You may not think about it until it happens but when emergencies hit, there are some essential people that always have to work. Getting a career in these fields is a great way to ensure that you always have a job regardless of what’s going on in the world. When you first think of essential jobs that get kicked into high demand when emergencies occur you might think of firemen or police. But the COVID-19 pandemic has led us to realize that there are a lot of other critical jobs as well.
Hospital Staff
One extremely in-demand field when emergencies happen is hospital staff. When emergencies happen, the demand for health services increases greatly. Not just Doctors, and Nurses, but Nursing Assistants and Orderlies, X-ray technicians, EMT personnel and even maintenance people are in high demand during an emergency.
Utility Personnel
During natural disasters infrastructure often gets damaged and people are without electricity, water, gas, internet and phone services. This requires Line Installers and Repairers, Power Plant Operators, Distributors, and Dispatchers, and Electrical and Electronics Engineering Technicians among many others.
Inventory Management
During ordinary times people don’t give much thought to how things arrive on their store shelves, it just seems that they are magically always full. The logistics that keep them full are quite complicated though. Inventories need to be taken, warehouses must be stocked, products must be ordered, trucks must be loaded and driven, products must be unloaded and shelves must be stocked all of these are critical functions. And are generally handled in a “just in time” fashion meaning that the back room of the supermarket isn’t big enough to keep a week’s supply of everything, so if there is a “run” on a certain product like toilet paper it will take time for it to arrive from the warehouse which could be hundreds of miles away. Critical jobs to keep our shelves stocked include truck drivers, inventory management, warehouse personnel, and shelf stockers.
Waste Management
Whether the emergency is a medical pandemic or a natural disaster, waste management is always a field in demand. People always have trash on a regular basis. When an emergency strikes, that demand goes sky high. For example, if a natural disaster hits, waste management is a necessity to dispose of the carnage afterward. If a medical pandemic occurs, the use of disposable materials increases as the need for better hygiene increases. You might be amazed at how many different jobs are necessary just to handle our waste. Waste management personnel include (once again) truck drivers, Equipment Operators, Laborers, Mechanics, landfill operations specialists, Scalehouse Attendants, Front-end loader Operators, and Customer Service Reps among others.
Grocers
People need to eat to survive. Therefore, grocery stores are in demand always. When an emergency strikes, grocery store personnel find themselves working non-stop to maintain operations and restock shelves to meet growing demands. The staples of life are milk, water, and bread, which is why they’re always in demand from consumers before and after an emergency strikes. Many people will even overstock their own food storage to ensure they have enough to weather the entirety of the emergency. This requires extra work from grocers to ensure that food remains available on the shelves.
Call Center Representatives
When an emergency strikes, the volume of calls goes up for many businesses. Whether it’s an insurance company after a deadly storm or people asking questions regarding a major event, call center representatives are in high demand. In most cases, these representatives can even work from the comfort of their own homes after a disaster strikes.
Emergencies provide a unique landscape for a number of different careers. The above are just a few of the many jobs that see a skyrocketing demand before, during, and after an emergency. Choosing to invest your time to learn one of these fields is a great decision that will ensure your job is always in demand regardless of the circumstances around you.
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About the Author:
Brooke Chaplan is a freelance writer and blogger. She lives and works out of her home in Los Lunas, New Mexico. She loves the outdoors and spends most of her time hiking, biking, and gardening. For more information, contact Brooke via Facebook at facebook.com/brooke.chaplan or Twitter @BrookeChaplan