I embarked on a new chapter of Administrative assistant a couple of years ago by joining the Fire-Rescue Department in my city. I had been doing administrative work for quite some time but never for Fire. It has been a whole new world of experiences and language and I love it. One of the new experiences was signing up for an administrative group through the county's fire chiefs' association. Part of the membership included a membership to IAAP. Through that membership, I learned about the certification. Our firefighters are all paramedics, a lot have master's degrees. They are constantly training and recertifying themselves and keeping their skills honed. I feel as their support, I should be working just as hard to hone my skills and training. And so, it begins my journey to become certified. Yikes!

Welcome! I earned my CAP in 2024 and the sense of accomplishment is well worth the effort put in. I transitioned from our City Manager's office to Fire Rescue in my City this year and I am loving it. I am always looking for professional development opportunities for Fire Rescue support, if you have any you can share, it would be greatly appreciated.

Best of luck in your certification journey.

Check out the IAAP CAP study groups https://www.iaap-hq.org/general/custom.asp?page=StudyGroups

Anna, I worked for the City Clerk before moving over to Fire-Rescue.  Try to find an Admin Section through your County or State Chief's Associations.  I cannot tell you what a huge resource that group has been for me.

Maria- I have already joined two study groups. Hopefully there will be two different perspectives.