Competent Wholetime Firefighter (external transfer) – Essex County Fire and Rescue Service

Job Title:                    Competent Wholetime Firefighter (external transfer)

Contract:                    Permanent

Working Hours:        42 (2 days, 2 nights, 4 off pattern)

Salary:                        Competent Firefighter

Location:                    Across Essex

Whilst we have stations across the county of Essex, the majority of our Wholetime Firefighters are based in the South of the County. Relocation expenses of up to £8,000 can be claimed if you relocate to Essex as part of this application (terms and conditions apply).

If you are interested in specific stations, or a geographical part of the county, we can discuss this throughout your application process and do our best to meet your needs.

The Role

Essex County Fire and Rescue Service (ECFRS) is recruiting for competent wholetime firefighters to transfer into the Service.

Role Profile

Person Specification

About you

You will live and breathe our Service values of being professional, courageous, open and honest. You will be naturally inclusive and value the contribution of all and be committed to the value of working as one team. In addition to these values and positive behaviours, you will bring your highly valued skills and experience as a firefighter.

About us

ECFRS is one of the largest fire and rescue services in the country, serving a county with a wide variety of risks. Essex is home to two airports (Stansted and Southend), as well as Harwich seaport, Lakeside shopping centre, power stations, docks at Tilbury and, along the Thames, seven underground stations, and parts of the M25 and M11 motorways and several significant A-roads, and areas of diverse and complex risk.

The Service has 50 fire stations across the County – 12 of which are wholetime, and we employ nearly 400 wholetime firefighters as part of an organisation of over 1400 people across operations, Service Control, and support staff.

The Service is governed by Essex Police, Fire and Crime Commissioner Fire and Rescue Authority (EPFCC). The EPFCC Fire and Rescue Authority is responsible for fire and rescue services covering an area over 1,400 square miles and a population of over 1.8 million.

Eligibility

To be eligible to apply for these opportunities, you must:

• ·     hold a substantive role as a Wholetime Firefighter (wholetime / day-duty) within a UK Fire and Rescue Service for a minimum of twelve months, and  are competent in role

• ·     have successfully completed all relevant operation assessments and compulsory courses, and are competent in your current role 

• ·     be able to travel around the county as required, to visit all ECFRS fire stations and sites 

• ·   not be subject to any current live disciplinary or performance warnings, nor be subject to any informal management for reasons of conduct or  performance 

• ·     have no current fitness issues, and be able to evidence an ability to achieve 42 VO2 max

• ·     be prepared to undertake an Enhanced DBS check

How to apply 

At this stage, you need only complete the basic online application form to apply

You will then be sent a short follow-up form to confirm information about your career (e.g., your qualifications)

Assessment and selection:

The assessment and selection approach will be:

Stage 1  

Complete the online application form to express your interest in the current opportunities.

Stage 2  

Values and ethics-based interview & Operational Skills-scan assessment

You can see the NFCC Leadership Framework here: NFCC_Leadership_Framework_Final.pdf (nationalfirechiefs.org.uk)  

And guidance around the Code of Ethics here:

Core Code of Ethics England Guidance May 21 V0.pdf (ukfrs.com)

If you have any support needs throughout any stage of the recruitment process, our dedicated team are able to help, and make appropriate adjustments to support you too. Just let us know via this confidential link:

Recruitment Adjustment and Support

Or via email to recruitment@essex-fire.gov.uk

We expect to onboard Wholetime Firefighters throughout Autumn 2024 and early 2025.

Our Culture and Benefits

We have a strong commitment to supporting our firefighters to develop, with a variety of risk and specialisms across our various fire grounds. We also have a highly successful Leadership resourcing and succession programme to support the development towards promotion of Firefighters that support progression up to and including Group Manager.

Here at Essex County Fire and Rescue Service we are committed to prioritising and promoting the wellbeing of our employees. We know sometimes things in life don’t go well or as planned, and we are here to support all of our employees.

You can find out more about our benefits at https://www.essex-fire.gov.uk/recruitment/benefits

Disability Confident

We are an equal opportunities, Disability Confident, employer who welcomes applications from everyone and values diversity in our workplace. A commitment to promoting diversity and developing a work environment where all staff are treated with dignity and respect is central to our recruitment process and all applications will be considered solely on merit.

As part of our offer to support all our candidates to perform to the best of their abilities during our recruitment and selection processes and we would like to let you know about a couple of support options you can access, should you wish to, including our employee forums, who are keen and willing to support all of our potential colleagues.

Our employee forums and partners include:

Asian Fire Services Association (AFSA), BEING (our LGBTQ+ employee support network), Christian Fellowship, Ethnic Minority Forum, Men’s Forum, and our Women’s Forum. In addition, we also have a female firefighters operational group.

Further to the above, the Service has a Digital Accessibility Inclusion Group (DAIG) that supports all colleagues to improve their digital skills and provides additional support and guidance to colleagues with neurodivergent strengths and struggles as a result of dyslexia, ADHD, Autism, dyspraxia etc. We want everyone to thrive at work, and so we encourage and enable people to access digital tools to help them perform at your best. The DAIG is a group of colleagues from across the Service that unite to support others as a result of their lived experience and desire to make a difference. They support people with a range of visible and invisible disabilities to identify and access digital workplace adjustments and solutions and may be able to assist with your application too.

You can find out more about Essex County Fire & Rescue Service via www.essex-fire.gov.uk and about our vacancies and application processes via https://www.essex-fire.gov.uk/recruitment

Safeguarding

Essex Police, Fire and Crime Commissioner Fire and Rescue Authority is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and vulnerable adults and expects all employees and volunteers to share this commitment.

It is our policy to require all applicants for employment to disclose if you are currently being investigated by any regulatory body or have any decisions or sanctions pending or in progress in respect of your suitability to work for the Service.

You agree to inform the Service within 24 hours if you are subsequently investigated by any agency or organisation in relation to concerns about your behaviour towards children, young people or vulnerable adults.

The information you provide will be treated as strictly confidential and will be considered only in relation to the appointment for which you are applying.

This role will be subject to an enhanced Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) check.