There's nothing wrong with wanting to be successful and advancing your career. People move up and sometimes down the corporate ladder every day. But what if moving up also means moving out and into another organization? In the excitement that comes with the prospect of a new job opportunity, sometimes taking a step back and looking at all of the facts before making that final commitment could ensure that a planned career move is in your best interest.

At some time in most careers, people go through a promotional process — usually several before retirement. In the fire service, this usually is restricted to the confines of one's own department. As ascending the department hierarchy becomes increasingly competitive and challenging with each level, particularly at the executive ranks, more and more fire service professionals are looking into career opportunities with other departments or like agencies.

Promotional competitiveness in an organization is healthy, but it often results in not enough positions being available for some of those who feel they're ready for increased responsibility. Upward navigation of the promotional staircase means entering a reverse funnel, where fewer and fewer individuals fit with each upward movement. In the fire service there's room for only one at the top: the fire chief.

Keep a level head

As fire officers in unprecedented numbers become highly educated and trained, many look for opportunities to demonstrate their abilities, even if it means leaving their own department to do it. Additionally, fire chiefs themselves are no strangers to the recruitment and pond-hopping dance as some look to parlay current or past successes into a nicer job or, if beset with problems, look for calmer waters. In either case, they still face the same pitfalls of jumping ship too quickly and ending up in a situation where all they can ask themselves is, “Why in the world did I take this job?”

As difficult as it may be to test the free-agent waters, it's important not to get caught up in the “me” factor and keep a level head when making critical decisions that will affect you and those around you. The euphoria of sending in an application, being selected and taking the reins of a new department can be exhilarating. Taking an objective look and forming an opinion of what your potential new job will involve provides a greater chance for ultimately making the right decision on whether to stay or go.

A new fire chief, even from the outside, will enjoy a honeymoon period of good feelings and fellowship for several months after taking a new job. However, when the reality of being the outsider upsets the applecart hits, you will find yourself alone with your decision to move and take the position. When this happens, you need to be rock-solid in the resolve and reasoning that led you to take the position, considering ability over ego, family over self, and wanting to make a difference over wanting to be known.

Don't be so driven at the prospect of a better position that you overlook or forget to evaluate the signs that can make your final decision a constructive one. These signs can come from both yourself and the organization being considered. Before you apply for a position, make list of all known personal and professional issues that could possibly affect and influence your decision. The personal list will be the most obvious, including:

• Individual happiness and fulfillment,
• Family happiness and fulfillment,
• Security,
• Job satisfaction,
• Salary and benefits, and
• Quality of life.

A list of signs to evaluate relative to most organizations may include:

• Culture and climate,
• Labor/management relationship,
• Promotional system,
• Discipline, and
• Wages and benefits.

Financial stability

No matter how good the department you're looking to join, if you can't have secure financial footing going into a new job, you're setting yourself up for possible failure or, at the very least, worry.

Taking an at-will position without a financial backup plan is unwise. This can result, albeit subconsciously and politically speaking, in skewing every potentially dangerous decision you make being skewed with the thought, “Can this cost me my job?” If this thought crosses your mind on a regular basis, your decisions will be prejudiced and based not on what's right but rather by what's safe. Sooner or later your supervisor, or worse your subordinates, would sense your hesitancy in making those tough calls. If this happens, you're done.

Having a pension or some sort of retirement income from another department or previous employer will give you, maybe not the ability to throw caution to the wind, but certainly the confidence to make the right call.

One of the other financial nuances that should cross your mind is the area's cost of living in proportion to the advertised salary. Someone who lives in Louisiana, where the average metropolitan chief's salary is in the $100,000 range, may be awestruck by the salaries listed for positions on the West Coast that well exceed the $150,000 mark.

Housing costs often are the biggest gauge of measuring salary differences and determining how far your new earning power will carry you. A home that costs $200,000 in Tennessee can set you back $600,000 or more in some parts of Florida — that's a 200% increase in your housing costs alone. Unless the salary for the advertised position is also 200% more than what you're currently making or you're prepared to take a substantial step down in residence accommodations, expect to take a cash-income loss in this area. Other commodities and consumer goods are increased across the board in high-rent districts, although not at the same rate as housing.

There are a few ways to move to a higher cost-of-living area while still achieving financial stability. The easiest is to have someone with an M.D. calling you “Honey.” Truthfully, a significant other who earns additional income can sometimes overcome the cost factor associated with moving. A diversely marketable career, such as a nurse, engineer or teacher, also helps.

Family ties

With all of the challenges that inevitably come with taking the reins of a new department, the last thing you'll need is a separate set of challenges waiting for you when you get home. When making a decision to move for a career position, one of the most critical factors is the support of your family.

It won't matter what you personally think about the job, whether it's a great department, great people or a great town. If your family isn't on board with your decision to relocate, you're already starting off in the red. You'll have to overcome their unwillingness to support the move before you can really feel that your decision was the right one, despite any measure of success at your new department.

To head off potential family problems, it's essential to consult your family, specifically your spouse, before seriously considering applying for a position in another area. Discuss your current job situation and desire to look outside of your department for other opportunities. Explain your rationale and motivation for wanting to explore other job possibilities, and together talk about the pros and cons that an eventual move will create. Some of these may include:

• Spouse having to look for new job.
• Children starting at a new school.
• Finding a new home.
• Leaving behind family and friends.
• Coping with higher expenses.
• Overcoming geographical and social differences.

If you think you'll just let your family know after another fire department expresses interest, say at the interview stage, you're asking for trouble. This “no need to worry until there's something to worry about” philosophy, no matter how well intended, will only generate hurt feelings from those left out of a decision that affects the entire family.

Have the discussion with your spouse first. When an amicable consensus is reached that this is the right move, call a family meeting and ask for your children's input. Let them know that their opinion is important and that you are consulting with them, not telling them what you are going to do. When the final decision is made, this family-inclusive approach will give everyone buy-in to the process and make them more receptive to change.

Plan ahead for politics

It's always a good idea to put your foot in the political waters before jumping right in and taking a new job in a new town. The saying “All politics is local” is never truer than for an outsider who takes a senior management position within a body of elected and appointed officials. What may on the surface seem to be a smoothly running machine could have some slipped gears.

Prospective fire chiefs should perform a size-up of the current city administration. Find out when they were elected and when their terms expire. If they're ending one term and planning to run for another, research their margin of victory in the last election and their past competition. Find out if the city manager has been carried over from previous administrations and if he or she expects to be retained.

It's also a good idea to know why and how the last fire chief left. It's possible to do this without appearing nosy and still maintaining your professional credibility. Placing a phone call to the departing chief should be your first step. To make sure you are getting both sides of the issue, contact the union president as well.

If you're uncomfortable contacting someone from the department in play directly, there are other ways to get the low-down on a chief's departure and the area's political climate. The IAFC and its members are a great resource with a wealth of information on fire departments, fire chiefs and area politics. Contacting the fire chiefs in the jurisdiction surrounding the advertised position can provide a good perspective on the department and political environment. Visiting a city's Web site or going through the local newspaper's online archives also can help you glean important information.

You aren't being rude or unprofessional by doing any of the above. This is a major life decision, and you have the responsibility to yourself as well as the department in question to ensure that the circumstances are good for all parties involved. Everybody — you, your current department and the one that hired you — loses if you end up in the wrong place under a false set of pretenses or preconceived notions. If you have questions and concerns, lay them on the table during your interview or conversation with the hiring authority. Better to be told “Sorry, you didn't get the job” than to hear “Congratulations, you're hired!” before landing in a political mine field.

Labor issues

Have you ever wondered why some metro chiefs take positions with smaller departments? Gary Warren, former chief in Austin, Texas, says that management/labor issues were the leading factor in his leaving. He went so far as to describe the negotiating process as downright painful.

Whether the fire department you are looking at has no formal negotiation process or a variable of one of the many being used across the country, such as meet and confer or collective bargaining, the relationship between management and labor is as critical as any single factor when making the decision to join or lead a new department.

Most fire department administrations have a good relationship with their work force. There are always exceptions to the rule, and the occasional horror story that you come across at a conference would lead you to believe that all unions and labor agreements are evil.

For a fire chief coming from the outside, labor and management and their ability to get along is crucial for future success. If there is currently a formal bargaining agreement, study it and know what provisions are mutually exclusive to both factions and those that are favorable to administration or to labor. Find out what areas were changed in the last round of negotiations, which are potential bargaining points in the future and which are considered sacred cows.

Over the years, some of the most notable downfalls of fire chiefs have been when they rode in on a white horse to save some poor department from itself. If a department is chronically dealing with critical labor/management issues, don't believe that you'll be able to waltz in and immediately fix things. This line of thought is usually a carryover from success at a current organization, but those policies may not play well somewhere else.

Some departments have a culture of perpetual turmoil with labor and management viewed as adversarial positions. The easiest way to get the most accurate information is straight from the source. Contact the union president and the outgoing fire chief and ask tough questions about what you have heard, or get with the president of your own union local and ask what he knows or can find out about the situation. Better a little discomfort now than finding out later that your demise had been a foregone conclusion before you ever arrived.

Geographical differences

There are natural geographic and sociological differences particular to certain areas of the country. Before seriously considering a move, their respective sets of challenges should be taken into consideration.

Geographically, an area's environmental conditions should be scrutinized. For most this would probably be an afterthought, but consider that moves of considerable distance which result in climate changes can affect both a person's physiology and psychology.

Imagine someone from a warmer climate taking a position in the far north where low temperatures and winter precipitation test the mettle of even the most seasoned locals. Or take someone from the north and place him in the high heat and humidity of the Southeast where he can quickly overheat and become chronically fatigued.

Those who are unaccustomed to a prolonged dark and rainy season, like those found in the Northwest, may succumb to a physiological and psychological condition known as seasonal affective disorder or SAD. Signs and symptoms of SAD can be mild and manageable, such as moodiness, anxiety, and loss or gain in appetite, but they also can lead to a more severe form of winter depression. Experts attribute this phenomenon to a lack of sunlight and say that the farther north you live, the greater your chances of winter depression.

Sociological changes also can be a shock for you and your family, especially if you're considering a long-distance move. Things that are said and done in some parts of the country may not be widely accepted in another. For instance, the blunt and to-the-point speech of the north can often be offensive to those unaccustomed to hearing it on a regular basis. As a potential new employee or boss, it's essential to contemplate the area's social tendencies and nuances and consider how they will affect you, your management style and your family's ability to adapt.

Warning signs

There are a few warning signs that a jurisdiction looking for a new fire chief may display that should prompt a closer look.

During the interview process, pay close attention to the line of questioning and determine if it's focused on a central theme, such as a series of questions regarding disciplinary matters. This type of inquisition may be obvious or nestled into other questions, perhaps about your management philosophy or how you would handle a certain situation. One or even two questions are acceptable, but a disproportionate number returning to a central theme should send up a red flag.

In this scenario it's perfectly acceptable to comment on the line of questioning at the end of the interview, which lets your interviewers know that you were paying attention and allows you to gauge their natural response. If they become uncomfortable and quickly move past your comment, it may indicate that all is not as it appears.

Turnover is another area to pay particularly close attention to when seeking an outside job with another department. Look at the track record of past fire chiefs and evaluate their tenures. If you see a pattern of numerous short-term engagements, you should look more deeply into the department's history. There may be a legitimate reason, but you need to know the facts if you're expecting a long-term commitment.

Labor support can be a wonderful thing, but when the union is deeply embedded within the city administration, you may want to consider whether this will hinder your management style and plans. Look first at the department's history of cooperation and willingness to change. Then evaluate what position the city administration played when pushed from either the labor or management side. Has the city shown a propensity to side with labor or a tendency to micromanage the department?

Only you will be the one to make the final decision on whether to apply for that outside position. Realize that there are no perfect departments or cities; each has a good and not-so-good side. If it's the right fit, taking an outside position with a new department can offer a host of extraordinary opportunities and tremendous successes for you, your family and the organization that chose you. You owe it to yourself and your loved ones to make an educated decision based on all of the available information and not just that found in the glossy advertisement that attracted you to the job in the first place.

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Brian A. Crawford is an executive assistant chief and 20-year veteran of the Shreveport (La.) Fire Department, currently serving as assistant to the fire chief. He serves on Fire Chief magazine's editorial advisory board and is a member of the IAFC Human Relations Committee. Crawford is a National Fire Academy resident instructor in the management sciences division and is currently a fourth-year participant in the Executive Fire Officer Program. He serves as a Maryland Fire Rescue Institute National Fire Service Staff and Command faculty member and holds a master of arts in industrial psychology, a bachelor of science in organizational management, an associate degree in paramedic, and has been certified as a Louisiana Emergency Manager.