The San José Fire Department's (SJFD) core mission is to serve the community by protecting life, property, and the environment through prevention and response. SJFD is a high-volume, all-hazards fire department providing fire suppression and rescue services that protects approximately 200 square miles, Advanced Life Support and Basic Life Support services as well as specialized operations including Urban Search and Rescue, Aircraft Rescue Fire Fighting, and a Hazardous Material Unit with a Decontamination Unit. SJFD deploys resources from 34 fire stations, protecting areas within city limits and some unincorporated areas of Santa Clara County by contract. SJFD currently has 720 authorized sworn positions across nine ranks, offering many opportunities for career advancement.
Click here for information on the SJFD Department.
Click here for information on Benefits.
Click here for the California Equal Pay Act
To apply, please complete an application via the City of San José's website at: https://www.sanjoseca.gov/citycareers .
Please note that applications are currently not accepted through CalOpps or any other third party job board application system. To apply, applicants must complete an application via the City of San Jose's website at www.sanjoseca.gov/citycareers . This is the trainee level class in the Firefighter series, responsible for becoming proficient in the understanding of lifesaving and firefighting methods within the SJFD. Through a specific program comprised of general and specialized education, focused training including extensive hands-on experience, Firefighter Recruits will learn diverse tasks, policies, procedures and standards within the SJFD. Incumbents will learn techniques in emergency medical services, rescue work, firefighting and other emergency services. Duties may involve considerable physical exertion and potential risk to health and safety. Work is rigidly structured, highly supervised, and incumbents are continuously evaluated and receive feedback regularly. Firefighter Recruits must graduate from the Academy and be appointed to the class of Firefighter in order to retain employment in the job series.
This recruitment may be used to fill multiple positions in this, or other divisions or departments. If you are interested in employment in this classification, you should apply to ensure you are considered for additional opportunities that may utilize the applicants from this recruitment.
In addition to the salary, employees shall also receive an approximate one percent (1%) ongoing non-pensionable compensation pay.
- Competitive Salary
- Firefighter Recruit: $45.05 hourly, $3,604.00 bi-weekly*
Upon successful completion of the Firefighter-Recruit Academy:
Upon successful completion of the academy, eligible employees may also receive the following additional premium pays:
- Paramedic Pay: 14% of top step Firefighter upon completion of Santa Clara County Paramedic Accreditation process (currently $733.69 bi-weekly)
- Oral Bilingual Pay: 2.5% of top step Firefighter (currently $131.02 bi-weekly)
Education & Training Pay (AA/AS - BS, Fire Science, Fire Technology, Fire Protection Technology): 1.5% of top step Firefighter (currently $78.61 bi-weekly)
Employees hired on or after January 1, 2017, must reside within 120* minutes travel time from the nearest City of San Jose fire station (non-traffic period as calculated by Google Maps or map program mutually agreed to by the parties).
*effective July 1, 2024, the travel time will change to residing within 180 minutes of the nearest
To be considered, the following minimum qualifications are required by the final filing date of
August 2, 2024:
Firefighter Recruit applicants: Must be current on the Firefighter Candidate Testing Center (FCTC) Statewide Eligibility List (SEL) by the final filing date of 08/02/2024. For more information on how to be placed on the FCTC SEL, visit https://www.fctconline.org/find-a-job/fctc-statewide-list/ . A passing score on the FCTC Written Test must be dated between 08/1/2023 and 08/2/2024.
To view upcoming Cal-JAC CPAT and FCTC Written Test dates, click here ( https://www.fctconline.org/candidates/upcoming-test-schedule/ ).
Candidates experiencing financial hardship may qualify for financial aid to pay for their FCTC testing fees. ( https://www.fctconline.org/grants/ )
Education: Graduation from High School or equivalent (G.E.D. or California Proficiency Certificate).
Experience: - Firefighter Recruit- None.
Licenses or Certificates:
- Possession of a valid driver's license at time of application. Must obtain a California driver's license, if issued by another state, prior to promotion to the Firefighter classification.
- Possession of a current and valid State of California Emergency Medical Technician Certification or Certified by the National Registry of Emergency Medical Technicians, Emergency Medical Technician - Basic must be dated after 08/03/2023.
- Proof of a valid Candidate Physical Ability Test must be dated on or after 01/13/2024. (Please note that at time of application submission, a current CPAT must be on file or submitted to FCTC).
REQUIRED LICENSURE AND CERTIFICATION REQUIREMENTS FOR FIREFIGHTER-RECRUIT (PARAMEDIC): - Proof of Paramedic Licensure and Certification as demonstrated by:
- Documentation of successful completion of an approved paramedic training program and successful completion of the National Registry of EMT-Ps written and practical examinations by the date of the written examination and actual possession of a current and valid paramedic license issued by the State of California Emergency Medical Services Authority by 10/22/2024; OR
- Possession of a valid EMT-P certification from another state, territory, country and registration with the National registry of EMT-Ps and actual possession of a current and valid paramedic license issued by the State of California Emergency Medical Services Authority by 10/22/2024; OR
- Possession of a current and valid Paramedic license issued by the State of California Emergency Medical Services Authority by 10/22/2024.
Desirable Qualifications:- Possession of current and valid State of California Emergency Medical Services Authority Paramedic License by 10/22/2024.
- Possession of a Bachelors (BS or BA) degree or Associates (AS or AA) degree from an accredited college or university.
- Possession of a Fire Science/Fire Technology Certificate from an accredited college.
- Completion of 30 semester units (or equivalent) from an accredited college with at least 15 semester units (or equivalent) in Fire Science/Fire Technology.
- Possession of California State Fire Marshal Firefighter I Certification or equivalent.
- Possession of California State Fire Marshal Firefighter II Certification or equivalent.
- Bilingual (Arabic, Armenian, Assyrian, Cambodian, Cantonese, Croatian, French, German, Greek, Hmong, Japanese, Korean, Mandarin, Persian, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish, Tagalog, or Vietnamese).
Veterans Preference: The City of San José has a Veteran's Preference Policy ( http://www.sjcity.net/DocumentCenter/View/113 ) that applies to this recruitment. To claim veteran's preference points, you must provide a copy of your honorable military dis
charge form, Form DD214. For more information on the City's Veteran's Preference Policy, visit the link above.
Selection Process: The selection process will consist of an evaluation of the applicant's training and experience based on the application and responses to all the job specific questions. You must answer all questions to be considered or your application may be deemed incomplete and withheld from further consideration. Only the candidates whose backgrounds best match the position will be invited to proceed in the selection process. Applicants deemed most competitive after oral interviews will be required to pass a Fire background investigation, which includes polygraph and psychological screening. Additional phases of the selection process are described below.
Tentative Timeline Personal History Questionnaire
(On-line) :
Week of August 11, 2024 Oral Board Interview
(In Person):
August 24-25, 2024Chief's Interview
(In Person): Starting August 24, 2024 Backgrounds
(In Person):
Week of September 8, 2024 Conditional Offers:
October 23, 2024 Livescan (fingerprinting)/Polygraph/Psychological Review/Medical Examination/Uniform
Sizing/Mask Fit
(In Person):
Week of October 28, 2024 Final Job Offer Notifications:
January 3, 2025 Academy Start Date:
January 13, 2025 *DATES MAY BE SUBJECT TO CHANGE IF NEEDED* You must answer all job-specific questions to be considered for this vacancy or your application will be deemed incomplete and withheld from further consideration.
If you have questions regarding the duties of this position, please email inquiries to
sjfdrecruiting@sanjoseca.gov.
The application deadline is
Friday, August 2, 2024, at 11:59 PM Please allow adequate time to complete the application and submit before the deadline or the system may not save your application. If your online application was successfully submitted, you will receive an automatic confirmation email to the email address you provided. IF YOU DO NOT RECEIVE THE CONFIRMATION, please email CityCareers@sanjoseca.gov and we will research the status of your application. Please contact Human Resources at (408) 535-1285, or Human.Resources@sanjoseca.gov if you have any questions.
