As a chief officer, part of your role and responsibility will be hiring new staff for your station. Let’s assume your station is expanding and you must now hire a candidate to fill a deputy chief position.
There are two parts to this assignment. In the first part, you will develop a job description for the new deputy chief. The job description should accurately classify the duties and responsibilities of the position, not the personal qualities you are seeking in a candidate.
Tip: Your description should answer the question “What does the person in this role actually do?” as opposed to what kind of person do I want in this position?” Research other deputy chief job descriptions from various fire departments to help guide you as you develop this assignment.
The assignment aid Preparing a Job Description offers some basic guidance.
Part 1: You must create an original job description and training plan based on the needs you have identified as the chief officer. Do not simply revise and submit a job description you find online or have access to at your place of employment. You must create this job description and the subsequent training plan in a way that demonstrates your understanding of leadership concepts presented in this course.
Remember, as the chief officer, your leadership involves setting the tone, vision, and direction of the organization. The job description and training plan you develop will help communicate your objectives. Keep in mind this is a detailed job description, not a job posting.
Your job description must identify at a minimum:
the title of the position,
job duties and responsibilities (including span of control),
required qualifications,
preferred qualifications, and
working conditions.
Part 2: You must outline an education and training plan for this position that will be implemented once a candidate has been hired. This should contain a synopsis of the professional development trajectory you expect the new deputy chief to follow.
Your education and training plan should address the following requirements.
Include expected training and education goals.
Tip: Recall your preferred qualifications in your job description. How will the deputy chief work to achieve qualifications they have yet to attain? What knowledge, skills, or abilities do you ultimately want your deputy chief to possess? Remember, a critical aspect of your leadership as chief is developing others and planning for future needs.
Include possible training and education resources.
Correlate data you have compiled from your research and trend analysis to future planning efforts. Specifically, address the new deputy chief’s responsibility of spearheading the Community Risk Reduction (CRR) initiative you proposed in the Unit III assignment. What training or professional development will this position require to attain the goals of your proposal?
Factor in any relevant information presented in the first two assignments in this course. For example, how will the new deputy chief position affect the organizational structure (Unit I) and what training and development is needed for the new supervisory duties? What professional development will help the new deputy chief need to help address the service call trends you previously identified (Unit II)
Your job description should be one page in length. Your education and training plan should be a minimum of two, but no more than three pages. Combine the two parts into one document to upload in Blackboard.
