Fresh out of Class EMT.

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EMTStudentwa

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New EMT seeking employment in northwest washington. Any suggestions from you vets out there?
 
I am not a vet nor do I live in Washington, but I recommend applying everywhere.
 
Where in Northwest Washington are you?
 
Get a list from your local DOH or regulating agency and go through the list of companies regardless if they are running ads for positions.

That is the best you can do.

There are no "hidden" EMT jobs.
 
I've posted this before, but here's the deal on who's who.

In King County for BLS, it's AMR, TriMed or Rural/Metro.

North and west, it's R/M, Northwest in Marysvile, Skagit County Medic One and Olympic Amb in PA and Sequim.

South, Olympic in Lacy, AMR and R/M.

You can also apply at volunteer fire departments, search and rescue or work as an ER tech.

That's it. Good luck landing that first job.
 
EMTStudentwa said:
New EMT seeking employment in northwest washington. Any suggestions from you vets out there?
Click to expand...

Have you fulfilled the dreaded affiliation requirement and are you currently in possession of a WA state DOH EMT-B certification. I only ask because many people are shocked when they find they have completed their basic class somewhere else only to find they are out of luck when they try to get certified in WA state.

The market is tight in WA just like everywhere else but there are options some are pretty some not so much but a resourceful person who is willing to do whatever it takes should be able to find something.

You may want to consider taking the ER tech route, which is really not such a bad way to go. You will use all your that you learned in class and more while keeping your skills sharp and staying in the game. The money is going to be better and you will have many more patient contacts which is what you need as a new provider. You may not need to have your certification to work as a tech (just proof of course completion) which would help by giving you a pay check while you go about getting affiliation and certification.

Also giving us a little more to work with might make it easier to help you out.
 
There are no ERs that I know of in western Washington that will hire an EMT fresh out of school, with zero field experience, as an ED tech. It just won't happen.

If you can not find a BLS job with one if the ambulance companies I mentioned, you may be able to meet your agency affiliation requirement to get your state cert by volunteering with a fire department or Search and Rescue.

Again, let us know where you are and I (or one of the other washington folks on the forum) may be able to point you in the right direction.
 
There are two things I always tell those interested in working as ER techs. First is that you will have plenty of well qualified competition and should never underestimate your fellow applicants. Second is that most ER managers like to see that you have some direct patient care preferably in a 911 environment. However I am quick to add that you should never say never and should always put in an application even if you think its a long shot. As long as you meet the minimum requirements you should by all means jump into the game. I do know of people that have worked as techs at SW WA medical center with out field experience so it does happen.

When we have open application periods there are often more than 200 people that apply even when a position is part time or on call. The number seems high but a large number of these applicants will not even make it past the folks in HR. Our ED managers both peds and adult will usually get what HR considers the top 20 applications from there five will usually get called in for an interview. The first trick is to make your application catch the eye of the HR person the second is to catch the eye of the ER manager. Submitting a complete application that shows you meet the minimum requirements for the position seems like a no brainer but you would be surprised what people submit. Incomplete and sloppy applications are the first ones eliminated followed by those not meeting the minimum requirements.

Many applicants get past the initial application review and are invited to interview but they are not able to give a good interview and blow what could possibly be their one chance. Remember alot of the bad information floating around out there about getting on in the ER is started by those who for whatever reason could not make the cut and. Bottom line is if you want something bad enough and are willing to go the distance and rise above the other candidates even the more qualified ones there is nothing you cant do. accomplish.
 
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There are hundreds of out of work EMTs in western Washington. Many of these folks are non issues because they never got a job, thus never became affiliated and therefore never became certified. Between North Seattle, Lake Washington CC and the King County EMT class, there's at least 200 new basics out there every year. And that is JUST in king county. There is a lot of competition out there.

Feel free to do what you want, but it behooves you to get a job with a BLS ambulance service, get affiliated and get patient contacts.

That's the ONLY real way to land a tech job, or anything else. Don't let anyone tell you differently.
 
n7lxi said:
There are hundreds of out of work EMTs in western Washington. Many of these folks are non issues because they never got a job, thus never became affiliated and therefore never became certified. Between North Seattle, Lake Washington CC and the King County EMT class, there's at least 200 new basics out there every year. And that is JUST in king county. There is a lot of competition out there.

Feel free to do what you want, but it behooves you to get a job with a BLS ambulance service, get affiliated and get patient contacts.

That's the ONLY real way to land a tech job, or anything else. Don't let anyone tell you differently.
Click to expand...

The only real way to land a tech job are you sure? Is that how you landed your tech job I guess you are or have been a tech if your comfortable giving such a definitive and closed ended piece of advice. You seem to know the lay of the land so I wonder how many people you have helped into a tech job? You seem in the know and I'm always open to any inside information that can help prospective techs. When Im in the ER I get asked aout getting into the job all the time and try and have the most current information available. My only interest is to have the best people in the job possible people that can help provide the best patient care available.

I gave out some solid experienced based advice that I know for a fact is 100% reliable only to help the guy out and let him know that anythings possible. If I had a dollar for everytime I was told there was only one way to do something I could have quit working years ago. Would you please for those of that are techs share where you came up with that pathetic bit of advice you gave and how working BLS with an ambulance service is the ONLY real way to land a tech job. That's just wrong and you should be more careful on giving out advice on a subject you dont seem to know much about.
 
Maybe things are a little different in Vancouver, but in Western Washington you can not land a tech job as a fresh out of school EMT. Period. Of course, there's always the off chance that his Aunt or Uncle works in HR, but aside from that random happenstance, the only way in is with at least a year of BLS ambulance experience or "other patient contact experience". I'm guess that that OP has neither, so for him, a tech job is out of his qualifications. I don't understand why you're having such a hard time with this.

And while I wasn't a tech, I was offered two positions, one of which I declined due to paramedic school, the other was not flexible with my schedule. However, I meet the employment requirements. (and have possessed the requisite experience since 1990 or so...)

Sure, he can apply for any position he wants. There are a large number of EMTs competing for those jobs and most EDs will hire an EMT from a high speed BLS service (like Seattle AMR or South King TriMed) over a newbie.

I'm just trying to paint a realistic picture of what the job situation in western Washington is for new EMTs.
 
n7lxi is correct. I worked as an ED Tech for a few years and at that time I had 4 years of fast paced full time EMT experience under my belt and when I was interviewing for tech jobs almost every hospital told me that their practice was that they rarely would hire someone with no ER/hospital experience (i.e. EMT) unless they had a lot of pre-hospital experience and even then it was rare because they would have to put you through CNA, HCA, or NAC. I know of many people with no EMT experience who have applied for ED Tech jobs straight out of school and they won't hire you with no experience and no affiliation, that costs them $.
 
I would also try and go for paid emt jobs at concerts and sports venues along with amusement parks.It looks like I may have a job on a boardwalk at a seashore resort.
 
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