Why is it that there are always 1000 people applying for each opening in both the fire and police departments?
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There never were a thousand (or even a hundred — often, not even 10) people applying for an opening in the cities I’m familiar with. As a matter of fact, many departments were having a very difficult time trying to find **qualified** applicants for these jobs over the past few years. Times are changing, and the number of applicants will obviously go up during hard times, but when realtors and mortgage brokers are earning six-figure salaries++, you can bet nobody wants to be a cop or firefighter for $50,000/yr.
When you hear stories about thousands of applicants for firefighter/cop openings, it’s when they advertise for “entry level” applicants where the only requirement is a high school diploma. They have to do this because of affirmative action requirements (you can debate whether or not this is a good move, but that’s a whole ‘nother rant). Very few women or minorities put themselves through fire/police academy and paramedic certification classes, so they have to open it up to absolutely everybody when advertising the openings.
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As for the veterans…I also believe they are not paid nearly enough for what they do. Not even close.
This country would be far better off if we valued our vets over Wall Street theives, but until that situation is fixed, we get what we get. 🙁
