Public Safety Telecommunicators

Operate telephone, radio, or other communication systems to receive and communicate requests for emergency assistance at 9-1-1 public safety answering points and emergency operations centers.

Sector: Government
Preparation: Zone 2 — some preparation needed
O*NET code: 43-5031.00

What you'll actually do

The activities O*NET rates highest for this occupation, most important first. Numbers are out of 100.

Working with Computers

central to the job — rated 97/100 for importance.
Communicating with People Outside the Organization

central to the job — rated 95/100 for importance.
Documenting/Recording Information

central to the job — rated 94/100 for importance.
Getting Information

central to the job — rated 91/100 for importance.
Processing Information

central to the job — rated 87/100 for importance.
Making Decisions and Solving Problems

central to the job — rated 85/100 for importance.

Operate telephone, radio, or other communication systems to receive and communicate requests for emergency assistance at 9-1-1 public safety answering points and emergency operations centers. Take information from the public and other sources regarding crimes, threats, disturbances, acts of terrorism, fires, medical emergencies, and other public safety matters. May coordinate and provide information to law enforcement and emergency response personnel.

What it takes

Two numbers per line: the level the work expects, and how important it is to doing the job well. Both are O*NET ratings, already on a 0–100 scale.

Skills

Active Listening

Needed at a solid working level (57/100), and rated 85/100 for importance.
Speaking

Needed at a solid working level (57/100), and rated 78/100 for importance.
Social Perceptiveness

Needed at a solid working level (57/100), and rated 72/100 for importance.
Critical Thinking

Needed at a solid working level (55/100), and rated 69/100 for importance.
Coordination

Needed at a solid working level (54/100), and rated 69/100 for importance.

Knowledge

Public Safety and Security

Needed at a high level (62/100), and rated 98/100 for importance.
Law and Government

Needed at a solid working level (60/100), and rated 89/100 for importance.
English Language

Needed at a high level (69/100), and rated 87/100 for importance.
Telecommunications

Needed at a solid working level (59/100), and rated 86/100 for importance.

Abilities

Oral Expression

Needed at a solid working level (57/100), and rated 85/100 for importance.
Oral Comprehension

Needed at a solid working level (57/100), and rated 81/100 for importance.
Speech Clarity

Needed at a solid working level (57/100), and rated 78/100 for importance.
Problem Sensitivity

Needed at a solid working level (57/100), and rated 75/100 for importance.

How people get in

O*NET places this occupation in Zone 2 — some preparation needed. That is a statement about what employers typically require, not a rule about you.

Education

A high-school diploma is the usual starting point.

Experience

Some prior work experience helps but is rarely required.

Training

Expect a few months to a year of on-the-job training.

How the work tends to run

Each line below is read off a single O*NET activity rating for this occupation — named, so you can disagree with it.

Most of the day happens at a screen.From “Working with Computers”
You are in front of the public, so the job is partly performance.From “Performing for or Working Directly with the Public”
Long-running relationships carry the work; the same people come back.From “Establishing and Maintaining Interpersonal Relationships”
You own decisions rather than execute someone else’s.From “Making Decisions and Solving Problems”
People depend on you directly, and that is the point of the role.From “Assisting and Caring for Others”

How FlightWay scores your fit against this

No black box. Here is the whole method, factor by factor.

1. You answer a short quiz: Your answers build a profile across the same 161 O*NET dimensions this page is describing — skills, knowledge, abilities and work activities. Same axes, so the comparison is like-for-like.
2. We correlate the two profiles: Fit is a mean-centered cosine — a correlation between the SHAPE of your profile and the shape of Public Safety Telecommunicators. Centering matters: raw similarity between any two occupations sits at 0.70–0.85 because all work shares a common profile, so without it every career would look like a match.
3. The number you see is personality fit only: "Would I want this work" and "am I ready for this work" are different questions, and averaging them answers neither. So readiness — what your résumé, coursework and projects prove — is scored separately and shown next to fit, never blended into it.
4. Every factor is visible: You can open any match and see which dimensions pushed it up and which pulled it down. If you disagree with the number, you can see exactly where it came from.

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Occupational data on this page comes from the O*NET 30.3 Database, published by the U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration (USDOL/ETA). O*NET is a registered trademark of USDOL/ETA. FlightWay is not endorsed by, and USDOL/ETA is not responsible for, anything built on that data — see our terms. What is ours is the comparison, the score and the plan.