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Emergency Management Directors

$79.18K Median Salary 1K Job Openings (Annual Projection) 5.7% Job Growth

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About This Career

Plan and direct disaster response or crisis management activities, provide disaster preparedness training, and prepare emergency plans and procedures for natural (e.g., hurricanes, floods, earthquakes), wartime, or technological (e.g., nuclear power plant emergencies or hazardous materials spills) disasters or hostage situations.

Reported Job Titles

911 Communications Manager, Emergency Management Coordinator, Emergency Management Director, Emergency Management System Director (EMS Director), Emergency Manager, Emergency Planner, Emergency Preparedness Manager, Emergency Services Director, Emergency Services Program Coordinator, Public Safety Director

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Skills You'll Need

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Abilities

Deductive Reasoning

Oral Comprehension

Oral Expression

Speech Clarity

Inductive Reasoning

Problem Sensitivity

Written Comprehension

Written Expression

Fluency of Ideas

Information Ordering

Speech Recognition

Originality

Category Flexibility

Near Vision

Visualization

Far Vision

Flexibility of Closure

Perceptual Speed

Selective Attention

Speed of Closure

Time Sharing

Knowledge

Public Safety and Security

Administration and Management

Law and Government

Communications and Media

English Language

Customer and Personal Service

Telecommunications

Education and Training

Computers and Electronics

Personnel and Human Resources

Transportation

Geography

Administrative

Skills

Service Orientation

Complex Problem Solving

Speaking

Active Listening

Coordination

Critical Thinking

Judgment and Decision Making

Monitoring

Reading Comprehension

Social Perceptiveness

Writing

Learning Strategies

Active Learning

Instructing

Time Management

Persuasion

Systems Analysis

Management of Personnel Resources

Systems Evaluation

Negotiation

Operations Analysis

Mathematics

Technology Skills

Geographic information system

Presentation software

Data base user interface and query software

Project management software

Electronic mail software

Map creation software

Spreadsheet software

Graphics or photo imaging software

Enterprise resource planning ERP software

Office suite software

Cloud-based data access and sharing software

Word processing software

Transaction security and virus protection software

Analytical or scientific software

Internet browser software

Desktop publishing software

Tools

Protective hood

Automatic call distributor ACD

Hazardous material protective footwear

Notebook computers

Respiration air supplying self contained breathing apparatus or accessories

Protective gloves

Hazardous material protective apparel

Two way radios

Hard hats

Desktop computers

Personal computers

Radiation detectors

Abilities

Deductive Reasoning: The ability to apply general rules to specific problems to produce answers that make sense.
Oral Comprehension: The ability to listen to and understand information and ideas presented through spoken words and sentences.
Oral Expression: The ability to communicate information and ideas in speaking so others will understand.
Speech Clarity: The ability to speak clearly so others can understand you.
Inductive Reasoning: The ability to combine pieces of information to form general rules or conclusions (includes finding a relationship among seemingly unrelated events).
Problem Sensitivity: The ability to tell when something is wrong or is likely to go wrong. It does not involve solving the problem, only recognizing that there is a problem.
Written Comprehension: The ability to read and understand information and ideas presented in writing.
Written Expression: The ability to communicate information and ideas in writing so others will understand.
Fluency of Ideas: The ability to come up with a number of ideas about a topic (the number of ideas is important, not their quality, correctness, or creativity).
Information Ordering: The ability to arrange things or actions in a certain order or pattern according to a specific rule or set of rules (e.g., patterns of numbers, letters, words, pictures, mathematical operations).
Speech Recognition: The ability to identify and understand the speech of another person.
Originality: The ability to come up with unusual or clever ideas about a given topic or situation, or to develop creative ways to solve a problem.
Category Flexibility: The ability to generate or use different sets of rules for combining or grouping things in different ways.
Near Vision: The ability to see details at close range (within a few feet of the observer).
Visualization: The ability to imagine how something will look after it is moved around or when its parts are moved or rearranged.
Far Vision: The ability to see details at a distance.
Flexibility of Closure: The ability to identify or detect a known pattern (a figure, object, word, or sound) that is hidden in other distracting material.
Perceptual Speed: The ability to quickly and accurately compare similarities and differences among sets of letters, numbers, objects, pictures, or patterns. The things to be compared may be presented at the same time or one after the other. This ability also includes comparing a presented object with a remembered object.
Selective Attention: The ability to concentrate on a task over a period of time without being distracted.
Speed of Closure: The ability to quickly make sense of, combine, and organize information into meaningful patterns.
Time Sharing: The ability to shift back and forth between two or more activities or sources of information (such as speech, sounds, touch, or other sources).

Knowledge

Public Safety and Security: Knowledge of relevant equipment, policies, procedures, and strategies to promote effective local, state, or national security operations for the protection of people, data, property, and institutions.
Administration and Management: Knowledge of business and management principles involved in strategic planning, resource allocation, human resources modeling, leadership technique, production methods, and coordination of people and resources.
Law and Government: Knowledge of laws, legal codes, court procedures, precedents, government regulations, executive orders, agency rules, and the democratic political process.
Communications and Media: Knowledge of media production, communication, and dissemination techniques and methods. This includes alternative ways to inform and entertain via written, oral, and visual media.
English Language: Knowledge of the structure and content of the English language including the meaning and spelling of words, rules of composition, and grammar.
Customer and Personal Service: Knowledge of principles and processes for providing customer and personal services. This includes customer needs assessment, meeting quality standards for services, and evaluation of customer satisfaction.
Telecommunications: Knowledge of transmission, broadcasting, switching, control, and operation of telecommunications systems.
Education and Training: Knowledge of principles and methods for curriculum and training design, teaching and instruction for individuals and groups, and the measurement of training effects.
Computers and Electronics: Knowledge of circuit boards, processors, chips, electronic equipment, and computer hardware and software, including applications and programming.
Personnel and Human Resources: Knowledge of principles and procedures for personnel recruitment, selection, training, compensation and benefits, labor relations and negotiation, and personnel information systems.
Transportation: Knowledge of principles and methods for moving people or goods by air, rail, sea, or road, including the relative costs and benefits.
Geography: Knowledge of principles and methods for describing the features of land, sea, and air masses, including their physical characteristics, locations, interrelationships, and distribution of plant, animal, and human life.
Administrative: Knowledge of administrative and office procedures and systems such as word processing, managing files and records, stenography and transcription, designing forms, and workplace terminology.

Skills

Service Orientation: Actively looking for ways to help people.
Complex Problem Solving: Identifying complex problems and reviewing related information to develop and evaluate options and implement solutions.
Speaking: Talking to others to convey information effectively.
Active Listening: Giving full attention to what other people are saying, taking time to understand the points being made, asking questions as appropriate, and not interrupting at inappropriate times.
Coordination: Adjusting actions in relation to others' actions.
Critical Thinking: Using logic and reasoning to identify the strengths and weaknesses of alternative solutions, conclusions, or approaches to problems.
Judgment and Decision Making: Considering the relative costs and benefits of potential actions to choose the most appropriate one.
Monitoring: Monitoring/Assessing performance of yourself, other individuals, or organizations to make improvements or take corrective action.
Reading Comprehension: Understanding written sentences and paragraphs in work-related documents.
Social Perceptiveness: Being aware of others' reactions and understanding why they react as they do.
Writing: Communicating effectively in writing as appropriate for the needs of the audience.
Learning Strategies: Selecting and using training/instructional methods and procedures appropriate for the situation when learning or teaching new things.
Active Learning: Understanding the implications of new information for both current and future problem-solving and decision-making.
Instructing: Teaching others how to do something.
Time Management: Managing one's own time and the time of others.
Persuasion: Persuading others to change their minds or behavior.
Systems Analysis: Determining how a system should work and how changes in conditions, operations, and the environment will affect outcomes.
Management of Personnel Resources: Motivating, developing, and directing people as they work, identifying the best people for the job.
Systems Evaluation: Identifying measures or indicators of system performance and the actions needed to improve or correct performance, relative to the goals of the system.
Negotiation: Bringing others together and trying to reconcile differences.
Operations Analysis: Analyzing needs and product requirements to create a design.
Mathematics: Using mathematics to solve problems.

Technology Skills

Geographic information system: ESRI ArcView; Geographic information system GIS systems
Presentation software: Microsoft PowerPoint
Data base user interface and query software: Blackboard software; Database software; Microsoft Access; Yardi software
Project management software: Mavenlink; Microsoft Project
Electronic mail software: IBM Notes; Microsoft Exchange; Microsoft Outlook
Map creation software: ESRI Site Scan for ArcGIS; OpenDroneMap
Spreadsheet software: Microsoft Excel
Graphics or photo imaging software: SmugMug Flickr
Enterprise resource planning ERP software: Oracle JD Edwards EnterpriseOne; Oracle PeopleSoft; Oracle PeopleSoft Financials; SAP software
Office suite software: Microsoft Office software
Cloud-based data access and sharing software: Dropbox; Google Drive; Microsoft SharePoint
Word processing software: 3M Post-it App; Evernote; Google Docs; Microsoft Word
Transaction security and virus protection software: McAfee; NortonLifeLock cybersecurity software
Analytical or scientific software: Statistical analysis software; TapRooT
Internet browser software: Web browser software
Desktop publishing software: Adobe Systems Adobe InDesign; Microsoft Publisher

Tools

Protective hood: Protective hoods
Automatic call distributor ACD: Automated call distributors ACD
Hazardous material protective footwear: Chemical protective boots
Notebook computers: Laptop computers
Respiration air supplying self contained breathing apparatus or accessories: Self-contained breathing apparatus
Protective gloves: Safety gloves
Hazardous material protective apparel: Personal protective suits
Two way radios:
Hard hats:
Desktop computers:
Personal computers:
Radiation detectors: