Interested in joining a team that provides essential services and makes a difference to citizens and our community each and every day?

If this sounds like you, find out more about a career as a permanent part-time Emergency Response Communicator at one of our information sessions:

• Wednesday, March 29, 2017
  Session 1: 3:00 p.m.
  Session 2: 6:00 p.m.
  St. Andrews Community Centre (Seniors Room) 
  3380 Barnstead Lane, Halifax 
  
  
• Monday, April 3, 2017
  Session 3: 12:30 p.m. 
  Session 4: 5:30 p.m.
  Helen Creighton Room
  Alderney Gate Public Library
  60 Alderney Drive, Dartmouth

Registration is mandatory, call 902.490.7269 to register.

When will you be hiring?

We anticipate holding a job competition in early April. Stay tuned to the municipal job opportunities site for the job posting.

What qualifications do I need to become an Emergency Response Communicator?

We’re looking for people who:

• Have strong communication skills
• Take pride in providing excellent customer service
• Excel at maintaining their concentration
• Can be effective when responding to another person’s stressful situation

You don’t need previous experience but you must meet the following requirements:

• Grade 12 education
• Computer literate and have acceptable keyboarding skills (you’ll be tested)
• Minimum of one year of customer experience in a service or volunteer environment that demonstrates strong communication skills
• Strong verbal and writing skills, able to communicate (read, write, speak) clearly in English
• Able to perform multiple tasks simultaneously
• Able to maintain control in high pressure and stressful situations/calls
• Able to work as part of a team
• Knowledge of the communities and streets in the Halifax region
• Able to read and understand maps

The following skills would be an asset:

• Ability to communicate in a second language
• Demonstrated decision making ability

A suitable combination of education and experience will also be considered.

What would I do as an Emergency Response Communicator?

Working at our Integrated Emergency Dispatch Centre in Dartmouth, permanent part-time Emergency Response Communicators are responsible for:

• Answering all 911 calls and determining whether the situation is a police, fire, ambulance, poison control or other matter and routing the calls correctly and efficiently.
• Gathering all the pertinent information from the call.
• Coding emergency calls properly, entering the information into a computer-aided dispatch system and sending calls to dispatch with all gathered information in a timely manner.
• Redirecting non-emergency calls by providing superior customer service to callers.
  Answering, assisting and redirecting calls from other emergency and non-emergency lines.
• Relaying messages to police officers.
• Assisting alarm companies and other outside agencies with general inquiries.

You would be required to work shifts, including days, nights, weekends, and holidays, for a minimum of 20 hours up to a maximum of 40 hours per week. The shifts for part-time employees vary based upon operational requirements therefore flexibility around scheduling is required.

Emergency Response Communicators are paid $22.62 per hour as per the Halifax Regional Police Association Collective Agreement.

What else should I know?

Short-listed candidates will be invited to CritiCall testing, which examines skills in the areas of data entry, call summarization, character composition, cross-referencing, decision-making, map reading, memory recall and prioritization.

All employees with Halifax Regional Police must successfully meet our security clearance requirements, which include, but are not limited to, a criminal record check and a pre-employment polygraph. More information on the polygraph examination is available in the pre-employment polygraph booklet.

Keep in mind that you’ll need to successfully complete provincial training and attain accreditation to use the dispatch center’s systems after you’ve been hired. We’ll pay for the training and accreditation.

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Source: Media Release