The Industry

A career in emergency management can be both challenging and rewarding. Here is what you can expect in this field:

• Varied Work Environments: Your work can be in different places. You might start in an office but often need to go to the field during emergencies.
• High-Stress Situations: Emergencies are stressful. You need to make quick decisions, coordinate response efforts, and adapt to changes.
• Irregular Hours: Emergencies do not happen on a schedule. You may work evenings, weekends, and holidays.
• Collaborative Work: You will work with many people, including government agencies, first responders, community organizations, and private sectors. Good communication and teamwork are important.
• Continuous Learning: The field of emergency management changes often with new threats and technologies. You need to stay updated, attend training, and constantly improve your skills.
• Bureaucratic Processes: In government jobs, you might face bureaucratic procedures. Navigating these systems is crucial for effective coordination.
• Emotional Impact: Dealing with the aftermath of disasters can be emotionally hard. Seeing the impact on people and making tough decisions can be challenging.
• Job Satisfaction: Despite the challenges, helping communities recover from emergencies can be very satisfying. Making a positive impact on public safety is a strong motivator.

It is important to note that your experiences will vary depending on your role, organization, and location. While the job has challenges, many people find it fulfilling because it is meaningful work that helps communities. Think about your ability to handle stress, make quick decisions, and work well with others.

What is an Emergency Manager?

A traditional emergency manager plans and organizes how to handle emergencies and disasters. They prepare for, mitigate, respond to, and recover from these events by making emergency plans, working with different organizations, creating strategies to reduce disaster impacts, and helping secure recovery funds. Their main goal is to protect people, property, and the environment.

A modern emergency manager combines these traditional skills with their expertise in areas such as information technology, communications, computer science, policy analysis, training and education, or environmental science. These diverse skills help them manage all stages of emergencies more effectively.

What are competencies?

Competencies are skills, abilities, knowledge, and behaviors that help you achieve goals or perform tasks. They include both hard skills (technical knowledge) and soft skills (communication and leadership abilities). Competencies can determine how effective someone is in their role.

Competencies can be:

• Technical Competencies: Skills related to the technical parts of a job.
• Behavioral Competencies: Personal qualities that help in teamwork and other workplace interactions.
• Core Competencies: Basic skills needed in many roles.

Understanding competencies helps employers see employees' strengths and helps individuals find areas to grow.

Valuable competencies for Emergency Management

Working in emergency management requires various skills. Here is a list of the core competencies required to succeed in this field: