Emotional Skills

Emotional skills refer to a broad set of skills that might be thought of as Emotional Intelligence.  These skills include Optimism, Personal Influence, Self Control and Impulse Control, Respect for Authority, and Ethics.  These are skills and values that are generated within a person and are demonstrated in the person’s integrity, dependability, initiative, and self confidence.


Interpersonal Skills

Interpersonal skills have been ignored by traditional selection tests, yet the ability to deal with others is one of the most important skills a firefighter and law enforcement officer can have.  Interpersonal skills refer to the various abilities required to deal effectively and positively with others.  These skills include Compassion and Empathy, Teamwork, Conflict Resolution, Oral Communication, Service Orientation, and Flexibility.  This test component has a strong multicultural basis and measures an applicant’s ability to work cooperatively and effectively with diverse groups of people, within the department in which they work, and with members of the public.
 

Practical Skills

Practical skills refer to the ability to handle everyday problems and situations, to understand how to work with people, how to accomplish goals, and how to use good judgment and common sense in everyday work and life.  Firefighters and lae enforcement officers must be able to think clearly, quickly, and logically in complicated situations.  They must be able to identify, analyze, and solve problems.  Part of solving complicated problems is the ability to recognize several different ways of doing so and choosing the most effective solution in each particular situation.  This test component includes Problem Solving and Judgment.


Basic Education Skills

This component of the test includes more traditional measures of ability related to the job, such as reading, writing, and mathematical abilities.  Basic Education abilities measure a person’s acquired knowledge (such as ability to do basic mathematics), ability to succeed in job training, and ability to comprehend, learn, and retain information necessary for doing the job.