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EMS Interview Questions


BEorP

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I've been seeing this one question coming up more often over the past years.

Describe a situation when you have gone above and beyond your call of duty.

How would you answer this question? Even if you have some pretty nifty war story's, they're still a sense part of our job description. What "amazing" feat might you describe? Not everyone has run out of a burning building with a baby... I'm curious as to what interviewers are looking for.

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Well, it doesn't have to be something heroic. Above and beyond the call of duty could be showing up to fill a sudden gap in a schedule or holding over to cover a gap (by staying late, I don't mean for like a call. I would mean something like staying on for 6 hours and then showing up the next days shift on time).

Heck, last summer one of the backboards from the waterpark I worked at ended up half way across the county (kid had an open fracture and ended up being transfered to the local ped hospital. The kid ended up being transported on the back board for positional/pain reasons [not c-spine precaution], but they never told us. I ended up coming across it one day while working on the ambulance, and ended up taking the backboard home. It cost the ambulance company and me nothing (ok, less than a dollar because I took some time to wipe it down) since I was already there and I ended up bringing it to the park on my next shift. Heroic? Not really. Above the call of duty and helpful? Sure.

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For those of you that have interviewed...

How much weight do you give to good, though obviously well prepared answers?

Before I applied with AMR in CA as a basic I looked up all of the standard questions that others had mentioned here in threads past. I found amazing answers, certainly better than the answers I would have come up with if asked on the spot.

I know, because I was asked most of the questions I expected, but chose not to prepare with someone else's answers. And judging from the responses I received from the panel, ended up looking like a complete idiot because of it.

Normally I make every attempt to learn from history...but that is the same tact I plan to use next time. To prepare with proven answers simply feels dishonest to me.

I can see it both ways. Perhaps they see this as a lack of planning/preparation on my part when applying.

Or perhaps they see it as an attempt to be honest during the interview process.

What do those of you that have hired medics think?

Dwayne

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Tell us about yourself

Where do you see yourself in 5 years

What are your short term/long term goals

What do you know about us

Why did you apply to our department

What would you do if you got in an argument with your partner

What would you do if your partner did X wrong and wouldn't report it

What are your strengths and weaknessess

Tell us about your best/worst call

Any questions for us...

This has pretty much been the norm in what I've seen in recent interviews

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What do those of you that have hired medics think?

Well remember, you are the only one who knows that your answers are rehearsed. I know that we personally feel like others can tell -- just like young girls feel like everybody knows when they are menstruating -- but they can't. Sure, some people give short answers because they're regurgitating canned answers. But most people give short answers simply because they're not articulate conversationalists. Some people give long, explanatory answers because they are trying to BS the interviewer. But some give long, explanatory answers because they are speaking honestly and off the cuff. And there just aren't that many interviewers out there with the body language skills to reliably tell the difference. I think the overwhelming number of nimrods hired in our industry is proof of that.

It seems to me that a lot of people give answers to some questions that are neither a lie nor the truth. They just pop off the first thing that comes in their head, or what they think sounds good. A classic example is the common, "I just really want to help people" reply to the question of why they want to be in EMS. Puhleeze. If you give me that answer, you had better follow it up with either a Mother Theresa-esque benediction, or a long list of other factors that better express your true motivations. But I don't think most people are consciously being dishonest with that answer. They just aren't being introspective enough to know what they real answer is, or they're just parroting what they heard other people say. It's just like this "BLS before ALS" nonsense. People have a real tendency to repeat the bumper sticker slogans they hear simply because they are catchy and validate them personally, without ever giving a minute of intelligent thought as to whether or not it is valid.

I suppose if you are rehearsing your answers so thoroughly that you come across as scripted -- reciting your replies mechanically, as if from a teleprompter -- then yes, you may be coming across as dishonest, even though you truly believe in your answers. So obviously, presentation is extremely important. If you are confident in your answers, then perhaps you need to focus more on the body language of your presentation than on the answers themselves.

I don't really give points for being prepared for an interview (verbally) so much as I deduct points for not being prepared, if that makes any sense to you. In other words, I expect people to be prepared, so that is a baseline norm. It is only if you are at a complete loss for words that I start considering whether or not you were prepared. I like to hear answers that seem to come spontaneously, yet have obviously been considered in advance. That means, the questions I ask are all questions that you should have asked yourself before ever entering EMS, but not necessarily have rehearsed for recitation to somebody else. Consequently, the answers may come out as a spontaneous stream of consciousness, as you attempt to explain it, but you should not be stuck going "uhhh...." for two minutes before you even start to answer.

As much as I like to hear specific answers to my questions, I don't really have specific "right" answers that I am looking for. There are a wide range of replies that I can get to most of my questions that are acceptable and impressive. And I continue to hear new and unique answers everyday that exhibit new ways of thinking that are perfectly acceptable. It's more important to avoid those obviously "wrong" answers than it is to try and search for the perfect "right" answer. And, of course, to present those answers in an intelligent and articulate manner that at least appears honest.

Tough question, Dwayne! And I'm not sure I have adequately answered it here. But I hope I have at least given some insight to my thought processes as an interviewer. And I think my thought processes are relatively reflective of those of many of the major employers. But, of course, there are a lot of different types of people running EMS agencies. You've got your MBA types who do everything from a theoretical book, and you've got your high school dropout idiots running a lot of mom & pop privates, and you've got everything in-between. What impresses the MBA is likely to come off as presumptuous and threatening to the private guy. And it's not always easy to size up your interviewer and determine which kind he is. Consequently, I think your best approach is to ask yourself all of those questions, know your true, honest answers, articulate those in a very straightforward manner without rehearsal, and hope for the best.

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Wow Dust, thanks a million for that.

I will consider the answers before I apply again, but not use the canned answers I've found in the past. I somehow got it stuck in my head that there were the 'correct EMS answers', and was unwilling to parrot those answers, nor was I sure that I wanted to work for a company that placed value on those that would do so. I see now that I misunderstood the process.

I've found everything about working in the Springs (CO) to be inspiring. The medics are terribly smart (I've worked with, or around, perhaps 25 of them during my clinicals), very proud to be smart, committed to patient care, but even more so, committed to medicine.

I'm not sure if I'm the calibur of medic that they want here, but would like to do all that I can to work in this system. I just want to earn the right to do so without pretending to be something that I'm not. Know what I mean? (I'm still not sure if I would want to be a knife, fork or spoon, in fact.)

I can see now, from your post, that there is certainly a difference between preparing via asking myself the right questions and developing my own right answers, and being dishonest by researching the 'right' answers and then burping up what I've found.

Thanks so much for taking the time to explain it so thoroughly. You're a gift.

Dwayne

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I put a lot of importance on the interview process in EMS employment. And I do so because really, the interview process is quite analogous to the practice of medicine. Just like we despise those cookbook medics who practise without intelligent critical thinking, the same thing can be said of those who go through the motions in an interview without giving me any insight into their ability to think on their feet, reach educated conclusions, and articulate them in an intelligent manner. If you think about it, the interview is much, much more than a simple question and answer session. It is a test of your abilities to reason and communicate on the fly without a safety net of protocols or a written script.

But, because so many people do research and rehearse their interview responses, I long ago began changing my approach as an interviewer. Sure, I ask the same old half a dozen questions that everybody else asks. But I ask them in a different way, so that the applicant doesn't have the opportunity to respond with a canned answer. He is going to have to formulate his response spontaneously, even though he should already know the crux of his answer. This is what separates those who truly know and understand the answers from those who have just memorised the answers. Kind of like throwing essay questions at students who are used to only getting multiple choice questions. That also helps to weed out those who are simply articulate, but not critical thinkers.

Because of that, you should take that list of common interview questions and think of alternate ways of asking the same basic question. For example, instead of, "where do you see yourself in five years", you might be asked, "what are your plans after leaving this company?"

  • Good answer = "I don't currently have any plans to leave this company. I am looking for a career, not just another job."

Okay answer = "I need to further my education, and at some point I am going to need to devote full-time attention to that."

Bad answer = "This is just a stepping stone for me until I get into medical (or nursing) school."

Worse answer = "I'm gonna be a fireman!"

Worst answer = "Uhhh... I dunno."

  • In both scenarios, we are able to assess the applicant's attention to his future. But in the second scenario, we are able to do so in a way that doesn't allow him to give canned answers. That is one of the best ways we can tell the rehearsed answers from the honest answers.
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1. Have you ever seen a grown man naked ?

2. Are you a Homosexual ? Answer No, but we're willing to learn. (stripes)

3. Jesus H. ..... Did your moma have any children that lived? Ans. no Sgt. just me. (FMJ)

Give me a chance i'll come up with a few more ala movie questions LOL

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