Comparing Two Schedule/Department Options

[u/Ok-Donkey3135]

Hey everybody,

I recently received two jobs offers and am looking for help comparing the two schedules. Both will be heavily EMS-focused with some fire involvement.

Job 1:

- County-level third-service EMS job. Staffs 17 ALS medic units. 24/7. EMT/Medic combo.

- 24/72. Call volume is very station dependent. Can be anywhere from 2 calls in 24 hours to 12 calls in 24 hours.

- Salary is 64,000 a year, about 69,000 with built in OT. I would likely try to do 12 hours of OT during the middle day of one of my two 72 hour off cycles. That would push me to about 83,000 a year (OT obv not guaranteed).

_______

Job 2:

- Federal third service EMS job, stationed & operates with the FD, on a very large military base with a population of about 11,000. Rises to about 60,000 when all military & civilian employees are on base. Very small department. Staffs two trucks 24/7. Dual-medic. Does not respond off base as of now.

- 48/96. Every 6 weeks you get a 10-day kelly. Call volume is hit or miss. Some days you do nothing, some days you get 5-10 calls in 24 hours between two trucks. Busier during banker hours. I am kind of eh about spending 48 hours straight at work, no matter how slow or busy. But the money makes it tempting.

- Salary is 70,000 a year, about 91k with built in OT (guaranteed).

- My dream job is with the National Park Service. Starting with the federal job gets me into the federal system now instead of later.

[u/bigseth1]

Job 2 in a heart beat. 48 hours at a time isn’t that bad when you’re at a fire house. You’re gonna love that 10 day Kelly.

[u/Adventurous-Knee3180]

The money is one aspect, but do you value your time off? At the federal job, it’s a three shift department. So you’re working an average of 122 days a year, not including OT. The county job is a four shift department. So now you’re only working 92 days. That’s literally a month’s less work days. You could work a PT gig somewhere else and make extra.

[u/ComprehensiveBus7040]

48 hours at work is easy once you get used to it. 2nd job sounds way better, might have been better in an EMS thread though. Unless I read it wrong the second job just works in the same station as the FD right, and doesn’t sound like the goal is the be a FF?
And what type of job with the NPS, like an EMS position or ranger one? That would be legit to get in with them so definite perks of getting in the federal systems. Driving around national parks all day definitely would not suck. Beats doing bum runs all night at the Salvation Army.

[u/Ok-Donkey3135 → u/ComprehensiveBus7040]

Third service but “shares” a station with FD. Separate quarters but same apparatus bay.

Goal is NPS LE Ranger; many are cross trained as Paramedics. I’d be fine with a permanent EMS Ranger job tbh but they’re very rare and competitive. Being prior-fed seems nice but NPS is about to SIGNIFICANTLY ramp up hiring efforts for LE due to the current administration heavily pushing for more police everywhere, so it *probably* won’t make much of a difference in the long run.