Prep/Out of school advice

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agarcia4918

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Hello,
My name is Andrew Garcia and I am recently brand new to this forum. I would like to get advice if I may. I am going to school for EMT-B in Fall '13, I have scheduled to get my CPR cert which is required for the course, and plan on heading down to DMV to pick up the CA Ambulance Drivers Manual. I would like to know what else I should do before school, during and after. I putting quite a bit of money into this, and I want it pay off.

There are a couple companies that I would like to get hired by that I have in mind already. What is a good way to make sure to get hired by these companies and what advice do you guys have about getting hired?
The two companies that I have in my are AMR and Mission. Do you guys have any information about these companies?

Thank You.
 
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JMorin95

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Make yourself more hireable by taking an anatomy and physiology course along with a basic pharmacology course.
Make sure to take the national registry exam and get as much ride time during your course as you possibly can.
 
medic417

medic417

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In Cali you are competing with a million other new and experienced emts for any job out there. You will get low pay, lousy benefits if you are even able to land a job. Sorry Cali is just not a good job market. Honestly you might do better by buying lottery tickets than getting emt there.
 
BASICallyEMT

BASICallyEMT

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hired

He is right that there are many of EMTs hitting the job market in CA. But, there are is also an abundance of companies you are eligible to work for once you do receive your EMT-1. You may have to travel out of your area so having reliable transportation is a must. I landed a job within my first month of looking and others have waited a lot longer.
As for AMR, I did my field clinicals with them but never applied after that. I was invited to the hiring process for Mission but I never attended. You start with the written test and you are told that the Riverside protocols is the portion most fail. Once you pass the exam you move on to the physical agility test/scenarios. Keep in mind that 80 other people were sent the same invite for my testing dates. Just don't be discouraged if you can't land a job right away.
 
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Handsome Robb

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JMorin95 said:
Make yourself more hireable by taking an anatomy and physiology course along with a basic pharmacology course.
Make sure to take the national registry exam and get as much ride time during your course as you possibly can.
Click to expand...

While good advice, they aren't going to look at individual college classes. A degree absolutely will help and extra education will never hurt but a few extra classes aren't going to make you stand out above the other applicants. With that said, A&P and Pharm should be mandatory IMO, so if you can take them, do it.

My biggest advice for EMS jobs is networking. Treat your ridealongs as an interview and use the opportunity to meet people, gain contacts and "plant the seed".

The FEMA NIMS/ICS classes ( 100, 200, 700 and some like 800 as well) are usually going to be required immediately after being hired by many agencies so you might as well get them out of the way. They are free and online, not exciting but many applicants will already have them so it's worth doing before getting a job.

Good luck!
 
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Tigger

Tigger

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If you are able to, you might try approaching companies with an open schedule and be willing to work a varied schedule. Companies really prize people with flexible schedules that can fill holes on short notice.
 
D

DesertMedic66

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AMR is 911 calls with IFTs mixed in (some areas more then others). AMR runs Basic/Basic for BLS units (normally don't respond to 911 calls unless you are in a certain area). Paramedic/basic for 911 ambulances and sometimes paramedic/paramedic.

Mission is a BLS/CCT company. They do the discharges home and dialysis transports. They also do neonatal transports with a nursing/doctor team on board. Mission runs Basic/Basic. Their rigs normally look pretty clean (in my area). Not sure what their pay is but I've heard in the $9/hr range. They are based out of corona if I'm not mistaken but have "satellite" stations in other areas.

I don't know where in Cali you are so I can't really give you any more in depth info. Also what college are you taking the class at? Each college is different. Some colleges have a CPR class built into the teaching.

I would wait off on the CA ambulance certificate until after class is over. It's an easy test but does set you back about ~$100 (background check and the cost of the test).

As far as getting hired in Cali that is where it can be tough. There are a lot of EMTs that have applications turned in and are just waiting. There is not much to due to make yourself look better for an EMT position. One of the major things that will help is if you have a clean driving record.
 
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