For those who've known me, I've been chasing a dream career in the fire department since '05.  It's 2010 now and it wasn't until this time last year I finally made it to near the top of the list with waiting for that important phone call to be the beginning of my new career as a firefighter for the City of Los Angeles.  For those who don't know, for every firefighter position there are about 800 candidates.  Most people never make it, those who do usually have waited several years until their day in the sun.

Ever since I successfully completed every step of the application process: Passed the physical agility test, passed the written exam, scored a 100 on my interview, passed the background review panel, passed the background examination, past my physical examination (after being DQ'd and then reinstated after getting lasik eye surgery), and passed my psychological evaluation; I've been playing the waiting game as the City of Los Angeles has gone through economic turmoil canceling five fire academies since and having us hope that the next scheduled academy in July doesn't have a similar fate.  Recently, the Los Angeles City reports to be $218 million in the hole and are looking to make over 1,000 layoffs and also within the fire and police departments.

So what does this mean to me?  My interview expires two years from my original interview date (expiring 5/22/10) and if I don't get a call for the unlikely July 2010 academy, I will have to start over the whole process one more time with the possiblity of not making it through the whole process again. 

I've been working as an EMT since late '06 for the experience and boost so that I can improve my chances for the fire department.  Looking back, it's been a good experience, only to realize that working as an EMT has also been a huge sacrifice on building a stable career during a time when the economy was on its feet.  Now I am stuck working as an EMT for a low salary and can't find a job doing anything else right now.  This would be a great time to jump into a plan b, the only problem is nobody will give me an opportunity to build on my plan b with the economy looking so bad and without much work experience outside of EMS.