"How did you get on the FD?"

Hiring onto the fire department was a very long and complicated process. It started with taking a written test (I tested #4 out of 400 applicants). Since I was in the top 50, I was invited back to take the physical capability test checking strength and endurance during simulated firefighting tasks. Once I passed that in the top 10, I was brought into the office and given my application packet. It was 20 pages long and covered everything you can imagine. There was a very long list of questions to answer. I had to list every job I've ever worked, including during high school, with a name, address, and phone number of a coworker and my supervisor for each one. I had to give references that had seen me frequently in the past year. I had to give references that had known me for at least five years. For every work and personal reference, I had to fill out a waiver saying that there would be no repercussions from anything negative they said about me and they had my permission to answer in any way they saw fit. When the paperwork was done I had to go give blood and urine samples for drug testing. I had to take a lie detector test. Once that was all done I had to interview with the chief and assistant chief with an assistant checking over all of my answers. In addition to all the usual interview questions, the assistant read anything my employers or references had said that could be taken negatively and asked me to explain them to the chiefs. After all of that, I was given a conditional offer of employment. I then had to go take a very thorough physical exam, lung function test, EKG, etc. to basically verify that I wouldn't fall over dead fighting a fire. Only after I passed that was I finally hired.

Great job, but not an easy one to get.