Your First Job

[smoothdemon]

So I have been looking for a job for almost a month... and no luck yet. It's not like I have been straight up rejected, I haven't even had an interview.

How long did it take for you to get your first job right after certification, and was it 911 or transport?

 

[JPINFV]

Technically, probably something around 4-5 months, but within a month of starting a job search (waited till summer break during my undergrad). It was a transport gig, but the 911 jobs themselves leave a bit to be desired for around here anyways (Southern California = fire based EMS with basics from private companies providing transport. Truely a screwed up system). Besides, I got paid better and got to work pretty much the shifts that I wanted to. I wasn't able to work a full time schedule with 24 hour shifts like most of the places would have wanted for 911 work anyways.

 

[Emt /b/]

It took me less than a month to find my first and current job. As a BLS unit in the company, you do a lot of transfers and you do back up 911 when the medics go out.

 

[John E]

Have you tried...

the medical/health jobs listings on the L.A. Craigslist?

There's usually at least one EMT job per day listed there. For private companies looking for EMT-1's and EMT-Drivers for transport work.

If you want to work 911, you'll have to go to either McCormick, AMR, or Care. I can't think of any other private companies doing 911 calls in the Los Angeles area.

There's a relatively new private company right in North Hollywood called FirstMed, they're on Lankershim and they've been looking for EMT's for several months now.

When you write " I haven't even had an interview..." does that mean that you've applied and not heard anything or that you haven't even applied anywhere?

I've been asked to come in for an interview with every company I've been in contact with in the L.A. area. Don't know why you should be having these sorts of problems. Are you certified to work in L.A. county?

John E.

 

[smoothdemon]

I am certified in LA county, I started out looking on craigslist and applied to alomst every post I saw. Out of 8 applications, I got one call back to interview for a position in Santa Fe Springs which is really far from North Hollywood.

I spoke to some EMT's for advice and they said for 911 I can go with McCormick, Care, Schaefer, and AMR... I applied to all 4. From what i hear McCormick would be the best for my area.

I actually called AMR today and the HR lady said I shuold go to the Irwindale office and test.. so maybe i need to test before i interview...

I am keeping my fingers crossed that something happens soon, I feel like the longer I go between getting my certs and not having a job, the more skills I am going to forget... (PS i will check out the company you mentioned in the previous post)

 

[super_chris]

I am certified in LA county, I started out looking on craigslist and applied to alomst every post I saw. Out of 8 applications, I got one call back to interview for a position in Santa Fe Springs which is really far from North Hollywood.

I spoke to some EMT's for advice and they said for 911 I can go with McCormick, Care, Schaefer, and AMR... I applied to all 4. From what i hear McCormick would be the best for my area.

I actually called AMR today and the HR lady said I shuold go to the Irwindale office and test.. so maybe i need to test before i interview...

I am keeping my fingers crossed that something happens soon, I feel like the longer I go between getting my certs and not having a job, the more skills I am going to forget... (PS i will check out the company you mentioned in the previous post)

I just got hired with AMR. I haven't even started yet. But here's what I did. I got my EMT-1, got my ambulance cert, got my county card, then bought a tie. I dressed up, went into their office in Rancho Cucamunga and applied. Took their multiple choice test. Then I called the HR department three times a week, to show them I wanted it and to bug them. I applied in early September and didn't get a call until November. I didn't get confirmation that they actually wanted me until a few days ago.

The test isn't that hard. It's similar to NREMT(easier I thought), mostly situations "this happened, what do you do? A,B,C,D?".

If you get an interview, wear a suit and be confident.

 

[smoothdemon]

cool, thanks for the advice, I will follow up with them.

 

[smoothdemon]

So I have a new dilemma... Tomorrow I have an interview with McCormick in the morning, and AMR later in the afternoon. The trouble I am having, is deciding which company to choose if I do well in both application/ interview processes..

I have spoken to a few EMT's and it seems there are good and bad things about both companies - see below...

AMR
Pros - big company, decent pay and benefits, schedule flexibility, in-company educational training, station locations near my home.
Cons - date from interview to hire can be realllllly long, not as involved with 911 calls in Los Angeles, equipment not as new and fancy as McCormicks.

McCormick
Pros - date from interview to hire can be as quick as 1-2 weeks, very involved with 911 calls in Los Angeles, equipment is very new and top notch
Cons - mom and pop'ness of the company doesn't allow for much growth or schedule flexibilty unless they really like you, low pay, 1 station near my home, the rest are a good 45-60 mins away

opinions, comments, advice??? much appreciated

 

[super_chris]

Well what's your goal? To get your medic and do fire? If it is, I'd go with AMR. Get a ton of hours, get into their paramedic program and then quit as soon as you get picked up by a department. That's what I'm gonna do.

I've never even seen a McCormick rig or talked to any of their employees, so I can't judge them.

 

[smoothdemon]

My goal is to get EMT experience then become a paramedic and work for a ambulance company for a year or so and then go to PA school with a lot of experience under my belt.

 

[JPINFV]

Why not just go to PA school then? You'd save a lot of time, money, and stress before that.

The following was originally posted on the EMS forum at studentdoctor.net. Since most PA programs are post bach programs now (most granting masters degrees), I do believe that this is appropraite. Just replace "MD" and medical school" with "PA-C" and "PA school" as appropriate.

This post is directed at the original poster, but applies to traditional undergrads as well. Anyway,
I'm assuming you're an EMT-B already, since that is usually a mandatory pre-requisite to becoming a paramedic (though this might be different in other states). Great, you got a head start on your med school hopeful peers, you don't really know too much as an EMT-B so you still have a healthy appreciation that you don't know very much about medicine. Believe it or not this is a wonderful place to be. I strongly advise you to stop right there (at EMT-B) and devote yourself entirely to becoming a physician.

Here's why:
EMS is a bit of a trap, you can get all caught up in it, because you are enjoying what you are doing, helping others, taking care of emergencies, etc. It's a good high when things go really right. Then you meet a paramedic, and think to yourself: boy can this guy take care of business, I'd really love to be able to do all that great stuff too! But there is really not that much to being a paramedic. Unfortunately nobody really tells you this. IN your world, all these new skills are exciting and impressive, So then things start to take a turn in your life. Let me tell you a little about what I mean:

Paramedics are funny people, they are experts in a very, very, narrow slice of medicine. In fact, when it comes down to the business of prehospital emergency care, nobody does it like a medic. WOW, I think I want to do this medic thing, I'm going to go for it, atleast for now, until I go to med school next year. BUT, you can easily get all caught up in the ALS pre-hospital care scene. Because you are doing life saving interventions you may feel like you fast forwarded yourself to "doctor" or at least the preconceived notion you had of doctors before you ever got involved in medicine. So anyway, there you'll be doing all these great skills, and soon you'll start to think that gee-whiz look at all the great things that I can do as a medic (ha! nurses my ***, they can't do this stuff!). Heck, all that other stuff in medicine really is not as important as this stuff I'm doing right now (IVs, intubation and pacing oh my!), and that's when you start to make a very big mistake. All of a sudden you really stop caring about all the other things that medicine has to offer, so you stop learning about anything that doesn't have anything to do with the "important stuff". Now depending on how long this lasts you can piss away 4,5,6 years doing EMS work and be totally satisfied. But then something happens, it can be some job that went bad on you or you come across something you've never been prepared to deal with, or any other number of things that cause you to become reflective about yourself as a professional. So then you start to read again and you once again rediscover that there is a whole world of medical knowledge out there you weren't aware of as a medic. So now you're studying again and learning about the things you didn't know, but you are never able to do it in any coherent way. The sheer volume of the material is intimidating and you have no real way of knowing if you are making any progress. Plus you are surrounded by your peers, fellow paramedic professionals who tell you things like who the heck cares about temporal arteritis, that's not important and what the heck is so important about this pancreatic psuedocyst you speak of??? So now you start to get frustrated, and you look around at the people around you who are very content with being medics and knowing what medics know, and incorrectly equating their skill proficiency with medical knowledge. But not you. You start to remember that you wanted to be a doctor, and you look back and say, how the fcuk did I get here, this isn't what I wanted for myself professionally or personally. This whole medic thing was supposed to be a stepping stone to becoming a physician. You become, really frustrated, pissed off, burnt out and then to add insult to injury you start to realize that you are wildly underpaid for the work you are doing. Nurses don't have to put up with 1/2 the crap that I do and they get paid 3 times as much, plus I know a hell of alot more! That's the last straw, F-this you say, I'm going back to school. Only now you are well into your mid- late 20's, (in your case, mid-late 30's) maybe you got a mortgage, a big monthly car payment, who knows maybe a wife and kids in private school, your Golden Opportunity to become a physician is now well past you. You now must suffer in new and interesting ways to get to where you wanted to be in the first place. So sacrifices and painful choices are made and finally 7-8 years later you are back on track for the MD, older, a little more worn out, less enthusiastic, but hopefully a little wiser. Maybe.

So the question is, are you absolutely, positively sure that being a medic is what you want? Think long and hard about this, this is your life afterall. That being said, you gotta do what you gotta do, if you are supporting your whole family or you are on your own out there I can understand. But think about this seriously think about this. This is a long post, but I did not make all of this stuff up, I speak to you from my experience. There are alot of other things I can go into, all sorts of crazy stuff that you'll be banging your head against, but I think I'd be writing for days and days. Anyway best of luck, you can always drop me a PM if you have any specific questions.

http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showthread.php?t=480043

 

[firetender]

My goal is to get EMT experience then become a paramedic and work for a ambulance company for a year or so and then go to PA school with a lot of experience under my belt.

If that's the case, then you know the answer. You can have fancy equipment and still get no experience. If your concern is about commute time then you'll be close to home, period. Go where the calls are. Everything else is irrelevant.

If there is a trap in going for experience as you move toward becoming a PA it would only be of your own making. It's fair to set time limits, like 1 year EMT, Paramedic school, and then as long in the field as you need until you find a PA school you really want to attend.

The name of the game is to use each phase as a clear stepping-stone to the next. Keep to your battle plan. Economics WILL play an integral role in this, so make sure the jobs you DO get will allow you enough leeway to prepare for the next phase. Perhaps the biggest trap of all is getting stuck in a financial hole.

And YES, I heartily applaud your desire to get experience under your belt as you go!

 

[smoothdemon]

wow - JPINFV thanks for that post... it's true my original plan didn't include paramedic until i got all into the EMT thing. listening to everybody talk and watching the medics do their things really made me want to be part of it too... and i figured, what could the extra experience hurt. But if i really think about it, becoming a paramedic after EMT would be a good year or more detour from my original goal. i Do still need to be an EMT for about a year to fulfill patient contact hour requirements, and finish up some classes at the community college.

and yes firetender its true i need to stick to my plan and focus when making decisions, its too easy to get caught up in choices and then regret them in the future... thanks again for your replies

 

[JPINFV]

Just to clarify since I left this more vague than I wanted to. What I quoted above is not a work of myown, therefore I claim no credit for the post itself. I'm just passing it on.

 

[firecoins]

Why not just go to PA school then? You'd save a lot of time, money, and stress before that.

The following was originally posted on the EMS forum at studentdoctor.net. Since most PA programs are post bach programs now (most granting masters degrees), I do believe that this is appropraite. Just replace "MD" and medical school" with "PA-C" and "PA school" as appropriate.



http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showthread.php?t=480043

I take issue with this. Many medics have gone to become doctors and PAs. In fact, they have a major headstart.

Many PA schools require experience. The PA profession was origianlly designed for the military medic with alot of training but no civilian certification. I disagree with many PA schools that have gone away from this historical requirement. Medics, RNs and even just EMT-Bs get alot out of the rotations because they are not spending time learning to take vital signs.

It is true that as life goes on more roadblocks get in they way. I have known many medics go on to become MDs. I know 2 EMT-Bs who became MDs, 2 medics who are in Medical School both in their mid 20s, 1 EMT-B to chiropractor, 1 EMT-B to PA in her mid 20's, 4 medics to cops (in their late 20's), 1 FDNY FF to medic (prompted by 9/11 with 2 kids), 2 medics to RNs (both starting families), an RN to cop etc etc etc. Career changes happen alot. Some are done with spouse and children. I went from office manager to medic student with plans to become a PA. I want to have both the PA and medic so I can work full time as a PA and per diem as a medic. Need to train in both. You do what you got to do.

 

[JPINFV]

I think you're either misreading the quote a bit. It's one thing to go from EMT-P to physician due to a career change. It's a completely different thing to look at EMS as a springboard in and of itself and say, "Ok, I want to be an EMT-B then an EMT-P, and finally go to medical school and use the others as a spring board." It is THAT type of student that will get side tracted from their original goal of being a physician. Considering that you're looking at 11-12 years to go from high school grad to board certified emergency physician (4 years undergrad, 4 years medical school, 3-4 years of residency training), most people aren't going to want to spend extra time playing around with other healthcare positions.

I take issue with this. Many medics have gone to become doctors and PAs. In fact, they have a major headstart.

So, which courses and/or rotations did being a medic allow them to test out of? Unless, say, they're experience allowed them to test out of biochem and still get a good step 1 score, I'd say that the head start isn't really anything to write home about.

 

[milhouse]

my first job on the ambulance well i havent officially been givent the job yet because i have to wait for my driving record check with there insurance company first, but that wont be a problem or atleast shouldnt be a problem.

anyways the company im getting on with is AET (AR emergency transport) they're main base is located in Jacksonville AR which is down towards little rock. now they have 3 other bases and those are; Melbourne calico rock, and horseshoe bend. im looking forward to being able to work on the ambulance finally.

now the same day i got my state card in the mail which was sat. (1-25-08) i went out and got the job so i think i was lucky and had a great turn-around. now i took my NREMT exam on jan 16th