Join us, as we take a closer look at some of the future resilience professionals. We've taken some time to engage with students and new starters in the industry to understand why they want to be in the resilience industry.
"What do you want to be when you grow up?" this question has haunted us all from being as young as 4 or 5 years old. I don’t ever remember turning around telling people I wanted to be an emergency planning officer. I wanted to be an actress or a zookeeper or even a bus driver at one point. I was an indecisive child. But then something changed when I was flicking through the university prospectus, completely unaware of what do with my life and feeling immense pressure to figure this all out and fast. I came across ‘Disaster Management and Emergency Planning’ and that was that, I was hooked. I didn’t fully understand what I was getting myself into or what I was even about to study, but I was interested and that was half the battle.
With some emergency planning courses leading to 100% employment or further study after graduation, it’s clear to see there is some noteworthy talent in this area. So, we’ve decided to take a closer at some of the aspiring and future resilience professionals, the next generation. After conducting a short survey to some of these students, we’ve been able to get an insight into what makes them want to follow this career path.
‘I want to be able to help others’ this was the most common answer when I asked them all why they wanted this career. I found this quite heart-warming and I hope it shows that we, this younger generation, aren’t just focused on our Instagram posts and eating avocado. I know from personal experience with many of my course peers, that this a genuine answer. Many have worked tremendously hard; working in other countries, working for free to get experience and just doing anything they can to do their bit. I’m sure that the future of resilience profession are going to benefit from this generation of hard workers.
Many repeated the answer of their career and discipline just simply not being understood as one of the challenges they face. This is definitely something I’ve experienced; the importance of emergency planning just seems to be non-existing to those in other industries. I was blind to it too before my studies, it’s a world you never realise exists even though it effects so much of your life. When I tell people what I study or my current role here at the EPC, I often get their confused face, closely by a ‘Erm, what?’. I find this quite amusing, however, I do wish there was some more awareness of the work people in this industry do.
Jennifer Newton