Thread: Dispatcher oral exam/interview

Today I took the oral exam for a 911 dispatcher position in San Francisco. I'm very anxious and was wondering if there is anyone involved in or who knows the hiring process. I answered the questions as best I could, using my common sense but being that I have no previous training I'm not sure if my answers where what the pannel was looking for. Do you know if a) they are looking for a "right" answer or more so looking to see how you respond? and b) how they score the test? is it like you need a 70% out of 100? All the questions where senario (what would you do?)type questions-nothing was aked about my skills or personality, etc so just wondering how much wieght does this have in the hiring process.

Thanks Guys!

I'm not familiar with San Fran's process, but if they stuck purely with scenario based questioning, my guess would be there will be another interview if they liked your answers to these that would not focus on scenarios.

As an interviewer of potential Telecommunicator's, I understand that many may not have experience, so the goal would not be to see who has the "right" answer; this is more a gauge of common sense and your personality. Scoring can differ as well, I wouldn't think it will be on a percentage system.

What alot of people don't know is that interviews really are not designed for skills assessment, oh, I can ask what skills you have and read your application while your sitting in front of me to find the same info, and if you have dispatch experence, that's great.

Something I have learned is to "hire for attitude and train for skills." If I can get a confident, loyal, eager person employed, I stand a better chance of having a successful trainee.

Good luck in your hiring process and let us kow what you hear!

Okay, Thanks alot for replying. That was really helpful and made me feel a little better!