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Public safety hiring reflects economic realities
Local government officials recently announced layoffs as the county continues to struggle with increasing expenses and diminishing revenue. A hiring freeze was already in effect.Public safety agencies in Fauquier County are exempt from the freeze, and are, in fact, actively seeking several new employees to fill existing vacancies.
The applicants provide insights into current economic realities.
Tim McMenamin is accepting applications for one 9-1-1 dispatcher.
"We are getting applications from a lot of Realtors and loan officers," the director of the Communications Division of the Fauquier County Sheriff's Office said.
Earlier this year, McMenamin hired three people after advertising openings on the county Web site for three months. He received a substantial number of applications, mostly from people who had no experience or training in emergency communications. Most, McMenamin said, came from people who had worked in construction.
"Easily one-third [of the applicants] didn't read the job description," he said. "When we contacted them, they were surprised that [the job] involved rotating shift work and working weekends and holidays."
Approximately a third of the applicants failed the entrance exam which tests a number of skills, including a prospective candidate's ability to do several things at once.
"The multi-tasking aspect is where most people were failing in the exam," McMenamin said. "It's not a skill that can be taught."
Prospective candidates must score at least 80 percent to pass the test. They must also take a polygraph test and a physical exam.
Philip Myer faces the same challenge.
"Ten years ago, we would get people with full qualifications here," the Department of Fire and Emergency Services Chief recalled. "We'd recruit them, and they'd come because they knew they could get the same type of experience here in two years that people in other jurisdictions get in eight."
The ideal qualifications for someone who wants to join the department is experience in the fire service and in emergency medicine. If someone is certified in one area, the county provides training in the other.
While agencies in larger jurisdictions can take people with no experience and train them in both areas, Myer said that simply isn't an option here.
"We have much smaller numbers here — there are only two [DFES] personnel assigned to each station," Myer said. "So we are looking for more experienced people [from the outset]."
The department held physical ability tests for prospective candidates last weekend.
Prospective candidates must take a written test to demonstrate knowledge in firefighting techniques and emergency medicine.
Because he has to fill the positions quickly, Myer said he will probably continue to use Fauquier County residents who are career firefighters elsewhere as part-time/temporary personnel to fill gaps in staffing over the next couple of months.
Like his counterparts, Fauquier County Sheriff Charlie Ray Fox Jr. is currently in the process of filling existing vacancies and positions authorized by the board of supervisors.
"We do have a pretty decent pool of applicants," Fox said this week. "A few of them are already certified [in law enforcement]. We will have to send the rest to the academy."
E-mail the reporter: abogdanovic@timespapers.com
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