Post-Application Success Strategies for Wildland Firefighters
Watching a burn out come together before we move on
What to do after you’ve applied to help yourself get hired
After you submit your applications, the waiting game begins. Here’s how to give yourself the best possible chance of getting a job at your preferred place or find a different opportunity in fire.
Contact Hiring Officials
Your applications are in and you are just waiting to hear back from prospective employers. If you really want a certain job or to be in a certain area, CALL OR EMAIL THEM! Cold calls are part of the job process (If you are just starting out please do not call smokejumper bases. They aren’t hiring people with zero fire experience).
You will stand out and put a personality to a name on their list and show you really want the job. You can find numbers and emails a number of ways.
The best way is to look at the job announcement you applied for at USAJobs.gov and see if contact information is listed in the Summary or Agency Contact sections.
The next best way is to find the outreach announcements that are put out by each individual forest/national park/BLM zone/ etc. They usually come out shortly before the jobs are posted in USAJobs.gov. They have all the fire jobs broken down by job announcement, crew type, location, and how to contact hiring officials for each crew.
They also have a timeframe for hiring and when to expect interest calls and when they are making hiring decisions.
I’ve primarily worked for the Forest Service so I’m most familiar with their hiring process and get internal emails about their timelines. The BLM and National Park Service (NPS) fall under the federal Department of the Interior (DOI) so they have some different hiring practices and their job postings are generally open for longer time periods than the Forest Service.
The above outreach is the 2025 temp outreach for the Payette NF in Idaho so you know what one looks like and all the info it contains. They finally made all available outreaches searchable and include contact info for specific positions.
Here it is: Outreach Search Page
You can also call the front desk for a forest and ask this information, but the outreach is the best way to get to who you really want to talk to and not waste time.
Another is to look on this page (scroll down to the Positions Available Nationwide section) then click on the region you applied for and look for contact info.
Once you get your contact info, get busy and reach out. Have your resume PDF ready to attach if you’re emailing and tell them a little about yourself, why you want to work in that area, and why you’d be a great hire. Leave a message if they don’t answer.
Ask questions about the crew, the area, the fitness standards, what their fire seasons are like, and if they have housing (if you will need it). If you can arrange a visit and meet in person, even better!
If you’re calling lots of places, maybe make some notes as to who you talked to, if the conversation went well, and if you think it’d be a good fit for you.
USAJobs Application Status
As fire season approaches you will start receiving notices about changes to your application status in USAJobs. First you’ll get emails about the status change and you can check it in your HOME section of USAJobs.
The normal flow is from RECEIVED to REFERRED or NOT REFERRED.
RECEIVED means “The hiring agency has received your job application.”
REVIEWED means “The hiring agency has reviewed your job application, but has not yet determined if you’re qualified.”
REFERRED means “Your application was reviewed and determined to be among the Best Qualified. You will be referred to the Hiring Official. If you are selected for an interview you will be notified directly. Your USAJOBS application status will not be updated until a final hiring decision has been made.”
NOT REFERRED means “Your application has been reviewed. You have been determined to be eligible but not amongst the best qualified based on the quality of work experience and/or education as indicated by your responses to the occupational questionnaire or lack of supporting documents (i.e., transcripts).”
UNAVAILABLE means “The status of your application cannot be determined at this time.” Generally you did something wrong or submitted it before it was complete.
REFERRED is good! This is when you may start receiving interest emails/calls about whether you are still interested in the position and to schedule interviews. They can be very short windows (less than 24 hours to respond in some cases) so make sure your phone message inbox isn’t full and to check your email frequently once your application status changes. Hopefully you’ve already reached out and you’re on their short list of people to hire.
You didn’t get hired or missed the application deadlines
There are other options. Private contractors, such as Grayback Forestry, Fire Trax, Miller Timber, and PatRick, are mostly based in Oregon with other bases around the west. These fire positions are generally on-call work so you need a flexible work schedule and the pay is lower than federal crews. However, it’s a totally fine way to get into wildland fire and get some experience.
The Nature Conservancy, the California/Montana/Arizona/Minnesota Conservation Corps, and the various Forest Service run Job Corps programs all have wildland fire crews.
There are also winter prescribed fire crews hired for pile burning or out east for broadcast burning that you can find in the off season on USAJobs.gov.
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