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Fire Assessment Center Training
  • Login
  • Member Area
  • Online Courses
    • Overview
    • Emergency Scene Fire Simulations
    • Fire Officer Training
    • Employee Counseling
    • Promotional Oral Interview Questions
    • In-Basket
    • Writing Assignments
  • FAQ
  • Free Downloads
  • About Us
    • About Us
    • Mission
    • Contact
    • Testimonials
    • Advisory Board
  • Blog
    • Fire Officer Test Prep
    • Fire Officer Promotional Exam Questions
    • Fire Lieutenant Promotional Test
    • Fire Lieutenant Assessment Center
  • Coaching/Workshops
    • Coaching
    • Workshops
  • Become A Member

Coaching

Chief Paul Lepore and Chief Chuck Fedak offer private coaching for candidates who are preparing to take a fire department promotional exam, sometimes referred to as an assessment center. Fire Captain or Fire Lieutenant exams are very complex and require a great deal of practice in order to become proficient and demonstrate competency during a promotional exam. Battalion Chief promotional exams are significantly more complex.

Private fire department promotional coaching can significantly shorten your learning curve and give you an edge on your competition. We will help reinforce what you are doing right and assist you to identify and reduce areas of weakness. Our goal is to help you prepare so well for the position that the promotional exam will simply become a formality!

We will share with you a unique way of identifying and looking at issues that you will likely encounter in a promotional exam, both from the operational and administrative perspective, and offer insight into resolving those issues. We are sure that you will develop a completely new perspective on the promotional process and what is expected of you as a candidate in a Fire Captain, Fire Lieutenant, or Battalion Chief promotional exam.

Our goal is to teach you the fundamental skills required to solve complex promotional exam problems so that you can study effectively alone or with your study group. In other words, we want to give you the tools that you will need to be successful in your promotional exam and once promoted. The key is to make sure that you are practicing emergency scene simulations, managing personnel issues, responding to promotional interview questions, and completing in-basket and writing exercises CORRECTLY.

We frequently hear from our students that many of the exact topics and scenarios we discussed during our coaching were on their promotional exam. We also commonly hear that coaching sessions with us were much harder than their promotional exam. If you are not seriously committed to putting in the work, then the results will not be favorable for you. We assist candidates to prepare for the promotional exam; the work still needs to be completed by the candidate.

Our style is to reinforce the things you are already doing correctly, and help you identify where you can make improvements. We will have very frank discussions when we identify areas where you would be leaving points on the table or even fail points. There is no rank in the room. When you really break it down, we are working for you.

If you are considering personal coaching, starting sooner is better. It takes time to absorb and incorporate “new” information into your delivery during your promotional exam. The longer we have before your promotional exam, the better we can help you develop templates and incorporate them into your preparations and practice.

You decide where you want to focus the coaching, how often you would like to meet, and for how long. We will never pressure you to increase the number of hours or times we work together. Contact us with any questions or to schedule your private or group coaching session.

Types of Fire Department Promotional Coaching:

    • All-risk tactical simulations developed using computer software that you are likely to see in your promotional exam. All-risk scenarios include most major types of fire situations you can imagine. In addition, we will cover hazardous materials incidents, multi casualty and WMD incidents, high-rise, trench and confined space rescue, wildland, and marine incidents. After developing the basic skills, you decide which incident types you want to include or where you would like to concentrate your efforts. You are welcome to provide digital photos of your buildings to use for your simulator practice.
    • Complex personnel issues that include a description of the employee, their past performance and the issue at hand. We will teach you the 8-step counseling process to use to manage any personnel issue you may face. Even if your promotional exam does not include a personnel issue with role-players, most promotional exams incorporate managing personnel issues as part of their process. After all, it’s a large percentage of a Fire Officer’s job.
    • Oral Interview preparation, using a bank of over 100 questions and answers that we have developed. These questions, or similar versions, have appeared in promotional exams around the country. You will learn how to break down each oral interview question and identify what the promotional exam raters are looking for.
    • Oral presentations are an often-overlooked portion of promotional exams. Are you prepared? We can discuss a variety of topics with you to help you prepare, and offer pointers on how to make your presentation stand out.
    • Writing exercises are increasingly commonplace. We assist you by providing topics for you to research and then write about. Once you complete an assignment, we review your work and offer suggestions on ways to improve.
    • In-basket exercises will determine how well a candidate has learned how to prioritize tasks and put systems in place to avoid repeating issues. This is a vital part of the Fire Captain, Fire Lieutenant or Battalion Chief’s day, and is a very common component of the promotional exam. We can teach you a system to identify important issues and manage them.

Rates:

The cost for individual private coaching sessions is $85 per hour.

For groups, the hourly rate is the initial base rate of $85 for the first person plus $25 for each additional person. A group of two would cost $110 per hour, or $55 per person per hour. A group of three would cost $135 per hour, or roughly $44.00 per person. Our goal at the end of the group session is to prepare your study group so you are all practicing correctly. Group coaching is particularly successful when there is a good ratio of predicted openings to the number of candidates taking the promotional exam.

We highly recommend that coaching occur in-person. If you are unable to meet in-person, we offer phone coaching or online videoconference services for the same hourly rate. We also email you a series of personnel counseling scenarios or oral interview questions, depending on where you would like to focus our efforts.

Note: Due to the coronavirus pandemic, in person coaching is not available at this time. Coaching is available via online videoconference and phone.

How to Schedule a Private Fire Department Promotional Coaching Session:

The way private coaching works is fairly simple. We put our calendars together and pick a day that works for both of us. We like to work in at least 3-hour increments at Chief Lepore’s home in Dana Point, California or at Chief Fedak’s home in Corona, California. We use the Digital Combustion software or SimsUshare for practicing tactical scenarios. We also have dozens of photos of buildings, hazmat, and MCI scenarios. If you prefer, you can take digital photos and we can practice using your own buildings.

Coaching FAQs

How far in advance should I meet with you for fire department promotional coaching?
It’s best to do it sooner, rather than later, to allow enough time to incorporate the things we teach you into your delivery for your fire department promotional exam. By using the templates we will share with you, your answers will be comprehensive, concise, and smooth. Vince Lombardi said it best: “We practice like we play. Perfect practice makes for perfect play.” We will teach you very specific things that you will use not only in your fire department promotional exam, but more importantly, after you promote.
How often do we need to meet?
It’s completely up to you. We will help you gauge your progress. Our goal is to help you build on your strengths, and identify your weaknesses. We will give you suggestions on how to improve. We have candidates who have set up appointments every 3 weeks for 8 months prior to their exam. These candidates usually score well on their exam, as this gives us an opportunity to focus on every different portion of the exam, instead of just one. Other candidates need just one or two sessions to validate their knowledge and preparation, and ensure that they are not leaving points on the table.
What areas can you help me prepare for?
We can offer you help with every type of fire simulation (including Haz -mat, MCI, WMD, etc.), oral interviews, employee counseling, in-basket exercises, oral presentations, teaching demonstrations, and writing exercises. You decide where you want to focus your efforts and for how long.
Are there any guarantees that I will do better on my exam?
As you know, there are no guarantees in life. We will help you prepare for the position. In turn, you will be prepared for the exam. We do not teach to the test. We have worked with numerous candidates who have scored number 1 on their exam. We have worked with many other candidates who scored well enough on their exam to get promoted.

We have also worked with people who failed a portion of the exam. It’s up to you to perform on the day of the exam. We do believe, however, that those who prepare are rewarded for their efforts. You will get out of it what you put into it. You must review and incorporate the new information and templates into your delivery. If you do not review on your own, you will not make much progress.

What is your style of teaching?
We believe in accentuating the positive. We are both positive and upbeat. You have our commitment that we will never insult you or degrade you in any way. We do not believe in breaking a person down in order to build them up. We will promise you, however, that we are all business when we meet. Your time and hard-earned money is valuable. It’s important to maximize our time together.
If I wanted to receive the tutoring in person, where would I travel to?
Paul lives in Dana Point, California, and Chuck lives in Corona, California. John Wayne (Orange County) airport is the closest. We frequently work with candidates who fly in from out of state.

Note: Due to the coronavirus pandemic, in person coaching is not available at this time. Coaching is available via online videoconference and phone.

How long is the tutoring process?
It’s completely up to you. If you are flying in from out of town, it’s probably best to schedule all day. If you are local, 3-hour blocks are fine.
How do I contact you?
Contact us with any questions or to schedule your private or group coaching session. You may also email Chief Lepore or Chief Fedak directly.

Chief Lepore – PLepore@AspiringFireOfficers.com

Chief Fedak – CFedak@AspiringFireOfficers.com

Should I become an Aspiring Fire Officers member or do private coaching?
Becoming a member of AFO will give you an incredible foundation for all the components covered to prepare you for your upcoming promotional exam. The website provides you with high level insight to manage complex emergencies, multidimensional personnel scenarios and administrative components. You can work at your own speed and on your own schedule for a very reasonable investment. We are confident that the contents of the site will help you pull ahead of your competition.

Private coaching allows us to meet with you individually, identifying any areas of weakness and focusing our coaching on your specific needs. By building on your strengths, your customized training plan can help you achieve a higher level of performance. It also produces a different level of interaction that will help you prepare for success before your exam and after you are promoted.

Is there added benefit to obtaining both private coaching and a membership to the site?
That decision is up to you, since you are the only one who knows your current level of preparation and your potential competition.  Our recommendation is to start by becoming a member of AFO. Enjoy and soak up all the information available to our members. Spend a great deal of time on the site. Then, once you are comfortable with all of the concepts and ideas presented, decide if you need private coaching. Your private coaching sessions will build on the foundation created through your membership, taking your preparations to a new level and incorporating the things we discuss during our one-on-one sessions into your own assessment center.

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