Professional Development

Continuing Education

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Our department's career training program empowers employees with the knowledge, skills, and resources they need to thrive in their professional journeys. We understand that continuous learning and growth are essential for both individual success and the overall success of our organization.

Our program encompasses various classes to prepare our personnel for future promotional opportunities. These offerings cover technical expertise, leadership development, and soft skills enhancement to ensure our employees are well-rounded and adaptable in today's dynamic work environment.

Additionally, we provide guidance on career planning, goal setting, and networking, fostering a supportive community of learners within the department. Our commitment to ongoing education and skill development reflects our dedication to nurturing talent and promoting career advancement for all our personnel. We also support and encourage our personnel to seek outside training opportunities to benefit our organization.

Tuition Reimbursement

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Gwinnett Fire and Emergency Services encourages continuing education (accredited colleges, universities, and technical school courses) through its tuition reimbursement program.

Employees who have worked for Gwinnett County for at least two years are eligible to participate in the County’s Tuition Reimbursement Program. 

Opportunities for Promotion

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Gwinnett Fire and Emergency Services offers excellent opportunities for promotion and advancement within the agency. Our entire Command Staff, including the Fire Chief, began their careers at our academy as firefighter recruits and progressed to their current positions.

  • Firefighter/Paramedic Trainee: This class is to train and certify Firefighter/Paramedic Trainees in the responsibilities for performing duties in an assigned division of thedepartment under the supervision of an officer or senior firefighter. These duties include responding to fires, accidents, and medical emergencies to protect life and property; participating in fire inspection, fire prevention activities, station maintenance, and training activities; and performing related work as required. 
  • Firefighter II: This class is a fully certified Firefighter responsible for performing duties in an assigned division of the department. This positionperforms fire suppression, life rescue duties, and responds to various alarms or emergencies. Firefighter II positions are also responsible for determining types of medical emergencies and field treatment to stabilize patients, and performs emergency medical care.
  • Firefighter III: This is a fully certified firefighter responsible for performing duties in an assigned division of the department and able to assume the duties of the Driver/Engineer and Lieutenant in their absence.
  • Firemedic: This class is a State certified Firefighter/Paramedic responsible for performing duties in an assigned division of the department. Firemedics are primarily responsible for determining the type of medical emergency and field treatment to stabilize patients, and performs emergency medical care to include advanced life support. This position also assists in the performance of fire suppression duties utilizing a variety of equipment to contain and extinguish fire or mitigate other emergencies such as hazardous materials incidents and technical rescues.
  • Firemedic Senior: This class is a State certified Paramedic/Firefighter responsible for performing duties in an assigned division of the department after three years of paramedic experience. Firemedic Seniors serve as Field Training Specialists who instruct, guide, coach and lead EMTs and Firemedic staff in determining the type of medical emergency and field treatment to stabilize patients; performs emergency medical care to include assessment and management of comprehensive treatment plans, creating medical records, administering medications, and advanced life support. Determines appropriate transport locations based on patient condition.
  • Driver Engineer: This class is responsible for serving as lead workers, helping train new personnel, operating and driving fire apparatus, and assuming the duties of the Lieutenant in his/her absence. Promotion to this classification shall be determined through a competitive promotional process.
  • Lieutenant: This class is responsible for supervising Firefighter/Paramedic Trainees up to Driver Engineers,  monitoring work and reports, scheduling, and approving time off, and enforcing policies of the department. Promotion to this classification shall be determined through a competitive promotional process.
  • Captain: This class is responsible for directly supervising the Lieutenant and will supervise ranks of Firefighter/Paramedic Trainee up to Driver Engineer in the Lieutenant’s absence and overseeing day to day operations in assigned areas. Promotion to this classification shall be determined through a competitive promotional process.
  • Battalion Chiefs:  This class is responsible for the oversight and supervision of multiple stations, their personnel, and assigned apparatus. They take command of complex fire and medical scenes to facilitate safe and effective tactics where personnel are operating in hazardous atmospheres. They also guide, develop, and support all officers and field personnel, and are called upon to provide administrative oversight of division, battalion, and station responsibilities.

Leadership Development

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Gwinnett County aims to increase its effectiveness by working to develop leadership within the organization. Training and development programs such as management development, team building, leadership, interpersonal effectiveness, and new employee orientation enable us to achieve our mission. Two of the County’s main leadership courses are the EXCEL Program and the LEAD Academy.
 

The EXCEL Program is a management development program designed especially for Gwinnett County’s current and future management employees that provides structure and support for ongoing professional development.

 The program’s name, EXCEL, represents key components of the program’s curriculum:

  • EXecutive
  • Competence
  • Excellence
  • Leadership

The objectives of the EXCEL Program are to provide structured support and development to competent and informed leaders, encourage continuous professional growth of management, and develop a pool of managers with skills for senior leadership consideration.

The LEAD Academy was developed to support Gwinnett County supervisors and is customized to form the foundation of management development within Gwinnett County Government. The County’s culture, general expectations, policies, and procedures have all been carefully incorporated into the program’s curriculum. The LEAD Academy was designed to be results-oriented and structured to provide County leaders with practical skills and knowledge to perform their jobs in an efficient, effective, and ethical manner.

The program requires completion of courses over a three-month period in which participants are required to attend one full-day course on a weekly basis.

 

The program’s name, LEAD, represents key components of the program’s curriculum:

Leadership

Education

And

Development

 

The intended audience for this course is new supervisors and strategic non-supervisory employees.
The purpose of the LEAD Academy is to develop County supervisory personnel with the following objectives:

·  Provide high-quality services to Gwinnett County’s diverse customers and employees

·  Desire to make a significant leadership contribution to the County and the community

·  Motivate employees to achieve superior levels of performance and productivity

·  Value lifelong learning and professional development


The Internal Management Academy is a facilitated instructional course that meets every week for a total of seven sessions. Each session is delivered using active learning strategies to help ensure knowledge-based learning and immediate application of learned material.  Participants are selected by department directors.
IMA participants explore the culture of silos, learn differences in applying the Gwinnett Standard to individual departments and units, and develop an individual leadership development plan to effectively implement servant leadership competencies.
As such, the IMA seeks to bridge the gap between knowledge and skills developed through prior experience or participation in existing leadership development programs and to implement practical application of that experience and training. Through the development of an individual leadership plan, participants address the expectations of Gwinnett leaders to actively use and continuously achieve and maintain the Gwinnett Standard.