I Think I'm Giving Up On My EMS Goals ( Kern County )

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SocraticMethod

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Succinctly, I'm a new emt as of early 2015. I live in Kern County, our dominant provider is HALL. I interviewed twice there, and didn't get hired. Furthermore, I've interviewed in surrounding counties, but no one wants to take a commuter for 12 hour shifts. It's amazing that Hall hires plenty of people who never plan to remain in EMS, let alone pursue licensure as a Paramedic. I just don't get it. Considering my objective features, 3 years into my BS in chemistry, articulate, fit, and inherently communicative, confident I just don't understand. I also have plenty of work experience. EMT positions are entry level, the practical skills and knowledge can be imparted on a teenager, and yet despite recommendations and assurances from EMS instructors, even my BLS teacher aggressively encouraged me to re apply. Either they have it as a matter of policy that they can't discuss, provide feedback post interview or they just don't care, because I'm at a loss. I'm sorry, but I need to decompress and vent a little. I even took almost a year off of school to maintain an open schedule beieving gettimg hired to be a sure thing. It's ridiculous that I have to abandon these modest goals, I wanted to enter into EMS because I strongly desire to. I have the grades to enter into post grad programs, or could even breeze my way through nursing school ( my friend makes 35 hr as a staff nurse with null experience, 3 times that of a Paramedic here ), or I can enter into the mundane realm of analysis and make 20 hourly doing that even though it would crush my soul. I just resent that I can't even bother to receive any insights from HR despite my formal, and polite requests. Alternatively, there's Delano Ambulance, the guys there are awesome, but they only run a few ambulances and getting hired seems improbable. I'm pretty bummed, I think I just have to accept and move on. Thanks for reading if you made it this far.
 
DEmedic said:
Or you can move somewhere else...
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Relocating isn't really an option at this point. And frankly, I shouldn't have to. The community I want to serve is right here, my home town. It would be utterly ridiculous for me to leave school, friends, family for an EMT wage elsewhere. I will likely still re apply in the future, its just incessantly confounding that I couldn't be accommodated despite being an ideal hire. I took to this subject matter, field passionately. What troubles me even more is that I have friends that currently work for, or had worked for Hall who were never career minded and just used the job as a stepping stone to better, more lucrative, endeavors. Basically offering the bare minimum in terms of effort. On well, its just difficult to remain positive all things considered. I might consider LA but I've heard protocols there suck, and if the experience provided isn't meaningful then its a waste of time.
 
DEmedic said:
Just reading your reply makes me understand why you probably weren't hired.

But, good luck in the future. I'm sure they'll eventually make that "ideal hire".

Smh. Entitlement has become a disease.
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That statement is completely ill reasoned and impolite. I'm clearly decompressing, and the fact of that matter is you don't know anything about me personally, my general demeanor, level of self awareness etc... Do you honestly think I went into any of those interviews with an attitude, without humility, lacking decorum ? If you had any sense, you would accept that a relocation is unreasonable. I would thank you for your sarcastic regards... I was hoping someone could relate, or at least provide some encouragement, reassurance. In light of my options, I want to be a Paramedic. I think about it, dream about, I get excited seeing rigs running code even after all this let down. Anyway. Edit- you wouldn't happen to be German would you? The DE I mean
 
You know Liberty runs 7-8 trucks out of 4 stations in the county, right? Have you tried applying? I believe there are at least part time EMT positions open and that's where they'll hire FT from.
Tulare county has several providers, most work 24s and 48s, and they hire frequently.
Also, don't get all snarky at DE, he tends to be pretty spot on. I relocated for work. He relocated for work. Numerous friends of mine in the field relocated for work. So no, it's not unreasonable.
 
LACoGurneyjockey said:
You know Liberty runs 7-8 trucks out of 4 stations in the county, right? Have you tried applying? I believe there are at least part time EMT positions open and that's where they'll hire FT from.
Tulare county has several providers, most work 24s and 48s, and they hire frequently.
Also, don't get all snarky at DE, he tends to be pretty spot on. I relocated for work. He relocated for work. Numerous friends of mine in the field relocated for work. So no, it's not unreasonable.
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As I understood it HALL has absorbed all other services absent Delano. As for relocating, considering the objective costs and measuring them gainst the benefits of employment, I'm left with almost nothing but costs. I'm applying in Tulare, I don't mind these commutes but they view it as somewhat of a risk and can source locally easily enough, especially for EMTs. Thanks for the reply though
 
Yeah when pretty much the only game in town (yes there are a couple others as pointed out above) has turned you down twice in a row, then relocating is no longer unreasonable, in fact quite the opposite if you're this bound and determined to do this line of work. Hall is under no obligation whatsoever to hire you, period. Perhaps you'll have better luck with Liberty or Delano. C'est la vie.
 
SocraticMethod said:
Relocating isn't really an option at this point. And frankly, I shouldn't have to. The community I want to serve is right here, my home town. It would be utterly ridiculous for me to leave school, friends, family for an EMT wage elsewhere. I will likely still re apply in the future, its just incessantly confounding that I couldn't be accommodated despite being an ideal hire. I took to this subject matter, field passionately. What troubles me even more is that I have friends that currently work for, or had worked for Hall who were never career minded and just used the job as a stepping stone to better, more lucrative, endeavors. Basically offering the bare minimum in terms of effort. On well, its just difficult to remain positive all things considered. I might consider LA but I've heard protocols there suck, and if the experience provided isn't meaningful then its a waste of time.
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Why shouldn't you have to? There are many people that relocated for their ideal EMS job.

But really, getting hired at a reasonably large ambulance company as an EMT is not that difficult. Step one is figuring out what they think an ideal hire is, as it is clear that whatever your impression of that is not correct.
 
Jim37F said:
Yeah when pretty much the only game in town (yes there are a couple others as pointed out above) has turned you down twice in a row, then relocating is no longer unreasonable, in fact quite the opposite if you're this bound and determined to do this line of work. Hall is under no obligation whatsoever to hire you, period. Perhaps you'll have better luck with Liberty or Delano. C'est la vie.
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A thoughtful reply, thank you. Obviously I understand, firmly, that I'm not entitled to a position with them. I somewhat resent the lack of feedback, other companies have at least been clear ( we'll take you if you get a new zip ) but good lord the fuel costs alone would ruin me although transferring to another state university wouldn't be too troublesome. I was able to infer the likely reason for not being hired initially, I was already wait listed for another program ( I applied simultaneously ) and didn't have an open schedule. I suspect my issue wasn't the interview at all, but likely my driving record ( 6 years removed from any incident, but its pretty exhaustive otherwise though mostly attributable to non moving violations ). I really don't understand why HALL doesn't interview similar to say, American. You're interviewed by actual Paramedics, against a panel, and they seem to have more competency checks ( although EMT foundations are pretty basic ). Anyway, despite my venting I will likely continue to search for employment in EMS.
 
Tigger said:
Why shouldn't you have to? There are many people that relocated for their ideal EMS job.

But really, getting hired at a reasonably large ambulance company as an EMT is not that difficult. Step one is figuring out what they think an ideal hire is, as it is clear that whatever your impression of that is not correct.
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Career minded, presentable, coherent and communicative, work experience, lift 70 pounds etc... They're pretty transparent. The next time I interview there I'm just going to premeditate all of the behavioral assessment answers. Again, it isn't clear what the dissuading factor was, but I will leave nothing to chance.
 
SocraticMethod said:
Again, it isn't clear what the dissuading factor was, but I will leave nothing to chance.
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Umm, I found your dissuading factor.

SocraticMethod said:
I was able to infer the likely reason for not being hired initially, I was already wait listed for another program ( I applied simultaneously ) and didn't have an open schedule. I suspect my issue wasn't the interview at all, but likely my driving record ( 6 years removed from any incident, but its pretty exhaustive otherwise though mostly attributable to non moving violations ).
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Unless you're being offered part time employment, which Hall does not, no one wants to deal with an EMT who cannot commit their time to the company. Your priority is clearly with your other time commitments, and not with your future employer. There's plenty of EMTs available who want to do the job, are qualified, and have an open schedule.
 
LACoGurneyjockey said:
Umm, I found your dissuading factor.



Unless you're being offered part time employment, which Hall does not, no one wants to deal with an EMT who cannot commit their time to the company. Your priority is clearly with your other time commitments, and not with your future employer. There's plenty of EMTs available who want to do the job, are qualified, and have an open schedule.
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Jesus some of you guys are rude. I said my FIRST interview, pre certification. I applied to the academy, and was also registered for a program through a local college. I was forthcoming about this during the interview. You dont need to reiterate something I already understand, or did you miss the point where I mentioned freeing up my schedule post cert?Furthermore, you've decided no such factor. In fact, lets appeal to formal logic. Please, plainly assert your conclusion and substantiate it. Let's determine what does, or does not follow necessarily. You're being presumptive, but I thank you for your reply regardless.
 
SocraticMethod said:
but good lord the fuel costs alone would ruin me
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Fuel costs to drive from Kern Co to Tulare Co are going to ruin you? From what I've read it sounds like you live in the Bakersfield area. I worked in Tulare Co last year and commuted from the Coachella Valley (299 miles). If thats what you're doing then yes fuel costs would kill you. It takes all of a hour to get from Bakersfield to Porterville and a hour and a half from Bakersfield to Visalia if you're woking 24's and 48's how is fuel going to kill you?

From what I've seen you should look in other states, if you're not willing to branch out to other places then best of luck applying and reapplying to Hall. Also just some friendly advice, you have this self entitlement persona in your typing that I would consider ditching real quick on here. No one owes you anything and Hall doesn't need to hire you. Like others have stated Tulare, Fresno, San Luis Obispo, and Monterey counties are relatively close to Kern, I'd give those a look at.
 
Listen/read the comments given. You can always apply for amr in AV. But you do type like you have something owed to you. Like they are required to hire you. There is a mcdonalds in every town. It doesn't mean that the guy who has a passion for burgers and long time residency in that town is some what a guarantee of a job at that establishment. Good luck to you.
 
SocraticMethod said:
Career minded, presentable, coherent and communicative, work experience, lift 70 pounds etc... They're pretty transparent. The next time I interview there I'm just going to premeditate all of the behavioral assessment answers. Again, it isn't clear what the dissuading factor was, but I will leave nothing to chance.
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Clearly it is not transparent or you would be employed. It does not matter if that's what you think you are. If you cannot convey that, you don't get a job.
 
OP, I'd be curious to know:
1) What do you think about the people who have posted in this thread?
2) What do you think they think about you?
3) Why do you suppose I would ask these questions?
 
An EMT cert verifies that you have the knowledge base to do the job, the rest is interpersonal and determining if you are a good "fit". Most people try to rationalize their own value based on what they know (or think they know) rather than how likable they come across.
The position of an EMT is mostly interpersonal skills and an ability to drive smoothly with some need for basic clinical understanding. As a paramedic, I would rather have an EMT with basic competency but a great attitude and the ability to follow my lead than the top student from class who will invariably want to debate tx decisions at inappropriate times.
I have gone back and read several of your past postings and (take it as constructive criticism) you come across as a know-it-all despite having a relatively rocky start in this field. Your choice of words are not appropriate for patient care and you readily debate those who try and offer you advice... And "that guy" is just a pain in the *** to work with.
 
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