edited by Josh Runkle; 04-11-2016 at 01:39 PM.
I just went through this process and an currently finishing up my Patrol Supervisor training program. My agency utilizes an Assessment Center to evaluate the top 200 candidates from the written test. No live interviewers, its all video and audio recorded and the actual assessment is done off site by the testing vendor. The best preparation for me was to attend a test prep class and to constantly go over scenarios while recording my responses. I could go back and critique myself or show the video to a supervisor I trusted to give me an honest evaluation. I also talked to people that had done well on previous promotional lists and got suggestions from them. Knowing your department policy, having confidence in that knowledge, and being well spoken and articulate go a long way in this part of the promotional process.
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