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Important Skills for Entry Level Emergency Managers
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Important Skills for Entry Level Emergency Managers

Part 1: Tips for New and Aspiring Emergency Managers

Tobias Watson
May 2
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Similar to any job, you need a competitive edge to get hired.

Awhile back I shared a few posts on LinkedIn to gather feedback from my network. I asked the following question in my first post.

“What is the most important skill missing in education for entry level Emergency Managers?”

This is the first of three (3) articles aimed at helping aspiring and new emergency managers as they begin or seek to begin their employment in the field. My hope is to pass on lessons from myself and other professionals to create better emergency managers, and assist them in the challenges or lessons we have experienced.

My goal in the first post was to see what other emergency managers considered an important skill gap in entry level emergency managers as well as solicit feedback on how this could be addressed.

In this post I provided four survey response options and received a total of 202 votes.

Below are the votes and then the additional comments.

  • Project/Change Management: 82 votes/41%

  • Proposal/Grant Writing: 57 votes/28%

  • Planning Process: 38 votes/19%

  • Other (to be provided in the comments of the original post): 25 votes/12%

In the comments of the post additional skills were provided which I have summarized into three (3) areas of feedback.

  • Personal and Interpersonal Skills

  • Business Operations

  • Additional Emergency Management Topics

Photo by LinkedIn Sales Solutions, on Unsplash

Personal and Interpersonal Skills

  • Group dynamics, crisis psychology and the understanding of how humans react to disruptions

  • Leadership, influence, persuasion, and communication with senior leaders

  • Networking/relationship building

  • Stress management and self care

  • Training and facilitation

  • Conflict management

  • Task prioritization

person writing on white paper
Photo by Cytonn Photography on Unsplash

Business Operations

  • Systems thinking and complexity theory

  • Contract management/contracting

  • Budgeting/budget management

  • Business forecasting

  • Applied education

pile of books beside white printer paper and black ballpoint pen
Photo by Debby Hudson on Unsplash

Additional Emergency Management Topics

  • Community relations and a good understanding of the challenges of marginalized and underrepresented communities relative to poor disaster outcomes

  • History of disasters and the harmful effect of improper planning

  • Comprehensive risk management

  • Mentorship during actual events

  • Law/public policy


As you can see, this post received some incredible feedback with additional suggestions on what entry level (and all) emergency managers could use for education. They all have their place so I suggest looking for programs or opportunities that will allow you to learn something that others are not and apply them in a real world setting.

When looking at what skills and competencies are needed I would approach it in two ways.

  1. Assess personal experiences and your challenges

  2. Review recognized competencies for our field and identify the best building blocks to achieve your goals

For the first approach I would start with the following questions:

  1. Was there a project with major hurdles you could overcome if you had additional skills or knowledge?

  2. Do you experience repeated challenges you didn't anticipate?

These will make great opportunities to personalize your growth.

For the second approach above I would study the following documents:

  • The Next Generation Core Competencies for Emergency Management Professionals: Handbook of Behavioral Anchors and Key Actions for Measurement

  • Civil Defence Emergency Management Competency Framework

While there is no single authority setting the competencies needed to practice in the field of emergency management we can continue to improve ourselves through leading practices and insights from others.

Photo by geralt on Pixabay

If you believe this information will benefit you or others in professional growth then subscribe below for part 2 and 3 of “Tips for New and Aspiring Emergency Managers”.

Share this article on your social media and engage with these ideas so we can all work to improve the field and build a profession.

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Willis
May 3Liked by Tobias Watson

I feel like either I am way to qualified or significantly under qualified. My endeavor at the moment is seeking employment that leads me with the financial ability to fund highly sought after certifications; CEM, cybersecurity and advanced FEMA certifications/courses.

I’m not looking to be rich, just more trained in the field I enjoy doing.

Willis Walunga

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