Apprentice Wholetime Firefighter

Apprenticeship Trainee Firefighter recruitment opens on the 15th– 28th January 2024*.

To be considered for this opportunity you will need to satisfy following eligibility:

• Aged 17 years and 6 months at point of application (and 18 by the time you start your training).
• Hold a UK valid Driving Licence.
• Reside at an address within Surrey, or within 10 minutes' drive from the Surrey border'.
• Hold a full or provisional LGV or be prepared to attain this.

Apprentice Firefighter

With a starting salary of £27,178 per annum as a trainee firefighter, should you be successful this would increase to £28,310 per annum once you complete your training and become a developing firefighter. This would then rise to £36,226 per annum once you would have completed your basic training and become a competent firefighter with us. In addition, you would receive an additional allowance of £1,575 per annum in addition to the annual salary known as Surrey Allowance.

If you would consider working for a forward thinking, progressive Fire and Rescue Service, that would encourage you to develop a wide range of skills and support you in serving your community, then we would welcome your application.

Apprenticeship

Upon joining the service, you would be enrolled onto the Level 3 Operational Firefighter Apprenticeship Programme. The typical duration of this programme is between 18-24 months. Maths and English Level 2 are a requirement of the apprenticeship however, if you don’t already have these, you would be expected and able to complete these alongside your apprenticeship.

During your apprenticeship you would need to compile a portfolio of evidence throughout your development, therefore, Information Computer Technology (ICT) skills are requested as an essential for your application to be successful.

This process is designed for new recruits into the Fire and Rescue Service. If you currently work for another Fire and Rescue Service, please consider applying to work for us through our Inter Service Transfer (IST) route.

The Service

SFRS has the responsibility of protecting over one million people who live in the 650 square miles of Surrey. The Service employs just under 700 people across the county in a variety of roles. Comprising both uniformed and support employees, they all share one vision: With you, making Surrey safer. We do this by:

• Serving the needs of our community.
• Flexibly responding to a constantly changing environment.
• Recognising and embedding diversity and inclusion in everything we do.
• Solving challenges through intelligence driven collaboration, innovation and improvement.

Our Ethical Principles

At SFRS, we believe it is essential to embed our commitment to the Core Code of Ethics and particularly Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI), into every aspect of our work. This is a dual responsibility applying both to our outward facing, community-focussed activities, and to our internal responsibilities to our people and volunteers. Our vision is that everyone representing SFRS will be a community role model.

Details of the course

If you are successful and invited to attend an Apprenticeship Trainee Course programme, the training will be non-residential and would be based at Wray Park Training Centre, Reigate RH2 0EJ.

Whilst at the training centre, the working week would be Monday – Friday. If you are successful and posted to a Fire station, you could be working any of the following shift patterns:

• 224 (Hours of work 09:00 – 18:00 and 18:00 – 09:00)
• Adapted 224 (Hybrid) (Hours of work 07:00 – 19:00 and 19:00 – 07:00)
• Day Crewed (Hours of work 07:00 – 19:00)

The shift patterns we operate are outlined on our website .

Should you be successful you would need to be able to work any one of the shift patterns as outlined above.

We anticipate a high volume of applications to this position and therefore we encourage you to complete your registration and commence your application at the earliest opportunity. Please note the following in relation to your application:

• Please only submit one application as subsequent applications in the system will be disregarded.
• Step 1 - Once you have created an account via the recruitment portal, providing you meet the correct eligibility criteria, you will be emailed inviting you to complete an online assessment which is operated by Arctic Shores.
• Step 2 - Once you have completed the Arctic Shores assessment, you will need to go back into your open application and submit it.

Selection Stages:

• 
  Stage one: application and behavioural assessment (Arctic Shores).
• To support you with your application, it is important that we know in advance, along with the relevant evidence, if you have a disability which requires reasonable adjustments to be put in place. We encourage you to contact the recruitment team at the earliest opportunity via the email below if you need to discuss this further.
• Stage two: Fitness assessment (Multistage Fitness assessment).
• Stage three: Physical (role related) assessments.
• Stage four: Interview.

Please notethat stages 2 and 3 and 4 will all occur on the same day. Currently, these assessments will take place on either 14, 16, 17 or 18 February 2024 at our Wray Park Training Centre RH2 0EJ (Dates may be subject to change).

Spaces on these dates are limited. If you do not secure a place on one of these dates you would need to wait for further dates to be released. Physical and Fitness assessments are carried out first. If you are successful in fulfilling these assessments, you will be asked to remain with us and undertake a group exercise and interview.

Any offer of employment would be conditional upon receipt of satisfactory references, social media vetting and a Data and Barring Service (DBS) check.

Should the Service receive unsatisfactory reference/s or enhanced DBS disclosure, the offer of employment may be withdrawn.

Stage five: Medical Assessment

If you are invited onto a course a medical check would be undertaken at this point.Contracts would be sent out post the medical assessments having been undertaken.

Additional information

• 
  The service reserves the right to close the campaign prior to this date, should we receive a high volume of applicants.

Should you have any technical issues registering your details on the Recruitment Hub please email sfrs.recruiting@surreycc.gov.uk. Please note: this email inbox is not monitored at the weekend.