Why do I love my job: I get to work within a team of like-minded people who love to help people. My job is different every day. I’m living my childhood dream being a firefighter. I get to do some amazing and exciting things like driving fire engines on blue lights to an emergency or go into buildings to tackle a fire inside or get to operate hi tech firefighting and rescue equipment. I get to help people in times of difficulty and make a difference. 

What did I love doing at school: I didn’t really enjoy school much. The only subjects I enjoyed were woodwork, metal work and sciences. 

Childhood hobbies: Building Airfix model planes. Learning how to make and repair things like my bike. 

How to get into the sector: Working hard at school. Keeping fit and eating healthy. Have a positive mindset, even when you face challenges that seem impossible and use them as a way of building your self-confidence and skills. Always treat every day as a school day where you’re willing to learn new things. 

Related jobs: Working in retail helped me to build interpersonal and people skills. 

Career high:  Completing my 22 weeks basic training and passing out of fire service training school and later being awarded my 20-year-long service medal.

Top tip: Never give up no matter how hard things may seem. It took me 8 years of applying to become a firefighter. - Sunil Galvin, Crew Manager (Firefighter)