I am working on a Bachelors degree in a Emergency Management with a focus on Homeland Security. The military experience I have was mostly in the reserves in aviation maintenance with 1 year security operations in Afghanistan as a MP. I have been a Fireman for 15 years and spent 5 of them on Hazmat team where I have taken several WMD/NUC courses and attended VA Hazmat conferences as well as a CBRNE symposium. I am considering to apply to Naval Postgraduate School to get a Master's Degree in their Homeland Security field.
Answers
Good morning Chris, Thank you for your service on behalf of a grateful Nation. My recommendation is that a Master's degree will help you to become more competitive. However, I have come to learn that the key to success is both education and experience. First responder or EMS are good building blocks. After about five years experience as a first responder/EMS then you might want to cross into the federal sector. Some states have intelligence fusion cells and your EMS/First Responder training will make you highly marketable and even more competitive. Join local, state, and federal associations to help you network in the first responder/EMS area. Also look for paid internships or even volunteer opportunities to politely put your name forward. Kent T. Watson, CW4, US Army Retired (34 years 7 months) and now National Security Consultant.
I’d suggest that you network at the target company or industry. Use LinkedIn to find people already working there and reach out to them. Ask them the process they used to get hired and ask them to help you navigate the hiring process and if they are willing, ask them to submit you as a referral. These activities require much more time on your part but in my opinion would greatly increase your chances for success. Good luck!
I've added some links to one of my web-pages that targets the field of electrical engineering, but for job searches it is general enough. eehot.com/ee.html#jobs click on Uncle Sam to get usajobs.gov. I tried Emergency Management and your location. Came up with several possibilities, including Deputy Director of Emergency Services. From my NJ EMS training it seems to me you are highly qualified, and your plans for future training are good. You could look into some of the other civilian and government jobs links. There are other cities who might need you. I also entered Emergency Management into the link for indeed.com with good results.
Good Morning and thank you for your service! I handle Cyber Threat Intelligence Response roles within Wells Fargo as a recruiter. One of the managers I support, Matthew Simmons (find him on LinkedIn) was showcasing the following job that I wanted to share with you.
Matt would be a great person for you to link up with if you have an interest in Threat Intelligence and response and as you build more of a background in this for futures oppts here at the bank.
Today he posted the following on his page so he is just a great person to follow and see what he has going on with his page on LinkedIn around threat intelligence.
Please review: Air Force Office Of Special Investigations (AFOSI) is looking for a GG-132-12 (with promotion potential) for a Intelligence Specialist to support law enforcements mission around criminal intelligence analysis located on Quantico Marine Base.
For info: https://linkd.in/er6E8ssc
Job - Criminal Intelligence Specialist Position
Hope this is of help and Happy Holidays to you!!! :)
Feel free to connect and reach out to Michael Larkin within our military recruitment team as well for assistance if you decide banking may be of interest.
Mindy
Hello Chris,
I have been retired from the military since 2016. I was CBRN, which included emergency, HAZMAT and radiation management. I transferred those skills and now work in Business Continuity/Resiliency in the financial and healthcare fields. Your skills transfer, you just need to articulate them. You can check state, federal and private employers for crisis or incident management roles. Private pays more but you can add service time for federal jobs. I can further assist. classactconsultingllc@gmail.com or amcclendon@classactconsultingllc.com
Start with the roles and jobs you are targeting and then come back to degrees and certifiations
Thanks for the advise, I was not sure if I had enough qualifications for Threat & Response field. I appreciate the prompt response.
Your Answer
Please log in to answer this question.