Questions about the dispatcher position?

[istilllovejb]

Are dispatchers required to take a polygraph test? I am only at the process where all my documents have been submitted to the background investigator. What are the next steps? Even for dispatcher, is it an oral interview and polygraph test? Any help would be appreciated=o)

[Johninaustin]

Yes to all of the above.

[istilllovejb]

Thank you. Do you know about how long in between they contact you for these things?

[Johninaustin]

You really should ask the agency you are applying for. Here, about a month to 6 weeks.

[istilllovejb]

Thanks. I left a message for the background investigator today... I was just panicked because I will be out of town the week of the 13th, so i wanted her to know. I don't want them to send me something while I'm gone haha.

[Lena]

Hi there! I'll share with you my experiences in applying for dispatch jobs.

The hiring process seems to be agency dependent. If the hiring agency has a LOT going on and they have an efficient hiring/training unit that continuously accepts applicants(it was told to me that there's only like 6% retention in the dispatching field)- they may contact you within 2 weeks of application submission. Other departments that don't accept applications continuously may take up to a couple months to contact you.

So, you are waiting
1. to see if they've accepted your application and invited you to test
2. to test
3. to see if you've passed the test and they've invited you to the next process
4. I haven't gotten this far in the dispatch testing yet, but the next part for a civilian CO position I had applied for was the oral panel. Once the oral panel interviews have been completed they
5. certified a certain amount of prospectives to interview with the department, the rest were placed on an employment list for a year
6. I'd think that there is probably still 5 or 6 more steps- background, psych, fingerprint, polygraph- all of which Dispatchers are expected to complete, so it's a very lengthy process.

One consistency I've seen in all agencies- is time- even though dispatchers are not sworn and do not carry a gun, they have nearly the same public contact and are representing the agency just the same. I'd assume this is the reason for the lengthy hiring process as compared to other career fields.

[istilllovejb]

Thank you for all of that information=o)

My background investigator spoke with me last week, and said all I had to complete was the medical, and then I was done. She also said they were 'on her' to finish my report because training started soon. I asked her about the psych/polygraph thing and she that is only if she feels it's necessary, and she didn't find anything that would make her think that. I go for my medical today, hopefully all is well with that

[Roger Dat]

Good luck with your med

[istilllovejb]

Thank you, I'm so nervous haha