Thread: Complete e-QIP background-still waiting for deployment

I have been in the disaster social service case management field for over 20 years. Several months ago I completed the fingerprinting requirements, and received an favorable report from FEMA for my e-QIP. I am not getting any calls from PaRR or other companies for disaster inspection deployment. What's up!! These companies make it sound so easy to obtain employment but I never get a deployment service call.

Can anyone clue me in regarding what is probably going on?

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Originally Posted by Andra Hill

I have been in the disaster social service case management field for over 20 years. Several months ago I completed the fingerprinting requirements, and received an favorable report from FEMA for my e-QIP. I am not getting any calls from PaRR or other companies for disaster inspection deployment. What's up!! These companies make it sound so easy to obtain employment but I never get a deployment service call.

Can anyone clue me in regarding what is probably going on?

.
First You need a Declared Disaster to be called to.

You will not be Deployed in Your Zone.

Declared Disaster outside the Zone where you live.
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Originally Posted by Andra Hill

I have been in the disaster social service case management field for over 20 years. Several months ago I completed the fingerprinting requirements, and received an favorable report from FEMA for my e-QIP. I am not getting any calls from PaRR or other companies for disaster inspection deployment. What's up!! These companies make it sound so easy to obtain employment but I never get a deployment service call.

Can anyone clue me in regarding what is probably going on?

Andra, my best advice to you is to be patient. Being a disaster inspector is not a full-time job (except for a few). Inspectors are deployed on an as needed basis. At this time I don't know of any major active disasters. Some inspectors are still out working the earthquake along the east coast but that work is nearly over. I am not aware of any declarations for the recent tornado outbreaks.

What training have you had? Having a favorable e-QIP report is only a first step, not your ticket to being deployed. I don't know about PaRR but PB offers a ton of on-line training as well as face-to-face training at a handful of training facilities. (The closest one to you may be the one outside Atlanta in Snellville.)

Once you have completed all your training you may still be in for a long wait to be deployed. (After I completed my training I waited over 2 years before my first deployment.) Typically inspectors with experience are deployed first so you may not get the call for a small disaster until you move up the ladder. PB has a READI team of about 600 inspectors who have a certain level of experience and a track record of quality work. There may not be a need for new inspectors on a small disaster if PB can deploy enough inspectors from the READI team. On a large disaster (e.g., major hurricane or flood) new inspectors stand a better chance of being deployed. The contractors will also deploy a number of new inspectors on moderate disasters just to give them a taste of the business.

Last fall both PB and PaRR deployed a good many new inspectors to work Irene and Lee. I heard several horror stories - chaos at the disaster field office, long waits to be processed, long waits for work, little to no support while in the field, released after only a few days. (That was a tough deployment for a new inspector. NY, NJ and the surrounding area are expensive, numerous roads and bridges were washed out in places making it extremely hard to drive to inspections which affects your production, plus many of the inspections were just plain difficult.)

If you are on Facebook you might want to join the NIDI group. (National Independent Disaster Inspectors) Most of the discussions are just chit-chat. There are a lot of members who are brand new inspectors like yourself who are raring to go and have to learn the realities of the work (e.g., you should not expect to be deployed as soon as your e-QIP comes back favorable). On rare occasions you may even find a discussion about something substantive.

Good luck to you.

I have been signed on with both PaRR and PB for over ten years. I was first called out by PaRR in 2004,couldn't go in the three days notice they gave me. Didn't get another call from them until Irene here in NY. I am currently still deployed.I was called out by PB in 2005 for Katrina,was in Houston for Rita where they kept me in Tx.Ended that deployment in Miami for Wilma. Pb had me on standby this year,but PaRR called first.I currently have completed about 2500 inspections between the two .They just don't call very often.