A Little Bit About Coaching

Being a person of faith helps tremendously in this job. Personally, my faith seems to give me a moral compass, a code of honor that keeps us out of trouble and helps with decision-making. I think that it helps many with this. In my experience faith has helped people dig a little deeper when they have needed it the most. You see, as firefighters, we see a lot of things nobody wants to see. Daily, we go into very sad and difficult situations. Over the years, my fire department has lost more on duty than a department five times its size. Through it all, you need to find a way to deal with it and still be a good parent and spouse. For me, my faith has helped steady the helm.

Where faith doesn’t help is in your interview.

I have had people want to share their faith in their interviews. One guy told me, “Hi I’m Bill and the most important thing about me is my faith in Jesus Christ”. Honestly, I believed him. But this kind of comment could doom an interview. Do not misunderstand. Just about every person I have coached has a strong belief system, lots of volunteer work, a clean record, and a true wish to be a good person. The fact that Bill is a man of faith will help him in other parts of this career.

Last year, I coached about 15 Mormons. Most wanted to talk about their bike riding mission trip. As their coach, I didn’t think it was a good idea. My thought was to focus on the volunteer work instead.  My point is that your faith isn’t going to get you a job and could cause you problems. Why bring it up?

A few years ago, I had a guy that used his home phone as his main number. Sadly, his father had a “Fire and Brimstone, all sinners are going to hell if you don’t get on your knees right now” message on the answering machine Imagine being a background investigator, Chief, or the psychologist calling to set up a meeting. Hearing this type of message could be a problem.

Please don’t get me wrong, I don’t want anyone to feel they have to hide their faith. It just isn’t something to discuss in your interview. Your interview should have lots of unique points. Most departments have a policy against discussing politics and religion in the fire stations, for good reason.  It would be the same as telling the panel if you were a Democrat or Republican. It is something that is important to you but should be kept to yourself in your interview.

Let me know if you have any questions.

Captain Rob