Fire Fighter Trent

My brand is largely defined into two parts: one, I am a people person, whether that is with a team or interpersonally; I thrive around people and community brings out the best in me. Second, I do well under pressure. Whether that is with an intense deadline or goal or a difficult environment, I thrive in adversity and find myself performing at my highest level. I always knew this about myself, but I took a class last term where I was asked to reach out to friends, peers, and past employers to ask them what some of my best strengths were. My responses were almost perfectly unanimous; half of the answers were that I am excellent with people, and I perform well in adversity.

Applying to fire departments is pretty strict in process and creativity is limited, but not impossible. Some of the most creative ways applicants sell themselves is to stand out in the interview process when they actually get face to face interactions with the employers. They see hundreds of applicants, sometimes upwards of a thousand, in hiring processes, and it is important to stand out if possible. I think a really creative way I could sell myself would be to incorporate my brand into my application packet. Largely, fire applicants will merely bring a resume, but I could also add an extra sheet with my resume that creates a visual breakdown of why I am interested in this department in particular, and why I am the best fit. This could include a data visualization of the poll that was created last term regarding my strengths. I could have quotations showing basic examples of what these strengths were and create a visually appealing data chart showing how unanimously, when asked, I was described as someone who worked well with a team and excelled in adversity. I think this would be different than other applicants, would show some additional skills of data visualization, and also show my assertiveness and how I thought these values applied to this station in particular.