more dumb EMT/ER Tech questions

[thirdunity]

Well - I located an EMT-B class that's over the summer - looks like I'll be doing that.

Some questions I have:

1) What are the hours like? Can I work part-time (20 hrs/week)? Can it be scheduled to do two or three long days per week, rather than four-six hours a day? This is an easier thing for me with school.
2) What am I going to have to do to find my first job? How easy in general is it going to be to find work? This is a deal for me because I'm leaving an industry where I spent more time on unemployment than I ever spent working. I want to get into something where there's always going to be work.
3) I won't be able to get a car until after I've been working a few months. So I'm not so flexible on the hours. I have to be able to get to work while public transit runs. Will this be a problem?
4) How flexible with school? I've had a lot of part-time jobs that turned out not to be as flexible as you'd think they would be.

I have an online-buddy who is a CNA and finds the hours workable with school - she is going to nursing school and has no trouble fitting her work around school. Let me know what you think. I am still weighing all my options.

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[Tas]

Well - I located an EMT-B class that's over the summer - looks like I'll be doing that.

Some questions I have:

1) What are the hours like? Can I work part-time (20 hrs/week)? Can it be scheduled to do two or three long days per week, rather than four-six hours a day? This is an easier thing for me with school.
2) What am I going to have to do to find my first job? How easy in general is it going to be to find work? This is a deal for me because I'm leaving an industry where I spent more time on unemployment than I ever spent working. I want to get into something where there's always going to be work.
3) I won't be able to get a car until after I've been working a few months. So I'm not so flexible on the hours. I have to be able to get to work while public transit runs. Will this be a problem?
4) How flexible with school? I've had a lot of part-time jobs that turned out not to be as flexible as you'd think they would be.

I have an online-buddy who is a CNA and finds the hours workable with school - she is going to nursing school and has no trouble fitting her work around school. Let me know what you think. I am still weighing all my options.

I'll try to help...

1) Hours are often 12 or 24 hr shifts. Where I work, there are actually 3 8 hrs shifts a week that can be had, but I do not know how common these are.

2) There are almost always job openings for EMTs somewhere, however, you should check with the people in the area you wish to work, only they can tell you what the prospects are.

3) I'm not sure what hours public transit runs. Perhaps you could be-friend a fellow emt for a ride (make sure to help with gas tho!)

4) I can only speak for where I work, my workplace works around school hours for some of our EMTs, although studying while on the job usually is entirely up to how many runs you get. This is another area you need to check with the local service for answers.

 

[Febrifuge]

Well - I located an EMT-B class that's over the summer - looks like I'll be doing that.

Cool. That's how I did mine, in 2003. Nine weeks of insanity, then the written and practical tests.

Some questions I have:
1) What are the hours like? Can I work part-time (20 hrs/week)? Can it be scheduled to do two or three long days per week, rather than four-six hours a day? This is an easier thing for me with school.

Depends. Maybe. Check with the places you'd work. If shifts are always and only 8 hours or 12, do you consider 12 to be a "long" day? Can you find half-shifts available?

2) What am I going to have to do to find my first job? How easy in general is it going to be to find work? This is a deal for me because I'm leaving an industry where I spent more time on unemployment than I ever spent working. I want to get into something where there's always going to be work.

Depends. Depends. Totally. Again, the only answer is the one you get from your own specific institution; where I work the clinical assistant-types are all over the place. Some have regular shifts and some (like me) call in once a month and get a shot at whatever holes are in the schedule. If I want 8 hours and there are 8 hours, I can take them. If I can only do 6 because I work my other job, I take 6.

3) I won't be able to get a car until after I've been working a few months. So I'm not so flexible on the hours. I have to be able to get to work while public transit runs. Will this be a problem?

Maybe. Depends. If you can work the 7am to 3pm shift most of the time, it should be do-able. But be prepared to have unpredictable start and end times, and make sure you know if you miss Bus A, when Bus B is coming.

4) How flexible with school? I've had a lot of part-time jobs that turned out not to be as flexible as you'd think they would be.

If you can land a job that's truly shift-work oriented, and you can work intermittently, it can be excellent for school. You just don't pick up shifts on weeks when there are exams, or what have you.

Good luck!