The job market in California is relatively simple to get into, unless you are trying to make your way as a firefighter. At the latest application drop off for the Oakland Fire Department, there were approximately 3,000 people vying for 23 open positions as a firefighter trainee. To simplify that, 1 out of 130.4 people would land a spot in the academy. The odds aren’t looking very good.

The Oakland Fire Department made the announcement that it would take the first 1,000 applicants that showed up on Saturday, December 1^st at 8am. Ben decided to tag along, so we showed up at 1am on the 1^st just to make sure we got a spot in line within that first 1,000. When we got there, we learned that there had been people standing in line since the 29^th of November… They had been in line for two whole days. I would not want to be outside in Oakland for 48 hours straight.

After standing out in the freezing cold for seven hours, the officials started picking people randomly from the crowd of 3,000 people instead of picking from the front of the line like they had planned on doing. Naturally this made people pretty mad.

Here are some pictures of the unproductive day…

Note the line of people stretched around the building…

There were five entrance points to the plaza where they were accepting applications. This point is where I first started out…

I was pretty far back in the pack, which meant I was further away from the people doing the picking, so I relocated to the Walgreens corner where I would have a better chance…

Another picture of the mayhem…

Yes, the cops were there. I wonder why?...

My unhappy face is directly above the news camera…

The Oakland Police Department was also accepting applications that day. Their line wasn’t very long. Maybe I should become a cop in the 8^th most dangerous city in the nation…

They get to ride these really cool enduros…

Here is a line of people that got picked to turn in their apps. I was not among them…

After being up for 30 hours straight, and standing on the cold concrete for 12 hours and not getting picked, I had had enough. They picked their 1,000 applicants that they said they were going to take, so Ben and I decided to leave.

As I said many times after, I was pretty bummed. I went to the city expecting to drop off my application, and I left with nothing to show for it. God opens some doors and he shuts some doors, but I think this one He swung shut and it bounced right back open again (just like my brothers do with the doors into the house). The next week, Oakland Fire made an announcement that they would be accepting all of the applicants that did not get a chance to turn in their apps on Dec. 1^st. I guess some people made a big stink about how they picked people instead of taking from the front of the line. So on Jan. 12^th I’ll be making another big trip to Oakland. Yipee! I’ll give you another update on the possible career change when I make the next step.

How do you spend your Saturdays?