SA Firefighter

No nothing to indicate where I may be posted. I didn't put down for Mt Gambier or Pt Pirie in my application.

Quote from: Thor on August 09, 2011, 12:45:35 PM
Well done congratulations!!!!! Nothin 4 me yet. Did it come by courier??

Yeah, ring of the doorbell and spookily no one there when answered ..... Just the envelope lying on the floor in front of the door.

A pack of paperwork arrived at my house by Express Post about half an hour ago. In it, among lots of other stuff, is a letter hand signed by the Chief Fire Officer congratulating me & offering me a place on the recruit course starting 12th September. Champagne in the fridge and off out to celebrate tonight! :-D :-D :-D

Sorry been away from the computer, still no word, no letter.  Been contacted by recruitment this week as they're chasing a reference up from the UK.  Given it a helpful push and hope SAMFS will have a copy sometime tomorrow.  Looks like it wont be this week but heading out for a celebratory meal tomorrow night just to toast on getting this far.

Quote from: triple j on July 25, 2011, 10:43:17 AM
Tammey.. Have they contacted your references yet?

Yes, they did it straight after the PAT 2.

Quote from: triple j on July 25, 2011, 04:43:59 PM
Thor...did you receive a letter in the post or an email?? And was it from the MFS or the police? Did you get one Tammey?

Yeah, same as Thor - Letter in post from MFS.

Quote from: triple j on July 24, 2011, 10:13:59 PM
Do you think they would contact the reserves referees or only the top 18? Tammey.. how many on that list do you think had question marks next to them?

There was one maybe two but i don't know what this means, whether someone didnt make the PAT2 or someone just couldnt make the uniform fit that day or it could mean the store didnt have their size?????  Sorry i can't be more help.

Thanks Thor.  Well done to you too.
I spoke to the Doc about a time frame and he didn't have any information.  I read earlier on the forum that it could be early Aug.  I can't imagine it will be long as they only had the 18 + 4 reserves to go through and all testing is now complete.  They have to give people enough time to give the required notice to their current employers.

SORRY SORRY!

Its me I'm back, my computer was down and I've been dying from a chest infection.  First let me give you the good news.....Thor you're not alone!  I passed my Pat 2 and the medical.  Just waiting for the official letter now.

I was worried about the Pat2 as the chest infection was leaving me with the energy levels and speed of a snail!  The doc gave me some pretty extreme medication to try and keep my lungs clear and i still have no idea how i managed to pass!  During the tower climb i felt i had nothing left but i was determined not to give up, i hadn't come all this way and put in all this work to let a chest infection beat me.  My previous experience got me thorough as the majority of the tests I had already done.  It was annoying though as I knew on any other day I wouldn't have had a problem with it.
The respiratory test was interesting as i had to keep repeating certain parts as my coughing kept throwing the results out.
At least now I've got time to get over it before the course!

When i was being fitted for the uniform i had a look at the sheet with the names on it, just to see if any other females had made it through.  I noticed one or two names had question marks by them, don't know if this means anything, whether this means they failed or not?
Sorry to hear about those that didn't make it this intake, good luck for next time.  Fingers crossed for all those that got the 'Keep Fit' letters.

Quote from: Ferret on July 01, 2011, 02:55:11 PM

yeah referees will be after pat2 and medical

I have no idea personally, I'm not aware that they have. Ferret is more informed than me so I'm going with what he said.

I'm fairly convinced that it's only the 20 (18 + 2 reserves) who are earmarked for the first training course who are being invited to the PAT 2 and uniform fitting. My understanding is that it is a pass or fail and you are not in direct competition with everyone else. My information is that when they are ready to run the next course they will PAT2 test the next 20.
It would seem silly at this stage to uniform fit those that have not been allocated a place on the course. This is only my opinion but it is based on information received which I have no reason to disbelieve. As always though I stand to be corrected.  

Quote from: Thor on July 05, 2011, 04:48:41 PM
Yeah I got a yes for Thursday 14th. Surely it wouldn't take all week to pat2 20 of us???

Great news mate, mines at 2.30pm, what times yours?  I can't see it taking more than 2 days to pat2 test 20 of us.

Thanks Ferret I will probably have to make a call to clarify for certain.  When i joined the fire brigade in the UK around 7-8 years ago we did a step test as part of the recruitment. The letter said 'The examination will take approximately 30 mins' and I assumed it wouldnt take 30mins to blow into a tube! What did you have to do when you joined?

Quote from: Thor on July 05, 2011, 04:30:31 PM
So have I got this right? Yr saying that today's yes results r for the first squad?? If so how reliable is this info? Worth asking Mara?

Definitely, this is only my opinion and from the impression i got from speaking to Mara earlier.  Fingers crossed though that this is the case and theres still some good news to come.

In the letter it states theres a 'Respiratory Test' and they've allocated 30mins for it, just from experience is sounds like a step test- theres a box you have to step up on in time with beeps on a tape, you wear a heart rate monitor, the beeps get closer together as the levels increase. They record your heart rate at each level.  I'm not 100% sure if this is the test but this is what it sounds like.  Please no one hold me to this it's just an educated guess really.  If it was just a spirometry test (thats the one you blow into a tube and they measure your lung capacity) they wouldnt need 30mins.

BT085 - yes it was my first attempt, however, prior to leaving the UK 14 months ago i was a full time operational firefighter and had been for 6 1/2 years.  I'm 31.  Don't throw in the towel yet, my opinion is the emails today are only referring to those that have been allocated a place on the 1st training course.

Quote from: gasman on July 05, 2011, 03:31:44 PM
well done, what number did you get ranked at?

No ranking given, even at the interview I asked if we would find out where we were ranked and they said no. It's just an invite to the PAT 2 & uniform fit-out, medical, step-test - 3 different dates.

Ok guys they're out, after a quick look followed by two laps of the living room, i've calmed down enough to post the news.  Any news for anyone else???

I know how you feel mate, i feel physically sick checking my emails every 5 mins.  My life is on hold for the next 2 hrs where i will be no more then 5 metres away from my computer!  My thoughts are racing in regard to the conversation I had with Mara, did she not say anything specific about whether the 'Yes' emails had already come out because she was just being kind or didnt want me to crumble at the other end of the phone?????
She wasn't giving anything away apart from the 'Yes' emails are coming out today, that could mean they are still to come out......don't know for certain either way. Sorry

Hi guys,
Just spoken to Mara at HR as I needed to find out what was going on so I could work out work commitments. She said the 'Yes' e-mails were coming out today but didn't specify whether they were already out or still to come. Panicking a bit now but I guess we'll have our answer by end of play today. No news really won't be good news!

Good luck everyone.

Nope! Checking my emails on an hourly basis and nothing yet, thought we would of heard something by now as well as it doesn't leave much time before the next stage.

Tammy- I also had mine on thursday 115pm and considering my last name starts with a T and I know a couple of guys who before me, I assume the last day of testing was friday. Early july they said we would get notified by email. I also thought I went "ok" however, the hour was really a blur of information that I "spat" out at them.. I gave heaps of examples and would have shown I know a lot, whether I answered the questions or not....?? It was very easy to ramble on- do u agree tammy and did u use the whole hour?  It was more like a speech I felt, but who knows what they are looking for! Good luck to all, let me know if you hear anything.
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I can't believe how much i rambled on, when they asked was there anything more i would like to add I looked at the clock and realised i only had 9 mins left of the hour so I thought better call it a day.  I too felt like i gave lots of examples and answers and they spent all their time looking down and writing, i found it a bit daunting that they didnt really say anything through the whole hour.  Nothing i can do now but wait, good luck mate.

Hello, sorry for my absence.  I was one of the lucky ones who made it to the interview stage.  I was lucky with the exam, I've done that kind of testing before and that really helped.
Well interview was on Thurs just gone and i felt that it went really well but of course i won't know if that was good enough until we get the email.  I don't know if anyone can confirm for me but i think all the interviews are now complete.  If that is the case, am i to understand correctly that the emails will come out over the next couple of weeks?

Congrats by the way to all those who made it to the interview and i hope it has gone well for you all, fingers crossed.

Thanks again Ferret!

Scottie,

The questions are similar but they get harder the further you get into the test.  The language ones and the maths one start pretty simple and then progressively get more difficult. :|  If you've done the study though you shouldn't have a problem.

Good luck.

Hi Scottie,
Thanks for the tip on study material.  I was lucky enough to have some books i brought some time ago when i had to do a similar test, they really helped.  I also used two websites- www.kent.ac.uk/careers/psychotests.htm and www.psychometric-success.com/downloads/download-practice-tests.htm, for the practice tests.  Hope your friend did well yesterday and good luck for tomorrow.

Hi Mikey,
The test itself on English language, maths etc wasn't too bad though the psychological testing went on and on and on.  Now all i can do it wait....

Does anyone know how soon the results come out and if we receive them via post all email.

Good luck for all those still to be tested  :-D

Thanks guys for the info, head about to explode! Off to put the kettle on, clock counting down.  Fingers crossed for tomorrow.

Good luck to everyone in the exam next week, my test is on Monday morning so spending the weekend with more study!  Just a quick question if anyone can help, I've been working on the 'Language' side and I'm concerned that some of the words i commonally use are spelt differently here- such as 'Humor' instead of 'Humour' and 'Color' instead of 'Colour' and 'Judgment' instead of 'Judgement'.  I've been using a Aus site for commonly misspelled words and it uses the US English Dictionary.  Please can anyone confirm if this is the case or if its the English Dictionary.  Sorry if I'm confusing anyone.