Contract: Permanent
Working Hours: 42 hours per week, Grey Book Terms & Conditions*
Salary: £51,525 per annum
Location: Brentwood, Ongar, Ingatestone
The role:
Our Station Managers are vital to Essex County Fire & Rescue Service (ECFRS) in delivering our key objectives. As the leaders of our stations, departments, and teams, they are responsible for the delivery of station plans, whilst ensuring the wellbeing and development of their people, as well as being points of contact and subject matter specialists for the various areas of focus across the Service.
We currently have a substantive opportunity for a Station Manager within the South-West Command group of Stations managing Brentwood wholetime, and Brentwood On-Call, Ongar and Ingatestone On-Call stations.
The right person:
As a role model to their teams, our Station Managers are accountable, credible, authentic and inclusive, able to demonstrate they live the Service Values and the Fire Service Code of Ethics.
We are looking for people who can demonstrate outstanding leadership and will use their personal impact as a line manager to support organisational change and improved community outcomes. You will be essential as we continue to develop cultural values and behaviours that make the fire and rescue service a great place to work for all our people, as well as develop ways of working that enhance our ability to be able to respond to service needs.
You will have a commitment to the safeguarding and wellbeing of our people, and will lead on developing others, with a commitment to the continuous improvement of services to the public by strengthening our ability to provide a good service by diversifying our workforce and developing new approaches and creating a fair and equal place to work.
The recruitment / promotion process
Eligibility
To be eligible to apply for these opportunities, you must:
be in a substantive role as a Watch Manager (wholetime / day-duty) for a minimum of twelve months, or are Station Manager (or equivalent), within a UK Fire and Rescue Service
have successfully completed all relevant operation assessments and compulsory courses, and are competent in your current role
hold Incident Command verification Level 1* and be able to attain Level 2 within six months of the offer of the role
either already hold a valid Officer ERD qualification or successfully achieve this within six months of appointment to the role (for the reasons detailed immediately above)*
be able to travel around the county as required, to visit all ECFRS fire stations and sites not be subject to any current live disciplinary or performance warnings, nor be subject to any informal management for reasons of conduct or performance have a valid and current FiTech of 42 VO2 max, or be actively engaged in a programme of fitness agreed under the Fitness policy
*Should candidates who are successful in being offered a role subsequently not be able to attain the Incident Command Level 2, or the Officer ERD qualification within six months (where courses have been reasonably available), the Service’s Performance Management policies will be applied, which could result in redeployment.
If you are an internal candidate, you must have discussed your application with your line manager and confirmed with them there are no outstanding issues of conduct or performance. This will be verified prior to shortlisting and candidates who have not done so may be withdrawn from the process.
Stage 1 – Application
External candidates (currently Station Manager and Watch Manager, or equivalent)
You will be required to submit a supporting statement of no more than 1000 words that demonstrates how you meet the essential criteria of the Station Manager Person Specification. You may submit this either as a word document, pdf, or an mp3 (voice note) or mp4 (video), however the word count must not exceed 1000 words no matter which format you choose to present your application.
You may attach a separate document (such as a CV) should you wish, though your additional document will only be referred to in shortlisting to confirm eligibility (e.g., your current role and any existing qualifications).
Internal candidates (Station Manager, or Watch Manager in the Resource or Development pool)
Once you have discussed your interest in applying with your line manager, all you need to do is click Apply in Civica. If you are an existing Station Manager, or a Watch Manager in the Resource pool, you will join at Stage 3. If you are a Watch Manager in the Development pool, you will join at Stage 2.
If you progressed to the interview stage as a result of your performance in the Station Manager process (Summer 2023 – invited to interview) all you need to do is click Apply in Civica and you will join at Stage 3.
Internal candidates (currently Watch Manager, not in the Resource or Development pool)
Once you have discussed your interest in applying with your line manager, you will be required to submit a supporting statement of no more than 1000 words that demonstrates how you meet the essential criteria of the Station Manager Person Specification. You may submit this either as a word document, pdf, or an mp3 (voice note) or mp4 (video), however the word count must not exceed 1000 words no matter which format you choose to present your application.
You may attach a separate document (such as a CV) should you wish, though your additional document will only be referred to in shortlisting to confirm eligibility (e.g., your current role and any existing qualifications).
The closing date for all applications will be 5pm, Wednesday 31 January 2024
Stage 2 – Assessment & Development Centre (ADC)
The ADC will comprise of a range of activities that will collect evidence in line with indicators taken from the NFCC Leadership Framework (Leading the Function), ECFRS’ Service Values, and the Code of Ethics.
The ADC will last approximately three hours, and will include:
a presentation,
focused discussions with employee groups, and a potential peer group,
an operational assessment,
a media exercise
Further details and the topics of the ADC activities will be confirmed to shortlisted candidates at the time.
The ADC is anticipated to take place in the weeks commencing 12 and 19 February 2024 at ECFRS Service Headquarters, Kelvedon Park. If you are applying and are not available during this week, please let recruitment@essex-fire.gov.uk know.
Stage 3 – Role specific interview
The final stage will be a panel interview chaired by the Group Manager for the vacancy
It is anticipated that the panel interviews will take place in the weeks commencing 19 and 26 February 2023.
Should you wish to have an informal discussion about the role, please contact Group Manager Mark Eaglestone – 07887 715334 or mark.eaglestone@essex-fire.gov.uk
For any queries about the process, please contact recruitment@essex-fire.gov.uk
Additional:
Lateral moves (External candidates)
If you are a Station Manager (or equivalent) in a UK Fire and Rescue Service looking to transfer into Essex as a Station Manager, we would very much welcome your application. We would be happy to establish a point of contact for you from within ECFRS and you will be required to undergo all three stages of the recruitment process.
Lateral moves (Internal candidates)
The internal Transfer List was reviewed at the point of confirming the current vacancies and, to the best of our knowledge, there are no individuals with an eligible transfer request for the current Station Manager vacancy. If you are an existing Station Manager within ECFRS who has been in their role for a minimum of twelve months and are interested in being considered for any of the current vacancies, please discuss with your current line manager (verification of this will be sought) and then click Apply via Civica self-service to submit an expression of interest and you will join at stage three of the process.
No T1’s will be accepted whilst the recruitment process is in progress.
Flexi-rota
Please note that none of the roles being recruited to are automatically aligned to the flexi-rota. Flexi status is not applied as a result of any promotion, irrespective of the role. Any invitation to join the flexi-rota is entirely at the discretion and authorisation of the Operations department and is based on organisational and operational requirements. It is the expectation that all newly appointed Station Managers will commence their new role on a day-duty basis.
DDOR
As an operational employee, you will be required to maintain operational competency, and support availability, and may be required work from various stations across the county, in line with our Day-Duty Operational Ridership (DDOR) guidance. This is a requirement of the role and an essential condition to maintaining Grey Book terms and conditions.
We are an equal opportunities, Disability Confident, employer who welcomes applications from everyone and values diversity in our workplace. A commitment to promoting diversity and developing a work environment where all staff are treated with dignity and respect is central to our recruitment process and all applications will be considered solely on merit.
As part of our offer to support all our candidates to perform to the best of their abilities during our recruitment and selection processes and we would like to let you know about a couple of support options you can access, should you wish to, including our employee forums, who are keen and willing to support all of our potential colleagues.
Our employee forums and partners include:
Asian Fire Services Association (AFSA), BEING (our LGBTQ+ employee support network), Christian Fellowship, Ethnic Minority Forum, Men’s Forum, and our Women’s Forum. In addition, we also have a female firefighters operational group.
Further to the above, the Service has a Digital Accessibility Inclusion Group (DAIG) that supports all colleagues to improve their digital skills and provides additional support and guidance to colleagues with neurodivergent strengths and struggles as a result of dyslexia, ADHD, Autism, dyspraxia etc. We want everyone to thrive at work, and so we encourage and enable people to access digital tools to help them perform at your best. The DAIG is a group of colleagues from across the Service that unite to support others as a result of their lived experience and desire to make a difference. They support people with a range of visible and invisible disabilities to identify and access digital workplace adjustments and solutions and may be able to assist with your application too.
Should you wish to discuss support, or access further information, from one of these groups, please contact equalitydiversity@essex-fire.gov.uk
You are also able to raise any queries or requests for support, including any adjustments you may require, at any stage of the process by email to recruitment@essex-fire.gov.uk
You can find out more about Essex County Fire & Rescue Service via www.essex-fire.gov.uk and about our vacancies, application processes and benefits via https://join.essex-fire.gov.uk
Our Culture and Benefits
Here at Essex County Fire and Rescue Service we are committed to prioritising and promoting the wellbeing of our employees.
You can find out more about our benefits here:
Benefits of working with us | Essex County Fire and Rescue Service (essex-fire.gov.uk)
Safeguarding
Essex Police, Fire and Crime Commissioner Fire and Rescue Authority is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and vulnerable adults and expects all employees and volunteers to share this commitment.
It is our policy to require all applicants for employment to disclose if you are currently being investigated by any regulatory body or have any decisions or sanctions pending or in progress in respect of your suitability to work for the Service.
You agree to inform the Service within 24 hours if you are subsequently investigated by any agency or organisation in relation to concerns about your behaviour towards children, young people or vulnerable adults.
The information you provide will be treated as strictly confidential and will be considered only in relation to the appointment for which you are applying.
This role may be subject to a standard/enhanced Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) check.