This quarter’s Young Professional Spotlight is Monica McCullough. Monica is a 29-year-old Communications Training Officer for Williamson County Department of Emergency Communications in Franklin, TN. Monica has been employed by Williamson County for just over three years. She is also a single mother of her 10-year-old daughter. Monica was nominated for various reasons including her focus on continuing education, her recent acquisition of her CMCP, and her positive presence on the floor.
Monica stumbled into this profession as she was finishing up her Associate’s degree in Criminal Justice. One of her professors was speaking about his need for dispatchers at a small agency that he led. Though it was not the career path that Monica saw herself getting into, she decided to try to intern at her local 9-1-1 center for college credit. Through the course of this internship, Monica really fell in love with the 9-1-1 profession. At the completion of the internship, Monica was offered a position and took it, beginning her career at Williamson County DoEC.
On a typical workday, Monica is working her assigned radio and answering 9-1-1 and non-emergency calls from the citizens of Williamson County. She is also a CTO at the agency, so there are time periods where she has a trainee and is working to ensure that they are successful in the training process. Monica also serves as the agency’s ALT-TAC. This means that Monica also ensures proper usage of NCIC by Williamson County telecommunicators and completes assigned NCIC work brought to her by the TAC.
When asked about what she finds most enjoyable about this career, Monica talked about being able to serve the citizens of the county that she grew up in. Monica has lived in Franklin for the majority of her life and finds satisfaction in knowing that she is helping to protect her home. Monica acknowledged that some days are tough, but that it is ultimately rewarding when you get to help someone through some of the worst times of their lives.
Monica brings many unique contributions to the Williamson County DoEC team. She is self-motivated and brings a positive attitude. She sees herself as a visionary and innovative leader. Monica constantly seeks out continued education to bring back and share with her peers. Similarly, Monica sees young professionals in general to be very driven individuals, and she comments that young professionals, like herself, tend to bring a “future-minded” attitude to the 9-1-1 profession.
Over the course of the next five years, Monica sees herself moving into an admin role. Monica is open to working in operations or training as she moves through the next steps in her career. Regardless of what direction Monica might go, she is dedicated to continuing to encourage continuing education for her peers.
Through the earliest parts of her career, Monica faced challenges that ring true for many young professionals entering this profession. Monica spoke about adjusting to different schedules, learning new policies and procedures, and staffing issues affecting her ability to seek continuing education. Monica continues to persevere through all of these challenges and continues to seek new opportunities to better herself and her teammates around her. Just recently, Monica achieved her CMCP certification and is working towards achieving her ENP certification in the spring.
Monica has seen staffing issues continue, as she believes that too few people are joining the profession. Monica also recognizes the many reasons that people are leaving this industry, such as “burnout, the scheduling, not being able to handle a high stress job, and the emotional calls that one can take.” What can we do to help attract and retain employees? Monica writes that “better starting pay and having child care provided” could be a start.
What advice would Monica give to all new dispatchers? She says be patient with yourself as you learn your role, listen to your trainer and trust the process. Monica also commented on struggling to find new educational opportunities; she stated, “Some advice that I would give is if you are told no, find a way to make it happen and share the idea on how you can make it work.” Lastly, she had some advice for dispatchers working through bad morale situations: “My advice would be to stay true to yourself” and to “find a way to bring positivity to the floor.”
Though Monica has been at Williamson County for only three years, she has seen some major changes occur at her center. She was a part of a consolidation with a smaller department in the county. Monica has also gone through implementation of RapidSOS, LiveMUM, Locution Dispatch, and other various new software at her department. As Monica looks to the future, she sees the implementation of Next Generation 9-1-1 and the many changes that will bring to her center including text-to-911 services.
Given the opportunity to say something to the industry as a whole, Monica’s message is simple and powerful: “Always stay open-minded and stay in solution. Never let hearing ‘no’ keep you from pursuing your goals or dreams.”
