Is it a small world, after all?

When I was first entering into the world of emergency management I often heard the refrain "it's a small field" from my mentors. At best, it was an acknowledgement of the budding academic side EM that has been growing as more and more of my millennial colleagues seek out EM degrees and education, and enter the field from outside of the more traditional path of a public safety convert.

But at its worst, "it's a small field" is used as a not-so-subtle challenge, and a threat, from employers and field veterans, aimed squarely towards the newest generations of EM professionals… young, inquisitive, and creative students of the field who have started to challenge long standing conventions, norms, and yes, levels of pay, which grew out of the field's roots in public safety. The threat hints at the idea that if you rock the boat, if you disrupt the established process, you’ll find yourself an outcast, unemployable, unable to find work in EM and destined to return to whatever field you came from.

But it's also a lie. It's not a small field, after all. Emergency management, preparedness, risk management, disaster preparedness and response, continuity management, recovery... whatever aspects you want to name are things that have value to a ton of, if not all, fields. From small businesses, to international non-profits, banks to school systems, game companies to yes, municipalities and public safety departments, all of them benefit from the concepts along the emergency management spectrum and have started hiring EM professionals to build their resiliency.

So if you're someone who likes to point out that "it's a small field", perhaps you should look outside the bubble a little to see just how widespread the field has truly grown. And if you are a new member of the EM community, don't be discouraged from challenging the established norms, the structures, and the assumptions. I promise if you demonstrate confidence in your work and continue to be a student of your field, you will find a landing place, even if its in an industry you'd never thought of.

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Andy Platt is Founder/COO of Blue Sky Planning Partners, a consulting firm that supports emergency preparedness and continuity planning for organizations and municipalities. If you’d like to reach out to Andy to discuss how Blue Sky Planning Partners can support your business/organization/municipality, you can reach him at aplatt@blueskyplanningpartners.com.