Emergency Commincations Dispatcher 3 / Communications Training Officer 

(Male, Age 30) from Cincinnati, OH

This is a REAL-LIFE job profile written by a Male aged 30 who works as a Emergency Commincations Dispatcher 3 / Communications Training Officer in Cincinnati, OH. We have removed all names and personal information in order to protect privacy. This professional kindly spent a bit of their time to complete one of our job profile surveys so that prospective job seekers like you could read their insights. Please excuse any punctuation or grammatical errors in this profile.

At a Glance

Current Job

Basic data on your current job

Job Title Emergency Commincations Dispatcher 3 / Communications Training Officer
Salary $37,000
Other Compensation None Set
Hours/Week 40
Company Size (not answered)
Location Cincinnati, OH
Years Experience 4 years

Career Ratings

Opinions on your CAREER overall (i.e. not just your current job)

Years in Career 0
Education (not answered)
Income Rating 0 / 10
Interest Rating 0 / 10
Work-Life Rating 0 / 10
Fulfilment Rating 0 / 10

Current job Q&A

Describe the type of organization you work for.
I work for a combined Police and Security Department for the largest University in Cincinnati. We have 50 police officers, 50 Security Officers, 10 Emergency Communications Dispatchers, and 25 Support Staff in various positions. The University is the largest employer in Cincinnati, but I am unsure of total employees.

Describe your job role and responsibilities.
I am a police dispatcher, but also coordinate the fire and EMS reponses for campus. In addition I am responsible for training the new dispatchers and officers on radio usage.

Please list an additional benefits (beyond compensation) that you receive.
Tuition Remission, Health Care, Life Insurance, Dental Insurance, State Employee Retirement, Disability Insurance

Do you feel you are under/over or well/fairly compensated at your current position?
undercompensated

Does your job entail you working with others on a daily basis? Is this something you like/dislike about your job? Please explain.
The job is basically 100% working with others. I would not want to work in any other type of job, I enjoy the interaction

Do you work collaboratively with supervisors/managers?
Yes

Do you work collaboratively with your co-workers?
Yes

Describe your work location (e.g., office, home, theatre, in the field) and what you like/dislike about working in it.
n/a

Please rate each of the following aspects of your current job on a scale of 1-10 (10 being the highest/best):
Income: 6
Benefits: 5
Hours: 7
Co-Workers: 3
Supervisors: 2
Job Title: 8
Level of Responsibility: 4
The Actual Work: 1

A day in the life of…

Please describe a typical workday for you in your current job:

5am to 6am
6am to 7am
7am to 8am n/a
8am to 9am n/a
9am to 10am n/a
10am to 11am n/a
11am to 12pm n/a
12pm to 1pm n/a
1pm to 2pm n/a
2pm to 3pm n/a
3pm to 4pm Respond to work, get briefed on previous 2 shifts work. Take over either radio operation or phone operation depending on the day, as we alternate responsibilites
4pm to 5pm work radios or phones
5pm to 6pm work radios or phones
6pm to 7pm work radios or phones
7pm to 8pm work radios or phones
8pm to 9pm work radios or phones
9pm to 10pm work radios or phones
10pm to 11pm work radios or phones, leave work at 11:00 after briefing oncomming dispatchers
11pm to 12am N/a

Table of Contents

How you got your job

How did you get your current job?
Newspaper

What was the application process?
Submitted paper application and resume, Took Civil Service exam, Interview, Polygraph and Background examination

Did you have to interview for your current job? If yes, what did the interview process entail?
Yes, 1 interview with the supervisor of the center. The interview was a series of scriped questions due to the civil service laws.

If you can remember, what questions were you asked during the interview?
cannot remember exact questions, but focused on how to deal with stress, multi-tasking and cooperating with others

Do you feel your employer properly prepared you for your job? Explain.
Yes. The department relaizes that training its employees helps make the job easier for the employee while offering a “quality” product, namely safe police comminications.

Was there training for your current position? If yes, what did it entail?
Yes, I have taken over 300 hours of classes for the job. APCO (Association of Public-Safety Communications Officials) offered most of the classes (Basic Telecomuncator, Communications Training Officer, Basic Telecommnicator Instructor), I am also certified in Emergency Medical Dispatch by PowerPhone, Inc. We also take classes in FEMA National Incident Mangment Systems online as a supplemental training.

Do you feel your educational background prepared you for your job? Explain.
Yes. My degree is in Criminal Justice, which gives me a greater understanding of the system of which I am a part.

If applicable, do you feel your internship experience helped you prepare for your job?
My internship was with a department that I later was hired full time by, so it was a direct lead for beginning my career.

If someone wanted to go about getting a job similar to yours, what would you recommend for him or her to do?
The first step would to be to schedule some observation time at a local police communications center. There really is no formal education program that is needed, but attempting to get professional certifications would make a candidate more attractive to a department.

What skills do you think a person should have if they want to pursue a position like yours?
Social skills are a necessity because of the nature of the job. It is also very important for dispatchers to have multi-tasking skills due to the rapid fire nature of the job.

Do you feel that you need a certain level of education or training to be successful in your job?
No, skills are more important than formal education

What advice would you give to someone who was about to start work in your position/ line of work?
Starting in dispatch can be very overwhelming. It is often a job that no other position can completely prepare you for. Give the job some time to grow on you, but also be willing to admit defeat and seek help when you need it, lives can be at stake.

Long-term career plans

Is your current employment part of your overall career plan? Why or why not?
Yes. This employment is where I want to be. it is a large enough department to be exciting, but not too large where the interaction with the public is lost.

What are your current career goals?
I am currently where I want to be. In 5-10 years I would consider the supervisor’s position if it came available.

Is there anything else you would like to share about your career?
n/a

Prior work history

Please list your most recent jobs prior to this current job:

Title Length Salary Description
Prior Job 1 Dispatcher 9 years 10/hr, part time Police Dispatcher for mid-size university police department
Prior Job 2 Senior Clerk 5 years 27000 Retail sales clerk for a nation-wide small specialty store

Educational background

Please list your educational background:

High School GPA:3.5

GPA School Degree
College (Undergraduate)
or Technical/Vocational
2.98 Xavier University Criminal Justice
Graduate or Professional
(Masters or Doctorate)
3.75 University Of Cincinnati Criminal Justice

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