What do you look for when looking for a job?

Are you interested in working with a county Office of Emergency Management? Or working OEM within a police or a fire department? Or perhaps you’re looking to move into the private sector?

Does the compensation package weight heavier to you than the culture of the agency or community you serve? Do you seek for a one-man shop or a large agency where you have ten to thirty employees? We all look for different opportunities within Emergency Management and fortunately, there are more opportunities within the profession than ever before. 

In my last article titled “Problems on the Front lines with P25 Upgrades”, I mentioned my hometown in rural Indiana was experiencing multiple failures of the P25 radio systems during life-and-death situations. Unfortunately, the problems continue to plague the safety of public safety professionals in the county. Last week, during a court case, a man physically assaulted the sister and mother of recently slain Sherriff deputy Carl Koontz. When court deputies pressed their red “emergency buttons” on the 800mzh radios, nobody was notified on the other end and additional aid was delayed to the officers, attorneys, and good Samaritans that were attempting to pull the man off the women.

If you’re anything like me, you understand the value of mobile applications in today’s ever-changing technological world we live in. Nearly everybody in government service now has an iPhone or some type of smart device, and many of us carry one or more of these with us at all times.

When I first began speaking in public in front of large audiences and speaking at universities it did not take long before I realize that I wasn’t always getting my intended message across. Despite being an energetic and subject matter expert on what I was talking about, I quickly realize that I needed some help in preparing my speech.

When we address communications on the technical side, we have to be honest in knowing that 90% of emergency management and public safety professionals don’t have an extensive base of knowledge on how the systems work or what happens in between the time we key up the radio and end our transmission. We do however; expect that our radios will work 99.9% of the time and that someone will be able to hear and respond to our call for help. Many states across the United States have to rebuild or upgrade their existing radio communication systems due to outdated systems or exceeding the limits of the current system as our towns and agencies grow.