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Fire services entry with sociology degree?

I know its long shot, but I'd be interested to hear what anyones thoughts are on this.

I'm intending to join the fire service immediately after graduating from my proposed sociology degree (Warwick).

Does anyone know what sort of professional 'weight' a degree holds for new applicants?

For instance, do you think I would be more liable for promotion, or even entry at officer level?

My instinct is that sociology is a useful academic supplement to have in this profession, especially given that much, if not all of the work is community based? and so is perhaps more desirable than a less relevant course.

Thanks in advance for any responses.

Reply 1

Nick.J

Thought I'd reply seeing as noone else has.

Generally speaking, A2s/Degrees etc have no effect on your initial application. You can't apply directly to be an officer, for good reason (presuming you mean an operational officer that deals with larger incidents), because you need the experience of working on a fireground first. I don't know if your degree would help when applying for promotion, although a degree in engineering, fire sciences etc would be more beneficial IMO.

The only brigade that I know of that holds specific recruitment drives for graduates is London Fire Brigade. This scheme is designed to get graduates into positions of command (Crew Manager at the very least) within 5 years of completing training. I've been informed that this scheme is much harder than normal FF selection tests, and last time there were only 20 odd places, compared to 300 (approx) places for normal FF recruits.

The scheme has been treated with suspicion by some, as many feel that 5 years is not long enough on the back of the truck to gain sufficient experience to deal with many of the situations that you'll face, especially if you're first due to something with turns out to be a major job.

I personally agree with these people, especially in the current climate, graduate jobs are in short supply, so more graduates could be tempted into applying just for the job security/money (circa £27K starting in LFB, rising to £32K-ish after completing your probation period, officers earn up to around £70K I believe.)

That said, if you really want to be a firefighter and don't want to apply alongside everyone else (where you'll probably stand a better chance of getting in imo), go for it (presuming they are still running graduate schemes when you've finished your degree.)

Best of luck on applying.

Any more questions, feel free to ask and I'll do my best to answer them.