I-COM is an Equal Opportunity Employer
Current Salary Range
$17.49 - $20.82 Per Hour
Qualifications for Public Safety Dispatcher
include, but are not limited to the following:
| Education: | Certificate attesting to graduation from High School or equivalent. |
| Experience: | Prior law enforcement, fire and/or emergency medical dispatch experience preferred, but not required. |
Due to the critical and high-security nature of public safety dispatch work, upon offer of employment, CANDIDATES MUST PASS A THOROUGH BACKGROUND CHECK, CRIMINAL HISTORY BACKGROUND CHECK, PSYCHOLOGICAL TEST, AND DRUG TEST.
The decision to offer employment is solely that of I-COM. Neither this employment opportunity announcement nor the selection procedure constitutes a contractual offer of employment.
Upon offer of employment, individuals must successfully pass a one (1) year trial period.
If special accommodations will be required for testing purposes, notice of not less than two weeks is requested. I-COM, in consideration of the American's with Disabilities Act (ADA) will attempt to provide any/all reasonable accommodation.
12 Days (96 hours) annually (accrues at the rate of 8 hours per month).
Vacation Hours
Employees at LESS THAN 3 YEAR POSITION on wage scale: 80 hours annually (accrues at the rate of 6.66 hours per month).
Employees at 3 YEARS OR MORE POSITION on wage scale: 112 hours annually (accrues at the rate of 9.34 hours per month).
Employees at 13 YEARS OR MORE POSITION on wage scale: 152 hours annually (accrues at the rate of 12.6 hours per month).
12 Days (96 hours) annually (accrues at the rate of 8 hours per month).
Medical Benefits
Medical, dental, vision and orthodontia benefits are available to all employees and their spouse/dependents. Premiums paid at 90% by employer for employee, spouse and/or dependents. Remaining 10% premium is the responsibility of the employee.
NATURE OF WORK
This is responsible, time sensitive work involved in receiving Enhanced 9-1-1 calls for Island County and all cities, towns, law enforcement, fire and hospital districts within it's boundaries. The employee will be required to deal with sensitive information in a discreet and professional manner. The employee is involved in dispatching, fire, emergency medical, and law enforcement units in accordance with the location and nature of the call for assistance. Dispatchers operate two-way radios, and state of the art telephone equipment, and computer terminals in receiving and transmitting calls. Work is performed within prescribed rules and regulations. Performance is evaluated by the Communications Supervisors through observation of daily activities, logs and interaction with the individuals assigned.
JOB DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES
* Receives and allocates emergency and business calls of law enforcement, fire, and emergency medical and dispatches appropriate public safety unit(s) and monitors status in emergency and non-emergency situations.
* Enters emergency response information into the computer using a Computer Aided Dispatch (CAD) system.
* Calms, negotiates, questions, advises and otherwise communicates with callers to obtain accurate and essential information necessary to establish priority and code of the emergency, exercising proper professional judgment in stressful situations.
* Makes referrals to other agencies if appropriate pursuant to I-COM guidelines, policies & procedures.
* Makes appropriate professional decisions that affect the outcome of public safety services in accordance with I-COM guidelines, policies and procedures.
* Records time, location and nature of law enforcement, fire or medical emergency to ensure adequate coverage is provided pursuant to I-COM guidelines, policies & procedures. Alerts other law enforcement, fire and emergency medical agencies as necessary to provide mutual aid.
* Maintains radio contact with all law enforcement, fire and emergency medical agencies, to maintain awareness of status and takes appropriate action when required pursuant to I-COM guidelines, policies & procedures.
* Makes periodic announcements and relays messages as required in furtherance of public safety activities.
* Assists other dispatchers as necessary and whenever not occupied with primary duty.
* Uses State/National Law Enforcement computer system to obtain or transmit requested information for designated law enforcement agencies pursuant to I-COM guidelines, policies & procedures.
* Performs such additional duties as may be directed and as needs occur including self management in emergency situations.
REPORTING RELATIONSHIP
* Reports to the Director through the chain of command; functionally supervised by the on duty / on call Communications Supervisor.
KNOWLEDGE, SKILLS AND ABILITIES
* Ability to speak English clearly, possess an excellent vocabulary and verbally communicate at a rapid speech rate under stressful, confused and/or hectic circumstances.
* Ability to deal effectively with people in a multi-cultural society under extremely stressful situations.
* Ability to record names and numbers rapidly and accurately and to quickly recall details and essential information.
* Ability to work multiple time-sensitive tasks and issues in response to visual and sound stimuli with a high degree of accuracy.
* Ability to work up to twelve (12) hours at a time continuously wearing a communications headset that will cover one ear or fit within the ear canal of one ear, and be able to still hear and understand other outside sound sources not coming through the earpiece.
* Ability to read and discern visual images on a variety of media, including small liquid crystal displays offering very little brightness/darkness contrast, standard monochrome or color CRT display screens, printed matter that has been reduced to less than normal size type, multi-colored indicator lights which have differing flash rates and color which indicates the status of electronic function.
* Ability to consistently think clearly and respond quickly in a wide variety of emergency situations, connecting events otherwise potentially unrelated, received from multiple sources and relaying information to recipients in need of the information.
* Ability to work as a "team" member and establish and maintain good working relationships.
* Skill in remaining calm, showing empathy, conveying reassurance and instilling confidence in the caller by maintaining an appropriate professional demeanor, that a proper response, meeting their needs, will occur.
* Skill in accurately condensing large amounts of information into readable, sensible typed remarks and recollection of numerous acronyms and codes essential to effective public safety functions by multiple agencies, each with different codes and acronyms.
PHYSICAL ACTIVITIES
* Individual must remain alert and responsive to emergencies while observing computer display screen under low lighting conditions for long, uninterrupted periods of time, generally from a sitting position. Individual must have adequate hearing, visual acuity, manual dexterity, and mental disposition to successfully perform all essential duties.
* Ability to speak and write the English language clearly and coherently under stress. Individuals must be free from impairments that with or without accommodations would interrupt continuous performance of a shift lasting from eight (8) to twelve (12) hours.
* Individuals must be free from impairments, with or without accommodation, that would not achieve attendance reliability sufficient to assure delivery of uninterrupted emergency services.
WORKING CONDITIONS
* Must be prepared to stay at Center for a full scheduled shift. Must schedule lunch and breaks with communications Supervisor, or other dispatchers. Uninterrupted breaks are not guaranteed.
* Work is performed in a low-light, confined environment under high stress and plays a critical role in public safety service delivery. Must take information from callers who may be excited, abusive, foul-mouthed, incoherent, drunk, hysterical, a combination of the above, or other variant of human condition.
* Must be able to work in a confined environment for eight (8) to twelve (12) hours at a time. Must wear lightweight telephone headset for duration of shift.
* May be required to participate in law enforcement, fire and emergency medical ride-alongs.
* Must be able to work shifts encompassing a 24 hour day, seven day week, inclusive of days, evenings, nights, weekends, and holidays and achieve the I-COM reliability requirements.
* The employee is subject to "call back" on short notice, according to I-COM policy.
Observation
As part of the selection process, I-COM requires all applicants spend a minimum of one hour in the communications center observing the operations, responsibilities, and job funtions of a 911 Call Receiver and Dispatcher. Public Safety Dispatching is a unique and specialized career with specific demands and skill requirements. This provides each applicant the opportunity to better understand the position and interact with individuals who may one day become co-workers.Criticall
CritiCall is dispatcher specific testing software, which tests for essential job related skills and may include any/all of the following:Advanced Decision MakingReading ComprehensionSentence ClarityCross ReferencingData EntryFrequency of Information/Probability DeterminationMap Reading/Geographic DirectionsMemory Recall (Short Term)Memory Recall (Long Term) & Inductive ReasoningNumerical AbilityOral ComprehensionPerceptual AbilitySelling and/or Vocalization SummaryThe oral interview is conducted by the Director and his/her designees.When an individual is made an offer of employment, it is contingent upon successfully passing the following:
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BACKGROUND & CRIMINAL BACKGROUND CHECK |
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DRUG SCREENING |
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PSYCHOLOGICAL EVALUATION |
