During Soddy Daisy High School’s 2024 Career Fair, I spoke to multiple people. I interviewed the fire department, sheriff’s department, and Summit Physical Therapy. I asked each of them a couple of different questions.

Fire Dept.

Can you share your journey into this field?

“I graduated from Soddy in ’97 and went to UTK and then a family friend said I’d be good and then I got in the academy and here I am years later.”

What are the key skills and qualities you believe are essential for success in this industry? 

“It’s physical so you have to be fit. There’s a part that requires courage but the biggest part is you have to have a heart for service and want to serve others.”

Is there a story that has ever made you want to quit? 

“There was a car wreck on I24 where the lady was still alive but her face was ripped off and I questioned if this was something I wanted to do.” When asked if the woman made it he shook his head no. “Any calls involving babies and children are hard too.”

Hamilton County Sherrif’s Department

How has the field you are in changed or evolved during your time in the career, and where do you see it heading in the next five years?

“We very much have a changing field with the progression of technology I’ve been in law enforcement for 6 years and we now use drones, body cams, and one of our newest is automatic license plate readers in our dash cams. They read every plate, which is synced with the national database for stolen cars license plates, and warrants, which send us an alert for those things. In the future, I see us just growing with technology and using it more to our advantage. Law enforcement is one of those where it’s hard to tell where things may go. Our leadership has a lot to do with that and dictates what we invest in and spend money and time on, but right now, I think technology is our biggest focus.”

Can you describe a particularly challenging project or situation in your career and how you handled it?

“A hard situation was a couple of years ago. We were understaffed and trying to find ways to get up to capacity, so we had to come together on our civilian and law enforcement side to figure out how to bridge that gap and figure out why people aren’t staying in law enforcement. We spent a lot of time researching how to keep employees.”

Summit Physical Therapy

What advice would you give to someone just starting in this career or thinking about going into this career?

“Job shadows are huge to find your passion and there are lots of avenues. Follow where your passions are in any field you go into. Starting in this profession, I would learn as much as I can about areas I’m interested in and see what cheap certifications I can get.”

How important is networking in this industry, and could you suggest effective ways for a newcomer to build a professional network?

“Networking is important in any profession and two heads are better than one. Learning from each other is important so if you have questions you get to learn resources and you can build off other clinicians. It’s very person-centered, so good relationships are crucial and you build that by being yourself. You should build these relationships as you would any friendship.”