Jeremiah Haidenthaller

Interview plan
Communication 1010
11/20/2015
Background research
My interviewee:
I am planning on interviewing Brent Hobbs. Brent worked at the West
Valley fire department for 31 years as an engineer and served as a
captain as well. I will interview him at his house because that is the most
convenient option for him. I chose to interview Brent because he is my
neighbor and I know a little bit about him. I also trust that he will give me
helpful information so that I can best know how get started as a fireman.
Career Research:
Firefighting seems like a perfect fit for my interests. According to the
occupational handbook firefighting is projected to grow at a rate of 7%
which means that getting hired will be competitive. Many firefighters work
over 40 hours a week and the shifts often last for 24 hours. The work can
be very dangerous. Firefighters make a decent living as well with the
median pay being $45,250 according to the occupational hand book. This
breaks down to $21.75 an hour.
Firefighters control fires and respond to other emergencies. Due to this
nature of work sometimes they have to go to work on days they werent

planning on going into work, I wonder how this will affect my personal and
family life.
Interview schedule
Opening:
Thank you Brent for taking time out of your schedule to sit down and
talk with me. As I explained briefly when we set up the interview this is an
assignment for my communication class. I am also interested in pursuing
firefighting as a career. Im going to ask you about how you got interested
in firefighting, how you got started, what education you got, what you did
as a firefighter and about your level of job satisfaction.
I will take a couple notes during the interview to help me remember
important information but, feel free to keep talking. This should be about
30 minutes.

Body:
Topic 1: How did you come to pick this field?

Who introduced this career to you? (primary, open)

Was this your first choice for an occupation? (primary, closed)
- If not, what made you change your mind? (secondary, open)

Topic 2: Education/ getting started

What degree did you receive? (primary, closed)

What degrees are recommended? (primary, closed)
Where did you get your degree? (secondary, closed)
What are other certifications that are required? (Primary, closed)
What did you do to first get hired on? (primary, open)

Topic 3: What does a Fireman do?

What did you do at work? (primary, closed)

What are other places can a fireman work? (primary, closed)

Topic 4: Job satisfaction

Did you enjoy your job? (primary, closed)

Do you have any regrets with choosing this field? (primary, open)
What do you find the most rewarding about your job?

(secondary, open)
What is the thing you disliked the most about your job?
(secondary, open)

Clearing house question

Is there anything else I didnt ask about that would be helpful

for me to know? (primary, open)

Closing:
That is all the questions I have, thank you for taking time out of your
schedule to sit down and talk with me. This has helped me to know if I really
want to pursue this career or not.

You said that there is pretty good job security because there will
always be emergencies that people need firefighters to handle. This gives
me a lot of comfort knowing that even though it will be difficult to get hired if
I do get hired there is not a lot of turnover. You have also helped me
complete my communication assignment.
Lastly I briefly mentioned an evaluation form. What you put whether it
is good or bad will not bring my grade down it is simply so I can know how to
improve, so please be honest. I do still need to bring the evaluation form to
my professor for points on the assignment so If I could get this back in a
couple days that would be best. There is also a spot for your postal address
at the bottom so that I can send a thank you letter to you, this has been very
helpful thank you very much.

Interview Analysis Memo

Date: 11/23/2015
To: Wayne Hackett
From: Jeremiah Haidenthaller
Subject: Interview Analysis Memo, Communication 1010
This Interview taught me a lot I was pretty nervous to conduct the
interview because I usually dont lead conversations.

I had the opportunity to interview a retired fire captain of 31 year who

served at the West Valley fire Department. I am planning on becoming a fire

fighter and want to know as much as I can about the industry before I start
the process. I wanted to learn how he became interested in firefighting, how
he got started and what a fireman does on a day to day basis. I also wanted
to learn about the positive and negative aspects of firefighting to see if he
had a high overall feeling of job satisfaction. I think that I would enjoy being
a firefighter and that my interests would be met overall if I made this my
career.
This memo summarizes the useful information and advice that I gained
while conducting this interview.
Summary of lessons learned
Getting started
What I learned is that he started as a volunteer firefighter and tested
at a lot of different stations. There is intense competition so a degree is
recommended. He got a degree in fire science. Along with a degree there is a
lot of technical training that you need to do as well. Fitness is an important
aspect of the job as well as physical agility tests are done as well as written
tests. Certification is more important than a masters degree or PhD.
Currently there is a high demand for paramedics. This a good strategy
to help me. If you get hired as a paramedic you can work your way up to a
firefighter as you work as a paramedic. He tested at different fire stations for
two years before he was hired on. Utah Valley University is affiliated with the

Utah Fire and Rescue Academy. That is the recommended school to go to for
a good start in firefighting.
A typical day
I learned that there is a lot more that a fireman does than just fight
fires. Part of their day they have mandatory physical fitness. Other things
they do are routine equipment inspections, give tours of the fire station, fire
inspections on other buildings and they continue their fire and medical
training. Another part of their day is cooking dinner. Their shifts are often 24
hours so they eat lunch and dinner at the station.
A normal day is very busy for a fireman but it is never the same thing
every day. Every day is different which I really like because there is less
monotony at work. I think I would enjoy this very much.
Job satisfaction
In the interview I learned that working as a fireman is all about service.
He said it was jokingly referred to as the Fire service. The service aspect
was his favorite part of being a firefighter. I love doing service and I am really
attracted to this career because I would get to help people. He absolutely
loved working as a firefighter.
When I asked about any regrets he had he did bring up that he missed
some holidays with his family. However his biggest regret is that for a long
time when he first started he was a very selfish employee. Thinking only

about himself he would try to fight orders that were given. The only thing he
really didnt like about firefighting is the politics. Politics are unavoidable in
any job however, so there is no avoiding politics. Overall he loved being a
firefighter.
Interview analysis
This assignment taught me more about how to interview and gave me
a lot of information about what it is really like to be a firefighter.
Analysis of firefighter as my career choice
Based on the information from this interview I want to become a
firefighter. There is high job security and although there is a lot of technical
training you dont have to go to a lot of school. It is very hands on which I
like. I am a very hands on person. Firefighters make a decent living and I
think I would have a lot of personal satisfaction in my career choice as a
firefighter.
It is a competitive field but I think it is worth all the effort for a
satisfying career. I also really enjoy the fact that there is a lot hands on
training. Missing some holidays will be hard but I think overall I will be very
happy as a firefighter.
Analysis of my interviewing process
I am usually comfortable when asking people questions in a casual
conversation but I was really nervous when I was conducting the interview. I

think the formality of the interview being for an assignment made me a little
uncomfortable. If I conduct an interview in the future I will practice asking
questions more so I can be more confident when I interview.
I followed the schedule and outline during the interview to help me
keep control. I never had to bring the discussion back to the topic so that
part went really well. In the future I will bring a recorder to eliminate
awkward silences as I write notes. Even though I wrote very brief notes using
mainly keywords there was some moments of silence as I just wrote.
Sometimes I was hesitant when asking questions. I think this comes back to
practicing the interview before so I can have more confidence and feel more
comfortable asking questions.
As the interview went on I felt more and more comfortable I will definitely
prepare more for interviews in the future.

Mr. Brent Hobbs

6567 South 5095 West
West Jordan, UT 84081

Dear Brent,
Thank you so much for sitting down with me and letting me interview you about your career. You gave me a lot of helpful and
interesting information about your career. Especially about how to get started.
Hearing how you got started gave me a good idea to add on to my current plan. It was also extremely helpful to hear what they
are looking for now so that I can best fit the description of what stations are looking for. I didnt know that paramedics are high
demand. Talking to you has given vital information to help me with my career.
I appreciate you taking time out of your schedule to help me complete this assignment for my communication class and helping
me find out more about a career in firefighting that I didnt know about. This will definitely help me in the future.

Sincerely,

Jeremiah Haidenthaller