After successfully completing your preparatory service, including the career examination, you will be assigned to mixed duty (usually 24-hour on-call duty and day duty). There, you will perform administrative tasks in one of our specialist departments or areas of expertise, and you will also be deployed as an operations manager in the field at fire, accident, and other damage sites. 

Once you have successfully completed your preparatory service and passed the career examination for the third entry-level position, you will have the opportunity to advance from fire officer (salary grade A11 LBesO) to senior fire officer (salary grade A12 LBesO) and become a department head, for example.

• A university degree suitable for firefighting service, completed
  with a bachelor's degree or equivalent qualification
• Class B driver's license
• Personal suitability based on overall personality
• Mental and physical health and suitability for firefighting service according to a medical report from a public health officer (fitness for firefighting service) 
• Fulfilment of the requirements under civil service law

Further requirements are:

• Identification with the tasks and objectives of the fire department
• ability and willingness to learn
• Sense of responsibility
• Willingness to work both shifts and day shifts

To qualify for the third entry-level position, you will complete a 24-month preparatory service. Training usually begins on April 1 of each year. The training starts with a basic training course (GAL) lasting around 5 months at another fire department. During the GAL, you will be on day duty from Monday to Friday (unless there are deviations for special training content). 

This is followed by internships in operational service and administrative work at at least two professional fire departments and at a state agency. The internships last at least six weeks each and are completed at other professional fire departments in Germany as well as at the Mainz Fire Department. Internships at other authorities and offices within the city that have interfaces with the fire department in terms of operations or administrative tasks (police, rescue services, trade supervision, building supervision, etc.) are also planned. 

During the preparatory service, trainees qualify as group leaders and, as part of the senior fire inspector training course (B IV), as platoon leaders (usually at the Rhineland-Palatinate Fire Department and Disaster Control Academy). The preparatory service concludes with a career examination.

During the preparatory service, you will be employed as a civil servant in pay grade 9b TVöD by the state capital of Mainz. 

After completing your training, you will be hired as a civil servant on probation in salary grade A10 LBesO. Your salary will then consist of your base salary and general allowances, family allowances if applicable, and a fire department allowance and shift allowance if applicable.

The job advertisement for training as a fire inspector, starting on April 1, is usually published about a year in advance—i.e., in the spring/summer of the previous year.

Ideally, your application should include the following documents:

• Curriculum vitae
• School leaving certificate
• University degree certificate (proof must be provided by the interview at the latest. If the degree certificate is not available at the time of application, an interim certificate/grade point average should be enclosed).
• Work references, if applicable
• Driver's license (Proof must be provided at the time of application.)

After reviewing the documents, we invite suitable applicants to a selection day.

The selection day consists of the following parts:

The athletic portion is designed to determine whether you have the physical requirements necessary for firefighting. Specifically, the test consists of the following components:

• 200 m swim
• Diving
• Cooper test
• Standing long jump
• Pull-ups
• Bench press
• Dummy pull

The practical part focuses on dexterity, orientation skills, a head for heights, and manual dexterity. This includes, among other things:

• Turning ladder climbing
• Breathing apparatus training course

In the written part, you can expect questions and tasks from the areas of logical thinking, general knowledge, and mathematics, among others.

After the tests have been evaluated, suitable applicants will be invited to an assessment center followed by an interview. This will give us the opportunity to get to know each other better and determine whether our mutual expectations match.

A successful interview is followed by the mandatory occupational health and medical examination to assess your health suitability.

As a probationary firefighter, you will generally work in a mixed role after completing your training. In an office role, you will work in an administrative capacity as a section or department manager, for example. In an operational role, you will take on a leadership role and manage large and complex operations. 

• A completed university degree in a technical or scientific field relevant to firefighting or an equivalent qualification 
• A recommendation from the Information and Advisory Center for Training with the Professional Fire Service (IBS-Feu) of the German Association of Cities after performance assessment is desirable.

Otherwise, the requirements are analogous to those for the third entry-level position, i.e.:

• Class B driver's license
• Personal suitability based on the overall picture of the personality
• Mental and physical health and suitability for firefighting service according to a medical report (fitness for firefighting service)
• fulfillment of the requirements under civil service law

Further requirements are:

• Identification with the tasks and objectives of the fire department
• ability and willingness to learn
• Sense of responsibility 
• Willingness to work both shifts and day shifts

You will complete the two-year training program in the form of a preparatory service with various training stages at fire departments throughout Germany and at administrative offices.

Training to become a firefighter trainee usually begins on April 1 or October 1 of each year.

The Mainz Fire Department provides training as needed. Feel free to take a look at our job postings!