GMFRS Unconditional Offer 2021

August 9, 2021

It feels a bit surreal that I am actually writing this but today I received my unconditional offer for GMFRS. It has been a very long 15+ months since signing up to the expression of interest last year. Due to Covid the process has felt very long and drawn out but we got there in the end. Although my first time applying it hasn't taken away from the fact that this was a very long process and there are many hoops you need to jump through in order to get the job.

Back in college I studied uniformed public services and like many others always had the vision of becoming a firefighter. I worked for a funeral company for many years dealing with deceased and bereavement before deciding to go travelling for 8 months. This then lead to me working in both Australia and New Zealand and getting into the construction industry for a further 3 years. On returning home due to Covid 19 I began looking into the career I had always wanted to pursue and seen that GMFRS were recruiting, I was always planning on moving to Manchester regardless due to my girlfriends job so I figured why not go for it.

As the process went on and I was gaining momentum and passing each stage I had got to the NFST day. It was at this point I found the forum. I was doing so much background research about the service and selection process that I came across it in a google search. I couldn't quite believe it, the information I found and the advice and details about the selection process were a massive advantage. The forum helped me so much so a massive thank you to Carl, the moderators and the individuals I personally direct messaged who helped answer my questions and ensure I was fully prepared for the interview stage.

As the majority of us I was most concerned about the interview stage, Up until this point I had done everything I could to be fully prepared at each stage examples of this would be practicing the bleep test time and time again, ordering GCSE maths and english books to revise and paying for situational judgement practice tests. This wasn't going to stop prior to the interview so I therefore took days off of work leading up to it, recorded my answers to memorise them, researched far and wide all about GMFRS and kept practicing leading up to the day. It was a very long 10 weeks waiting for the email to tell me I had passed. I then had the medical, uniform fitting, math and english initial assessments days and references to contend with along with a DBS check. All worth it though as I will be starting on the 6th September.

Thanks to everyone on here, feel free to reach out to me and I will happily help others and give advice just as I was. 👍