Excerpts from the ChicagoTribune.com:
Elgin may revise its requirements for firefighters to attract a more diverse group of applicants. The city council unanimously moved forward on changing firefighter application requirements. The city requires 60 college credit hours as a prerequisite for hiring but that would become optional if the city follows through on its proposed changes. A final vote is scheduled for June 13. The testing fee will be reduced from $40 to $20 for the next applicantion sessions, and candidates can have the fee waived if they are in financial need.
The department tests for new members every two years and plans on doing so sometime in July. Elgin gives job candidates preference points for various certifications and military service. Candidates with 60 or more college credit hours will receive points as well.
In 2016, 203 people tested to become Elgin firefighters, with 170 of them identifying as white, 22 Hispanic, two black, and five Asian. Five of the 203 applicants were women.
The college credit requirement was cited by some in the community and the city’s diversity consultant, as a possible barrier to attracting a diverse group of applicants. Some people may have to go to work directly after high school, which would take them out of the talent pool.
The department has 133 members with 40 percent of firefighters eligible to retire if they so choose. The department is predominantly white and male. With recent retirements and a few firefighters out on permanent disability, the department has hired 12 new firefighters since January 2017. Those hired must complete an EMT basic class available at local community colleges within a year of being hired.
thanks Dan
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#1 by Mike L on May 29, 2018 - 9:37 AM
60 hours of college or an associate’s degree is not necessary to have to become a firefighter. This is still a vocational job and we are getting far too many folks on this job that have to be shown how to use a washing machine or how to start a lawn mower, etc, but have a Bachelor’s or Master’s degree in whatever. “They have a degree!! They’re smart!”. Yup. Can’t start a saw or properly lead out but they can ace a test so they get hired, spend a few years on an ambulance and then ace the promotional exam and then start the fast track to the top without ever having done actual firefighting. Who cares? They’re smart. Good for Elgin dropping the educational requirement. They’re not lowering any standards applicable to doing the actual job by getting rid of it.
#2 by CrabbyMilton on May 29, 2018 - 6:22 AM
Exactly. It’s common sense if one can’t perform the job, they have no business being hired regardless of skin color. But there’s too much logic in that you will get called a racist.
#3 by The Man on May 28, 2018 - 9:15 PM
I’m ok with diversity, but there is a trend that all departments are seeing with not getting the “best” from their new hires. It is not necessarily the “millennial”, but lazy, entitled, young adults who don’t want to “work”.
Candidates who cannot follow simple directions should be shown the door. The ones who want it bad enough learn their lesson the one time it happens and never make that mistake again. The ones who don’t care continue to not follow directions and become your problem for 35+ years.