Monthly Archives: July 2013

Jul302013

Update on 911 dispatcher hiring …

My application was accepted, and I am moving on to the next part of the recruitment process!

I have applied for both a 911 Call Taker and Communications Specialist 1, which is the next step up. Apparently I am qualified (on paper, anyway) for both – because I received acceptance from both applications I submitted. So I move on to the next level of testing for both of those position.

The next step is called “Ergometrics” and I am not really sure what all that entails. A quick Google search for “Ergometrics” brought me to a website for a company called Ergometrics, and they are the ones who created the program that will be administered. As near as I can tell (the details on the website are fuzzy – I guess they don’t want you having a chance to prepare much for the test) it’s a computer-based simulation that tests your decision-making and reactions to various job-related situations. That’s what I am guessing, anyway.

The test takes 4 hours and will be given next Monday at the local community college. If I make it past that round of testing, there will be more the following week or so – the Criticall testing. This I am more familiar with. I took this previously when I began the recruitment process at another public safety dispatch facility. I did the Criticall testing and passed, but had to take myself out of the recruitment process due to an upcoming surgery on my foot. My surgery and recovery would be happening right around the time they wanted to begin hiring – so I figured that if I did get hired the timing wouldn’t work out anyway.

At this point I just want to get through the Ergometrics phase, and deal with one thing at a time. I am practicing my typing and data entry in the meantime.

So that’s the plan – Monday will be the next step. Wish me luck! Prayers are appreciated, too.

Jul202013

Well, I did it …

I submitted my application to become a 911 call-taker/dispatcher in a local city. This has been brewing for about a year now, and I got the notice last week that they are hiring. So I am going to “go for it.”

As I said, it started about a year ago. My oldest daughter was home from college for the summer, and she had just completed clearing out the garage. And thank goodness … it had been a year since my husband passed away, and I had not been able to clean out the garage. Heck, I had barely been able to set foot in the garage unless it was necessary. That had been “his domain” – his refuge, where he retreated at the end of the day to tinker with things, drink beer and listen to his blues music – or maybe a little classic country. It had been too hard for me to clear out, I realized – so I turned her loose on that project. She went to work with gusto, and by the end of the day had everything organized and cleaned.

Anyway … we stood in that cleaned out garage and talked. About school, about jobs, etc. And she asked me if I intended to continue working on grandma and grandpa’s farm, or if there wasn’t another job I wanted to try. Something else that might be more challenging. My first thought? “What could be more challenging than working alongside your parents?!”

But it was an honest question, and I started thinking. I was so blessed to have a close family, and have the security of a job where I could set my own hours (within reason) and still have a paycheck and insurance. That had been a necessity after my husband was diagnosed, and in the year following while he fought the brain tumor. I say “the” brain tumor and not “his” brain tumor because it affected the entire family, and not just him. We all say it as a common enemy, and tried to help him fight as best we could.

But was I just taking the easy, secure road by staying on the farm? I didn’t feel like I was being challenged, and I really didn’t feel like I had much to offer the farm. My college degree was in communications, and that wasn’t as necessary to the daily running of the farm as I had once hoped. Maybe it was time to think about moving into a different line of work.

She told me about her friend’s mother who was a 911 dispatcher in a different county. It sounded exciting, and kinda scary … but something that would be right up my alley. And after what we had been through with the cancer, not much scared me anymore.

So I started investigating. I contacted the closest 911 communication center to see when they were hiring. They weren’t at that time, but they invited me in for a “sit-along.” Yeah, police and firefighters have “ride-alongs” for those interested in learning more about their professions – dispatchers have “sit-alongs.”

So I went and spent two hours alongside the call-takers and dispatchers one Friday afternoon last summer. I got to listen in on both emergency and non-emergency calls, and learn more about how police and fire units are dispatched. This particular center dispatches for a whopping 29 police, fire and medical agencies (at the time I visited, they only dispatched for about 17), both here in the valley and on the coast. It was amazing and didn’t intimidate me at all. In fact, I went right over to my sister’s house and debriefed her and her husband, who is a firefighter/paramedic in the city in which I hope to be dispatching.

So I have been waiting for a year now, every few months sending in a short email to inquire of the training officer if they are hiring yet. And the day has come … the application deadline is today!

So two days ago I took my typing test and forwarded the results along with my application. I shouldn’t have to wait long, I guess. The next phase of testing is set for next Wednesday, and unless I really blow it big time on the application – I should be included in that phase. After that its more testing and background investigations and interviews. The tentative date for the hiring list is October 21st. Wish me luck!

Jul192013

First post in a new blog

I woke up this morning and decided to start over. With my blogs, I mean. I have had two blogs for the past year or so, one on Blogger and one on WordPress. Neither of them have been very active. They started out with lots of gusto, and I was posting regularly. But somewhere along the line … well, life moved along and the blogs didn’t. So I am cutting the ties and setting them free. No longer to be added to, and no longer to be a thing of guilt when I don’t post in them as often as I would like.

One dealt with the grief and recovery after my husband’s death two years ago. Has it really been two years? My daughters and I have done well, I feel, over the past two years. The oldest has graduated from college, and the youngest (after a rough year) finished 4th grade and is glad to be moving on to 5th. Both of them have done exceedingly well in dealing with the loss. Sometimes better than I did.

But on this anniversary of his death I am reminded of how far we have come, and we continue to press on. And part of that process is setting aside things have are worn or outdated that are holding us back.

The other blog dealt with traveling. I had high hopes and good intentions about writing a blog centered around traveling with kids. My goal was to travel with my girls, and then write about our experiences and give advice or tips. I got the idea after we went on a vacation to Southern California last summer. We had a blast, and I thought all I had learned in preparing for the trip would be helpful to others. I hope it was, but I just ran out of content. Oh well.

So here are … ready to start again. Pared down to just one blog. I still want to keep writing about stuff in my life. Just want to keep it all in one place. Less of a headache that way, and less of which to keep track. And that’s what I need in my life … simplicity.