A Twitter connection mentioned that he was getting ready for a job interview that was going to be conducted over the phone and that he was nervous about doing his first interview. Having been on both sides of lots and lots of phone interviews here are some Everyday EMS Tips for an outstanding phone interview.

1. Look the part of a job candidate. Even though the interviewers can’t see me I want to dress for success. Everything – shower, shave, and interview clothes. This is part of my mental attitude.

2. Turn off distractions. Unless the interview requires you to access information on computer during the interview don’t sit at your computer. If you must have the computer on turn off your email, close Facebook, close Twitter, and minimize all open files and browser windows.

3. Give fair warning. Tell your family/roommates that you have a phone interview and that you need silence at least 10 minutes before the interview starts until at least ten minutes after the scheduled conclusion. Send your spouse and kids to the park and to get ice cream.

4. Listen to the questions. When being interviewed over the phone you will realize that the interviewers usually do most of the talking (this is oddly true in face-to-face of interviews as well). When they eventually get to a question make sure you write it down as they ask the question. Then as you reply look back at the question to make sure you are actually answering the question you were asked.

5. Silence is OK. Even though it seems awkward a few seconds to think about the question is acceptable. I will say something like, “That is an excellent question. Give me a moment to think about it.” Then give yourself three to five seconds to compose an answer in your head and then answer the question.

6. Answer only the question. In a face-to-face interview you can pick up body language clues that the interviewer is ready for you to be done talking. If you are rambling on and on over the phone you can’t see those clues. Remember the question and answer it.

7. Turn off the noisemakers. Make sure you silence pagers, phones, appliances, and all other things that might beep or ring during the interview.

8. Posture is reflected in your voice. Sit in an office chair with your feet on the floor. Sit up straight. Lean forward as you answer each question.

9. Actually ask a question. When they ask “Do you have any questions?” you need to actually ask a question. This is a good time for something general like “Can you tell me a bit more about the training process?” or “How would you describe your organization’s commitment to safety?”

10. Immediately write and send a hand-written note. As soon as you hang up the phone write a note of thanks. Just a few sentences is OK and mail it immediately. Hand written notes are exceedingly rare.

Your turn: What are your tips for an excellent phone interviews? What other questions do you have about the interview process?

Another post on job interviews: Job Interview Preparation Tips for EMS Professionals

Also check out this EMS Boot Camp session on Career Development I did with Jamie Davis (the PodMedic) and Jim Hoffman (the EMS Professional).

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Author Maggie Dubris discusses her book Skels: A Novel, drawn from her 20 years as a paramedic in New York City. The novel features EMS in NYC in late 1970s. Maggie weaves together a fascinating tale of paramedics, police officers, and homeless citizens (skels) with famous literature and music.

In our interview Maggie talks about the origin of the term “Skels” – a New York term that is used as a noun and as a verb. Skels was written over 10 years while Maggie was working as a medic. To write the book Maggie tried to imagine that the homeless people she knew were more complex and have a deeper back-story than what is readily apparent.

She tried to capture what it felt like to be one of the first female paramedics in New York City. She wanted to show EMS to the world. The patient encounters in the book are graphic and horrific. She tells me that the incidents are based on things that happened, but made as wild as possible. So much in EMS is beyond imagination – the injuries, how people live, the larger than life personalities – that little embellishing is needed to craft a fictional narrative.

Since interviewing Maggie I was able to finish Skels. Most EMS literature is firsthand accounts of working as a paramedic where the author is the main character and the plot is their life. The themes are the lessons the author learned working as a paramedic. Since Skels is a novel, Maggie, was able to write a plot with several twists, plant characters early in the book that play a central role together, and write about themes of counter-culture, addiction, family, and moral ambiguity. I really enjoyed how she used EMS as the backdrop to a powerful story.

Our interview concluded with Maggie encouraging authors to “Find your own true voice. Write about what you really feel and see. And react to it.”

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In addition to a strong and highly professional online presence having and maintaining a resume is essential for EMS professionals. These are my Everyday EMS Tips for your resume:

Layout:
Consider two or more pages, especially if you are applying for a supervisory or educator position. Cramming years of experience and certifications into a single page either leads to leaving out essential information, using a small font, or me wondering why you have done so little in your career.

Formatting:
Don’t start bullet point lines with “-” because it is the negative or minus symbol. This is just a subtle way to set the tone for your resume.

For each position write three to six action oriented bullets of responsibilities and accomplishments.

Social Networking:
Since I am going to Google you and look for your profile at LinkedIn, YouTube, and Facebook you might as well give me links to those places. If you are applying for jobs and already have a social networking presence make sure to do some housekeeping of old photos, videos, or status updates that don’t feature your finest moments.

If you have a blog, write a post that links to your top 3 posts that represent you at your best. Include that link in your resume. Don’t let me flail around your blog and stumble into one of your low points. Instead help me find the best of the best.

Over-Share:
Don’t have an online presence? Wow. Now is the time to get started. When I Google you I want to find something and you should know that it will be something good. Join EMSConnect and participate in discussions. Follow blogs of EMS professionals and add comments to posts that strike a chord with you or when you want to learn more.

Paper and Printing:
Please nothing fancy. Just a nice weight white paper with high quality printing.

Cover Letter
Your cover letter is the best place to separate yourself from the other candidates. You can generally assume all the other candidates have the same basic degrees, certifications, and work experience. What makes you different? A few things to highlight might be:

• Ability to work with others
• Demonstrations of professionalism
• Problem solving abilities
• Innovative and effective solutions to persistent problems

What are your resume and cover letter tips?

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Hero Pants, the first book by paramedic Jim Haden, is a compilation of stories from his more than 2o years of experience as an EMS professional in the heartland of the United States. The title, Hero Pants, comes from one of the chapters of the book. If you wear your EMS gear everywhere, even when you are hours and/or hundreds of miles from your response area, you are wearing Hero Pants. Jim told me that the book chapters are “mostly humorous and some are series.”

Jim has seen EMS from all perspectives. He began with a volunteer department, flew as a flight medic, worked as an EMS coordinator, and now works for a private EMS agency in Souix City, Iowa. Jim has also seen the perspective of EMS as a bystander when his neighbor became ill suddenly. Jim described that experience in one of his favorite chapters – If Only. Jim also shares during the interview some of his other favorite stories from the book.

For aspiring authors Jim talks about how he began the process of writing a book. One of his goals, that you probably share, is to help others understand what we do as paramedics.

After listening to Jim you can purchase a copy of Hero Pants (Amazon link), connect with Jim on Facebook, and visit his website JimHaden.com. Jim is also available for radio, podcast, conference, book reading, and book signing events. Contact him through his website to schedule an appearance.

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Paramedic: On the Front Lines of Medicine was the first book by Peter Canning, political speech writer turned paramedic. In this Medical Author Chat for Everyday EMS Tips Peter shares how he became a paramedic after the U.S. Senator he worked for lost an election. After watching the ambulances drive by his apartment Peter pursued EMT training to “use his hands.”

Paramedic collected the stories that Peter wrote at the end of each work day about his experiences on the streets. In the interview Peter and I discuss how he got started as a paramedic, why he started writing about his experiences, and his current writing projects. Paramedic is an account of his first year on the job. After Paramedic Peter wrote a second book, Rescue 471: A Paramedic’s Stories based on the interesting experiences he continued to have. He continues to write on his blog MedicScribe.com, has written an unpublished novel featuring EMS, and is contemplating how to pull together many years of blog posts into another book.

Peter and I also discussed the impact of blogging on sharing experiences and how having his own blog has impacted his patient care. He told me that while his employers have always known about his blogging and book writing many of his co-workers don’t even know that he has published a book or still regularly blogs about his work in the field.

Paramedic: On the Front Lines of Medicine (Amazon Link)
Rescue 471: A Paramedic’s Stories(Amazon Link)

An EverydayEMSTips.com reader suggested that I talk to Peter for Medical Author Chat. If you would like to suggest an author for this podcast email me the author’s name, book(s) titles, and contact information (if you have it). greg dot friese at everydayemstips dot com

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Thomas Middleton was a firefighter, EMT, RN, and member of the Vermont National Guard. In 2005 his unit was called to duty for the ongoing mission in Iraq. In episode 4 of Medical Author Chat from EverydayEMSTips.com Tom describes his experiences and the lessons he learned as an infantry combat medic. The lessons he wrote about in Saber’s Edge (Amazon Link) are based on his real life experiences and are for combat medics, urban/suburban EMS professionals, military tacticians, and for people of faith.

In our conversation Tom and I discussed why he went to war, how and why he transferred from the relative comfort of an aid station to the streets as a combat medic doing patrols and missions in Ramadi, how he learned to stay cool and mission focused in a high stress environment, and his advice for other EMS and medical professionals that aspire to be professional writers.

Tom has given me a signed copy of Saber’s Edge to give to a podcast listener. After you listen leave a comment about the interview/book, a question for Tom, or an author recommendation in the comments area. In mid-December I will ask Tom to choose a winner and I will send that person the book.

To learn more about Tom or schedule an interview or appearance with him visit his website SabersEdgeBook.com. Also read Tom’s EMS Magazine Article, Lessons from the Battlefield, at EMSResponder.com.

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Kris Kaull of EMS1.com describes the challenge and benefits of the Crossfit training program. Crossfit combines strength, endurance, aerobic, and flexibility exercises into a functional fitness routine. Kris shares this explanation just after I had my first Crossfit experience with Kris at the 2009 National Association of EMS Educators conference in Orlando. I was sore for days but I enjoyed the mix of activities and the high intensity during the workout.

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Today is World Stroke Day. The purpose of this day is “to communicate a unified message to the world: stroke is a preventable and treatable catastrophe, and together we can fight this growing epidemic.” Learn more about World Stroke Day from the World Stroke Organization.

All EMS Professionals should know the signs and symptoms of a stroke, how to assess a stroke using a prehospital stroke assessment scale, and the most appropriate destination for stroke patients in their service area. Follow these Everyday EMS Tips to learn more about Stroke.

1. Visit RapidCE.com to take a continuing education lesson on stroke assessment and treatment. 1.0 CECBEMS approved CE available for ALS and BLS providers.

2. Listen to an Everyday EMS Tips interview with Dr. Joseph Clark, a neuroscientist at the University of Cincinnati. Dr. Clark is a former EMT that researches medical devices for prehospital stroke detection.

3. Join the MedicCast extra. There you will find numerous articles, podcasts, and other resources about stroke and other medical emergencies.

4. View additional resources on StrokeS from the CDC.

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This week is the EMS Expo in Atlanta, Georgia. During the expo thousands of EMS professionals will be walking the tradeshow floor to learn about latest innovations in EMS products from hundreds of exhibitors. I am often surprised at how few vendors can quickly determine if A) I need their product and B) Describe the product to me in a few seconds to help me realize my need for their product.

The length of time (or characters) we are given to communicate any message is rapidly decreasing. Twitter is teaching its users to introduce a thought, idea, or product and make a call to action in 140 characters or less. Tradeshow vendors should anticipate an audience that will tolerate short pitches while being distracted.

If you are ever in a position (you already are or will be) to pitch yourself, your product, or your agency you should take a few minutes and read this ebook from Jim Kukral, Quick Tips to Improving your Pitch at a Tradeshow.

If you are thinking, “I never have to pitch anything,” let me suggest a few times when you will be “pitching.”

1. Applying for a new job or promotion.

2. Asking your department to purchase a new piece of patient care or assessment equipment.

3. Describing a blog project to your supervisor.

4. Explaining the importance of child passenger safety seat use to parents.

5. Reporting budget needs to a board of directors.

You have an individual and organizational brand, even as public safety agency, that you are pitching much more often than you realize.

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Paramedic, Disaster Response Volunteer, and EMS Educator Sam Bradley discusses her contributions to the book,To the Rescue: Stories from Healthcare Workers at the Scenes of Disasters, with Greg Friese of EverydayEMSTips.com. Listen to Sam in this audio interview discuss her involvement with a California Disaster Medical Assistant Team (DMAT), her units response to New York City after the September 11th terrorist attacks, and the cathartic experience of sharing her stories in this book and other writing projects. Sam shares a favorite story from the book.

Sam concludes the interview with advice for EMS professionals that are aspiring authors. Learn more about Sam and connect with her at her blog.

Have you read this book? What did you think? Are you working on your own EMS memoirs? Share your thoughts and ideas in the comments area.

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