A career in emergency response: Is it for you?

If you’re eager to land an international assignment providing emergency response, take a moment and pause before tailoring your cover letter and resume. Consider whether you don’t just hold the appropriate academic and professional credentials, but are truly emotionally and mentally equipped to tackle the challenging lifestyle of a humanitarian relief worker. Emergency response work isn’t for everyone, industry veterans agree. It can be immensely rewarding, if one’s intention is to help and support communities in crisis. But the burnout rate is high for a reason. “When the pressure is on, does your heart rate go up or does it slow down?” asks Michael O’Neil, the Washington, D.C.-based director of safety and security at Save the Children. “If it slows down, you might have a future in emergency response. Emergency response is not for the faint of heart.” A growing job market Now could be a good time to consider a career in emergency response. The demand for skilled workers is growing, according to O’Neill, both for international and local hires eager to work in their home countries. To successfully tap into that market, you’ll need a cool, composed and flexible personality, coupled with a hands-on, immersion-based background in communities, ideally in tough, remote areas. And when the time comes to gracefully exit and transition from emergency fieldwork — often considered a young person’s line of work — the challenges become more complex, as the job market back at headquarters narrow. Preferred qualifications Ian Rodgers, the director of operational preparedness and disaster risk reduction at Save the Children, says it can be helpful for job seekers to have an academic background in peace studies or human rights, so they can understand concepts like political neutrality that arise in conflict situations. Save the Children also likes to see that anybody it employs has had some development-based overseas experience, like with the Peace Corps or a comparable program, in which people are developing projects from scratch and immersed with local populations in rural zones, Rodgers says. Structured study abroad experiences are unlikely to resonate the same way. Yet people who have not worked or volunteered abroad may also be able to fill in this gap on their resume by volunteering for a local Red Cross chapter, for example, says O’Neill, who has worked for the Peace Corps, Red Cross and now also serves as the vice chairman of the board for the International NGO Safety and Security Association. It’s all about how time with the Red Cross at home, let’s say, is spun on one’s resume or CV, which would ideally emphasize the skills learned and responsibilities held, and would not just list a bullet-point rundown of the immediate tasks conducted. Conversely, failing to project one’s experience with the Peace Corps in a thoughtful, analytical manner could be a shot to the foot. “Two years of service as a Peace Corps volunteer building latrines doesn’t tell an employer anything,” O’Neill explains. “But if you characterize it as dealing with ambiguity, managing an intercultural team, developing a project from inception to completion, showing decision-making responsibility and financial control, that’s something an employer can relate to.” Many of the resumes that come across the desk of Catherine Rothenberger, director of global talent acquisition at Mercy Corps, also fail to scratch the surface. “It’s a common mistake to not provide enough detail, to give an idea of more than the scope of the role and jobs you have had in the past, to say what were the outcomes of the work and the responsibility that you had,” Rothenberger says. A fitting personality In this particular job field, fitting work and academic experiences can only go so far. There is also a definite type of emergency fieldworker, distinguished even from someone who is a development aid worker. Often, job seekers and active aid workers are self-selecting in deciding which side of the coin they fall on, according to Rodgers of Save the Children. Yet he also subconsciously studies staff, he says, considering what role would best suit them. “People interested in emergencies are more output-focused and activity-driven, as opposed to the development folks who are more outcome-driven and process-oriented,” he notes. In a conflict zone, he adds, a certain degree of practicality and level-headedness is required, as people are faced with a social environment in which actors are deliberately trying to undermine basic rights that emergency workers are trying to help uphold for others, and by default, at times, themselves. People should also be prepared to sleep and live for periods of time in harsh conditions that lack comforts they are used to back home. Rothenberger scouts intelligent people who are self-aware, adaptable, and who are problem-solvers, able to approach new, constantly changing situations efficiently, while also adeptly managing their own stress. Doctors, nurses, logisticians and others who sign up to work for Doctors without Borders, or Médecins Sans Frontières, generally have experience in unstable situations and understand the nature of the organization, says Nick Lawson, director of field resources. These people tend to have a high ambiguity tolerance, he explained, able to adapt to different, quickly changing situations. Contracted emergency workers can expect tours in the field with a group like Save the Children to last from about three to six months, while the length of assignment in a country like Somalia with a group like Mercy Corps could range from three months to three years. But as Rothenberger and Jessica Carl, head of human resources, explains, the three years in Somalia is unlikely to seem like a long time to someone from Somalia, since the vast majority of the organization’s staff are working in their countries of origin, working often in areas like education and agriculture. Work pressures The pressures in the field can sometimes boil over into workers’ personal lives. “Alcohol abuse among emergency responders is a persistent problem,” O’Neill says. “There are very few really, really dry places, and even dry places have exceptions.” Both Save the Children and Mercy Corps fall in line with the traditional norms, these days, as they do not have staffers devoted to the mental and emotional health needs of other workers on staff. Both organizations offer access to external services, though, and Mercy Corps, for example, has a buddy system and periodic check-ins to make sure people are feeling well. The stressful lifestyle is just one component that can lead people — often as they head toward their late 20s — to consider other, more stable work possibilities not in the field. The family factor is another. “Emergency responders are single people for the most part,” O’Neill says. “Chasing after conflicts is not a family-friendly thing. It puts a lot of pressure on a marriage. Divorce rates among emergency responders are quite high.” ‘Not for everybody, but it is worth it’ Getting out of emergency response can take some finagling, and acceptance that the step forward may require a few steps backward, in terms of professional title, role and possibly payment, given the higher number of positions in the field than at headquarters. Still, there remains the chance to get back in the game later on in life through the back door, as O’Neill calls it, once people are in their 50s or 60s and have more flexibility in their personal lives. Mortgages are paid, children have grown, careers have subsided, marriages have dissolved or a spouse has the desire to enter the field, as well. It’s a renewed passion, he explains, that for some, never faded to begin with. “Emergency response is not for everybody, but it is worth it, for sure. If you want to help others in this world who are suffering, emergency response is an opportunity,” O’Neill says. “It is not a picnic, but there is a lot of enjoyment in there, with many serious responsibilities.” Explore related content: - Humanitarian relief jobs: What you need to know - Humanitarian relief: The ‘ideal’ job candidate - Humanitarian relief salaries: What you need to know - Humanitarian relief for career starters - Humanitarian relief jobs: Resume and cover letter tips Read more international development career advice.