 Hi, my name is Sharon Nelson, HR manager responsible for talent acquisition for the City of Columbia. Talent in the City is our effort to highlight and showcase the departments with the City of Columbia, the department's impact players, as well as the talent who make the City run every single day. These impact players and departments oftentimes don't get the spotlight that they deserve, but without them the City of Columbia would not run as a beautifully oiled machine that it is. My name is Wendy Royal. I am the director of Columbia Richland 9-1-1 Communications. As the director of Columbia Richland 9-1-1, I oversee operations on a day-to-day basis. I oversee the training division. I started working for the City of Columbia as a call taker for Columbia Richland 9-1-1 back in October of 2008. Four months later I became a dispatcher and then a couple years later I actually became the supervisor of team A and then on to become the manager of that same team. February of 2023 I became the director of Columbia Richland 9-1-1. We work 11 hour shifts. We normally work from 7 to 7. So that's 7 to 7 day shift and night shift. We do have a few people that work 6 to 6 just to kind of catch, you know, when you're getting off and just to make sure we have no laps in coverage for the citizens. So we have a few staggered shifts, which is 6 to 6, but mainly most of us work 7 to 7. And again, we do work 11 hours. Your training, that actually is headed by Natalie Simmons. She's our training coordinator. But training normally is, it used to be 8 weeks. Now we have training from anywhere from 10 to 12 weeks because we want them to be prepared when they get out on the floor. So we added at least four more weeks of call taking training because once again, if you're a good call taker, you're going to be an excellent dispatcher because you know what to ask for, what the citizens need. But right now our training goes to 12 weeks. And then once you're done with training, that normally is 8.30 to 5. Once you get on shift, you're still in training, you're just assigned to an STO and that's a shift training officer. So your training continues on the floor, on the job, once you start. My name is Natalie Simmons. I'm the training coordinator here at Columbia Richland 911 Communications. My responsibility is to take the people that are coming in fresh with no experience and develop them into persons that can actually handle the emergencies that we're taking calls for. We're training them in a second language in certain terms and what I mean by that is they have to learn code, they have to learn protocol, they have to learn how to speak to the responders when they're on the road and when they're on the radio as well as how to conduct themselves when they're interacting with the citizens. So we're teaching them all facets of the job. It's a challenge because we're responsible for getting everyone trained in this day shift and night shift. And so we have to meet the needs of our staff, meet the needs of the center without having operations suffer. And so it can be challenging but it's rewarding and fulfilling at the same time. It just makes me feel good overall because I'm preparing them for the next. I'm preparing them to essentially take over and to even walk into my shoes. I live in Richland County. Let me just be honest about that. So I want the people that are handling these emergency calls to be able to meet the needs of the citizens. And so I take pride in it because I can one day need their assistance or someone else I know may need their assistance. So it's rewarding in that when I see them and I see them blossom and so forth, then I can say that, yes, job well done. When I started, it was new for me. So when I came into this field, as a little kid, I thought 911 were just like operators and you really didn't know that it was a live person until I actually got here. This has been rewarding and like just each and every day when you can help a citizen in need. So like I said, I started as a call taker and I firmly believe if you are a good call taker, you will be an excellent dispatcher. As a call taker, I'm in charge of gathering the information from the citizens. But as the dispatcher, I'm in charge of sending out the appropriate help for the citizens of Columbia. So that in itself is rewarding when you could actually render help or aid to a citizen in their time of need. An IDO candidate would be someone who, number one, can multitask, who has a passion for helping others, who can work in a fast-paced environment. I don't expect you to have a lot of customer service experience, but even if you've worked at a restaurant, if you've worked in a call center, or even just any time you've ever dealt with the public, that's an IDO candidate. We're going to do all the training here so you don't have to worry about that. We just want eager employees and employees that want to help the citizens of Columbia. My journey started here with the city of Columbia in 2007 really. So it's about almost 17 years at this point. I started in as a telecommunicator and so I started out working the radios, but that also requires that I answer the phones as well. So my journey started there. I took advantage of the opportunities that presented themselves. So just over the years and over time, I just kind of moved up through the ranks into my current position today. Technology has changed really over time due to techs and really pretty much cell phones. We're in a much better space now where we're able to identify where people are for the most part, but we're still faced with challenges where we don't necessarily know exactly where they are because we don't, we're not afforded that longitude and latitude right away. In order to be, to work in this job, to function in this job, for one, I always tell myself you have to be mentally fit. You have to be fit for duty. It's the term I like to use. There's things such as the EAP, which is Employee Assistance Programs, and there's other just, just programs out there that our staff can actually, you know, gravitate towards to get the assistance that they need. But what I'm striving for is to have something in-house, so that we don't always have to reach out. We can take care of one another in-house internally. But it's not going to just stop here. There are collaborations throughout the state of South Carolina, where they're, I'm not sure if you are, if anyone's familiar with the South Carolina Law Enforcement Assistance Program, SELEAP, but it's a statewide program. And so I'm looking to do something, even though this is my home center, I'm looking to do something where we're not just effective here in Richland County, but we can be effective and be assistance, of assistance to persons in Lexington County and Newbury as well. The city of Columbia, they're great. For one, the benefits are great. The loyalty is great. And so it's just, it's a remarkable place to actually work, to be honest. But this department in particular is the excitement of the job. It's everything else. It's us, our ability to go out and influence. We oftentimes go out and educate the citizens of Columbia as well as Richland County just throughout the year. And it really does, it depends sometimes on the demand, the requests, the need. We respect those requests and we love to, you know, just go out and meet people and educate them. For more information about this position and its department, please visit www.columbiasc.gov.