I'm actually in the process of doing the same thing, except in Cbus. I've pretty much had the same experience as you - most places require the OPOTA cert before you can take the civil service exam but Cbus is an exception. Once you pass all of their testing, background checks, interviews, etc you get accepted into the academy and they pay you and also pay for you to take the OPOTA exam after the academy from what I understand. Once you get your cert, you receive your appointment. Unfortunately, Cbus is the only department I have found that does this. I looked all over NE Ohio and found nothing similar. I thought about just paying for the classes myself as well, but I don't wanna shell out that money and then not find a job. Good luck.