Greater Manchester Unconditional Offer May 21

[Toffer]

So I am finally able to write that I have received an unconditional offer for the May course, for Greater Manchester fire and rescue service! It feels like it has taken an age and now it is less than three weeks away, to say the recruitment process is a rollercoaster is an understatement! 

My journey started many years ago when I applied for West Yorkshire fire service. That was just before the government cuts so 2010ish. I made it through to the interview first time, my only issue being my childhood asthma. I was sent to a private hospital in Leeds for further tests which I passed so could carry on with the recruitment. So got to the interview and speaking to my FF brother-in-law he said 'its just a formality you don't need to worry'! So I didn't really prepare and boy did I fail. I hate interviews at the best of times but that was awful! It was only two interviewees sat across the table from me but I just didn't have the examples and my mind went blank after pretty much every question!

So that was that, failed and all recruitment was put on hold due to budget cuts. I thought oh well and carried on with my life. Fast forward to a few years ago and West Yorkshire were recruiting again. This time you had to complete the Apollo online behavioural tests first, I did these and failed, I was no where near the pass rate!

Then GMFRS started recruitment in I think it was 2019.  Firstly the craziness of trying to get a place on a taster session. Without this you couldn't apply. Got onto one of those and so could then apply. This time a more standard application form which I thankfully passed. Then it was the Maths and English tests and bleep test. I was worried about the Maths as it is probably my weakest area. So to prep I bought a functional skills revision guide online and went through that a few times. 

Next was the fitness tests. These were setup around the yard, and you were kept in the engine house until you were called for a test in a group of 2 or 3. No walking on the yard, face the wall while others were having there go, if you didn't listen properly you knew about it, all good stuff! I passed this so next up was the assessment centre/ interview.

So the dreaded interview, I was not looking forward to this after my last attempt at West Yorkshire but this time I prepared more. I found this forum, I spoke to @Andy1 I believe when I went to visit Little borough station and got some valuable knowledge off him and I also signed up for the how2become practice questions and answers. I prepared as best I could and had quite a few examples and wrote bullets points up on note cards to help me if I got stuck. So on the assessment day firstly we had a group exercise, which I felt went well and then onto 4 pods of interview questions. There were two interviewees in each pod, and I felt like I bonded better with some than others. Overall I wasn't sure how I did. In the end I also failed this assessment centre. We received feedback and I scored well in the group task but not great in the interview. 

So obviously I was a bit down after this but thought as I got so far I may as well try again. In the mean time West Yorkshire opened recruitment again and again I failed the Apollo online tests!

So Manchester started recruitment again but opened it so that any people that failed at fitness tests or interview could skip most of it and just do that. We did have to an online test though! After my couple of failed attempts with West Yorkshire's online tests I wasn't hopeful but I sailed through Manchester's. So then Covid really took hold and Manchester put recruitment on pause. When they did reopen they decided to just run the interviews and over zoom. This time I really prepared some strong examples, I only chose a few and really went into detail on my preparation making sure I followed the star approach. I also downloaded the interview book from FRS development. This really helped me develop my answers. I think this and the fact I could do it from home so maybe wasn't as nervous helped me pass this round. 

After that there was a mad rush as they had a course to fill in January of this year, I didn't get on that course so then there was the waiting game until February to hear back from them. Since then I have had the medical, uniform fitting, DBS check, reference check and they also added in a voluntary bleep test to see how our fitness had been affected over lockdown. So that is my journey, thanks for reading if you got this far!! 

[Youngnis4]

Really pleased for you mate, a rollercoaster of an experience but all made worth while with your end result.

[Carl]

Well done @Toffer, I guess I may see you soon.

I take it you are no longer taking advice from your brother in law when it comes to the job?

[Andy1]

@Toffer great news mate. Well done. Yes that was me at Littleborough that day. There is a lot of hurdles in the recruitment process but so worth it! Enjoy training school and may see you towards the end of the year! 

[JuanFran]

Well done @Toffer. You showed amazing attitude and strength to achieve this. There will be great times and challenging times ahead in training school and on Station. Maintain the attitude you have and you won't go wrong. 

[Noddy]

Massive congrats mate