The Report which was part of the Council Consent Agenda served as the opening for Councillor Terri Forster to seek sone guidance one how the PRFD selects the candidates for openings with the Fire/Rescue service.
"Ive had quite a few people from our community reach out to me not understanding how our hiring processes are. Are they done with a panel of multiple people? Is it one person, how is it been gdone to ensure that its fair and equitable for everyone that applies" -- Councillor Teri Forster
With the City currently in the midst of its latest recruiting call for the Fire Rescue Service, that for a recently retired member, Chief Beckwith took the Council members and those in the City Hall gallery or watching through the live stream through the process.
"Yes we are going through a hiring process right now, in General we have a five step process to do when we are looking at candidates.
Initially starting with a first interview, followed up with a fitness assessment ... Edmonton use to use it and also West Kelowna, we're supported in that part through a local physiotherapist that oversees that for us because she can see things that we don't necessarily see in a candidate.
After that there is a written assessment and a skills function assessment and that's followed up by a final interview.
Successful applicants after that also have to pass a security screening, psychometric evaluation and provide proof of a clean driver's abstract and certification"
The Fire Chief recounted how the procedure has changed since he joined the department.
"When I got hired, a long time ago. The process was much simpler, even having people go through the academies was relatively new back then. You know at the time I didn't even have my certification. It was something that I got in after I was hired as a part-time firefighter.
So now it is very structured in how we look at candidates I am very confident in our assessment, it is graded through a proper matrix of providing defendable and consistent grading for each individual.
In a follow up question Councillor Forster asked for more details on how the initial interview process moves forward.
"Just wondering when I hear that there's the first step is an interview, is it one person in the interview is it multiple people with diverse backgrounds? How is that done?
Because the question that keeps coming to me is a concern that there's not a lot of diversity on our fire department.
And I'm not a supporter of tokenistic approaches.
We want the best candidates to be protecting our community, but how are we reaching out to different people to ensure that we are getting that diversity again with out a tokenistic approach."
Chief Beckwith noted that the current process that he and the Deputy Chief conduct the initial interview.
"Currently the interviews are conducted through myself and our Deputy Chief. There are other departments in the province that have hiring committees with unions, so there is union participation in it.
We haven't got to that point with our union, so it's simply the two of us who do that assessment.
When we are looking for candidates initially we are looking for qualifications, experience, life experience and basically have a conversation with the candidate to see why they'd be interested in coming to Prince Rupert or why they would want to work for the City of Prince Rupert Fire Rescue Department.
If they meet the minimums in that interview process as far as credentials and if they interview well enough then they get invited to the second stage which is the test component"
Councillor Forster called on some her past employment experience and observed that some candidates may not fare well in the first interview stage, then asking if the Fire/Rescue department provides a review of how the first interview went with the applicants.
The Chief advised that they do provide for that feedback to those applicants who are not successful.
The tutorial on PRFD hiring polices can be reviewed from the City's Video Archive page starting at the forty minute mark.
A wider overview of the Monday council session can be reviewed here.
More notes on the Civic employment and labour themes is available here.
A look at the work of Emergency Responders across the Northwest can be explored here.
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