# Washington (Seattle Area) Vs North Carolina (Raleigh Area)



## PittEMT (Feb 15, 2014)

Hello all I am new to here. I am EMT in Pittsburgh, Pa currently in medic school. I will be graduating in June. My wife and I are planning on moving at the end of this summer. The two places we narrowed down were North Carolina, in the Raleigh area, and Washington, in the Seattle Area. She is a nurse that has several years of experience. She has been looking at positions in both areas and found that either area would be easy for her to get a job. I was curious as to what everyone thought about getting a job as a Medic in either of those areas. Which would have a better market and easiest to get a job in? Where would I be better in focusing my efforts? Thanks for your help!


----------



## PotatoMedic (Feb 15, 2014)

If your thinking Seattle and have 3+ years EMT apply for king county medic one.  Or you can apply to the private companies in pierce county.  Or drive far to other places.  I would say NC you will have more options for being a medic.


----------



## yowzer (Feb 15, 2014)

You can get a job in Pierce County (South of Seattle) working for a private ambulance company doing a mix of interfacility transports and field transports for the first-responding fire departments.  For pretty much everywhere else within a 2 hour drive of Seattle, ALS is fire only.


----------



## DrParasite (Feb 16, 2014)

Raleigh/Wake County EMS tests 3 or 4 times a year.  the area usually hires about 20 people per academy, out of all their applicant (EMTs and Paramedics).  application is online, testing is a 2 day process (fly in in the morning, do part 1, if you pass, stay in a hotel, the next morning, do parts 2,3 and 4, fly out in the PM). 

Personally, I would wait until you were offered the job before you moved, but that's just me.


----------



## PittEMT (Feb 16, 2014)

Normally I would wait before I moved, however my wife is able to get a position before we move. I figured I would try to get one before we moved however if not I would at least know where to look once I got to either place. Is there anything other than Wake County, that is around Raleigh, I can look at in case Wake County does not work out?


----------



## DrParasite (Feb 16, 2014)

Cary Area EMS,  http://caryems.org
Durham County, next couty over to Relaigh, accepting applications now for May start date http://dconc.gov/index.aspx?page=163‎ 
Apex EMS (couldn't find a website)
Eastern Wake EMS http://easternwakeems.com/index.html


----------



## waaaemt (Mar 12, 2014)

Idk what kind of work your wife is looking for but if she is interested in doing CCT ambulance, rural metro in pierce county wa (and every other ambulance company) are always looking for CCT RNs. Then if you got a medic job there you could work at the same place! But also there's Olympic ambulance who runs medics in 3 areas. And Advanced Life Systems in eastern wa who runs really cool primary 911 in a gang saturated area. If you're into that. They work 48s.

But if you hate traffic, do not come to Seattle haha


----------



## adwr070621 (Mar 23, 2014)

DrParasite,

Is this opening already closed? I clicked the link and got nothing. 

How did you find the info that they were looking for applicants to start in May? I've been all over the Durham County EMS site and can't really find any of that info.


----------



## Handsome Robb (Mar 23, 2014)

To work in a Medic One system you have to have a lot of experience do you not? Also do they all have to go through their medic school or is that only Seattle/King County? Be pretty ridiculous to go all the way through medics school to move to Seattle and go back through school again...on the off chance you get hired. Pretty sure Seattle you have to be on a suppression apparatus for a long while then promote to the ambulance. I might be way off though.

You don't have to work for Medic One but most the other ALS agencies only do IFTs if I'm not mistaken.


----------



## medic4826 (Mar 23, 2014)

Durham posting closed on the 14th. Keep an eye open...we will be hiring again soo. At the moment I know Wake County is hiring.


----------



## yowzer (Mar 25, 2014)

Robb said:


> To work in a Medic One system you have to have a lot of experience do you not? Also do they all have to go through their medic school or is that only Seattle/King County? Be pretty ridiculous to go all the way through medics school to move to Seattle and go back through school again...on the off chance you get hired. Pretty sure Seattle you have to be on a suppression apparatus for a long while then promote to the ambulance. I might be way off though.
> 
> You don't have to work for Medic One but most the other ALS agencies only do IFTs if I'm not mistaken.



People who have graduated from other paramedic programs can work as medics in surrounding counties. In Snohomish County, to the north, you have to be on an ALS fire department. In Pierce County, to the south, private ambulance companies can employ medics.  In King and Sno, ALS level interfacility transfers are done by nurses.

Many of the people I know who've gone to the paramedic programs that are open to general applicants have ended up moving out of state to find a decent job.


----------



## Christopher (Mar 25, 2014)

PittEMT said:


> Hello all I am new to here. I am EMT in Pittsburgh, Pa currently in medic school. I will be graduating in June. My wife and I are planning on moving at the end of this summer. The two places we narrowed down were North Carolina, in the Raleigh area, and Washington, in the Seattle Area. She is a nurse that has several years of experience. She has been looking at positions in both areas and found that either area would be easy for her to get a job. I was curious as to what everyone thought about getting a job as a Medic in either of those areas. Which would have a better market and easiest to get a job in? Where would I be better in focusing my efforts? Thanks for your help!



You need to be internal to MEDIC One or go back through their program. KCMO had some openings earlier last year, but they are few and far between.

If you are looking for openings in NC, look no further than our OEMS page for employment opportunities. I think you'll enjoy EMS in NC (I do, but I'm biased).


----------



## Luno (Mar 25, 2014)

*It would be pretty ridiculous if...*



Robb said:


> To work in a Medic One system you have to have a lot of experience do you not? Also do they all have to go through their medic school or is that only Seattle/King County? Be pretty ridiculous to go all the way through medics school to move to Seattle and go back through school again...on the off chance you get hired. Pretty sure Seattle you have to be on a suppression apparatus for a long while then promote to the ambulance. I might be way off though.
> 
> You don't have to work for Medic One but most the other ALS agencies only do IFTs if I'm not mistaken.



they didn't pay you around 50k to go to school...   And it's just like the probie thing the firefighters do, it's not on the off chance that you get hired, it on the off chance that people don't f'up and get fired...


----------

