Fire Fighting On...

I've been meaning to give an update about Jesse pursue of his Fire Fighter Career. We had heard that this would take a long time to get hired on somewhere, but it didn't sink in until now.

Right before the boys and I left for Oregon, Jesse tested with two departments; West Jordon (on Sat; Sept 8) and South Salt Lake (on Mon; Sept 10) . He got the results back from West Jordon within a few hours of finishing. They took the top 50 scores out of 188 who tested. Jesse was the SECOND highest score! When he told me I felt so proud of him.

The next test was the physical test. They announced that it was suppose to be the coming Wednesday the 12th. Jesse was feeling panicked because he had his permit to hike Mount St. Helens on the 11th. So he talked to the fire chief and explained his situation. Thankfully the Fire chief was very understanding and allowed Jesse to go Monday and take it.

But this too was making Jesse feel stressed out. He was scheduled to take the physical test with West Jordon at 1:30pm and also scheduled to take South Salt Lake's written test at 2:00pm. He was worried he wouldn't get done in time at West Jordon and make it to South Salt Lake.

Luckily he showed up early at WJ and they let him take it a little bit early. He got out of there around 1:40 and made it just in time at SSL. From what he told me, he was the last person that walked in. Phew.

The following week while we were relaxing in Oregon Jesse found out that his Oral Board Interview with WJ was on Monday the 17th. He felt relieved and blessed that it wasn't scheduled while we were out of town.

Monday he goes to his Oral Board and three guys each asked him a question where he had to answer, elaborate and make himself out to be the best (which he is). After the questions they told him they were filling two positions and that they would let him know if they want to further interview him. They were currently interview 16 guys for those 2 positions.

About a day later he received an email that they'd like him to come back Thursday for another Oral Board Interview. YEAH! We were feeling excited because this was the farthest he'd ever gone. So it was feeling promising.

Within few days Jesse received an email stating that he had be numbered on their hiring list and was #12. The list is good until March 2014.

I think every time Jesse gets to this point he gets a little discouraged. He wants the job now. I mean who wouldn't right? Test after test, interview after interview. It would seem that he should have a job by now right? Not yet. But that's OK. We are learning patience, long suffering and humility. The fact that he is number 12 out of 188 really is AWESOME!

It's fantastic that he's made it on Ogden's, Salt Lake, West Jordon and Unified's hiring list so far. Something is bound to come up soon. Maybe they'll all ask him to join at once and he'll get to choose any department he wants.

So today Jesse had his Oral Board Interview with SSL at 4:20pm. He called me afterwards while I was working to tell me how it went. I always like to hear what questions they asked him, the answers he gave and how he felt things went. Jesse felt good about it and so we just have to wait to see what happens. While in the mean time we hope and pray that he said and did everything that was needed.

Tomorrow Murray City is starting their testing for hire. The whole family is anxious about how this one is going to go. A really good family friend (Kevin Divine) to Mike and Heidi is Murray's retired Fire Chief. Kevin has been very helpful to Jesse to help him prepare for the Oral Board Tests ans so on. Kevin also has been saying that if Murray ever does a hire that Jesse will be in for sure because Kevin can have a very big pull or influence. We are finding out with this whole hiring process isn't about WHAT you know, it's about WHO you know.

Also a woman I work with mentioned to me that her boyfriend works for Murray city as well. She talked to him and he said that once Jesse takes the first test that Jesse can go talk to him. So I'm hoping that will help too.

Between Kevin and this other fire fighter (that I can't even think of his name) it should be a good push in the right direction. This will be the only fire department that Jesse will know someone from the inside. But granted one is retired and the other is a friend of a friend...So fingers and toes crossed and lots of prayers said.

So we wait. Again. Hurry up and Wait has felt like the theme to this whole process. I will further post his progress with SSL and also Murray. Until then. Good Luck Jesse.