Graduate Trainee Emergency Planning and Resilience Consultant

Graduate Trainee Emergency Planning and Resilience Consultant

Fixed Term, Full Time

£27,055 to £31,829 per annum

Location: Chelmsford

Working Style: Anywhere worker

Are you a Graduate, looking to become part of a crucial, efficient and high achieving team? Do you want to contribute to the emergency planning for one of the largest local authorities in the UK? This could be the opportunity you are looking for!

Please note this vacancy is available as a fixed term contract or secondment opportunity for up to 2 years. You must provide a supporting statement with your application – applications received without this will be rejected immediately.

This role involves travelling to County Hall, Chelmsford, and other Essex locations. A driving licence and car - or the ability to meet the mobility requirements of the role through other means - is essential.

Benefits:

• Healthy work life balance; flexible and hybrid working options
• Wide range of learning and development opportunities
• IT equipment and home-working equipment provided
• 26 days annual leave + bank holidays + option to purchase extra
• Generous Local Government Salary related pension scheme
• Access to hundreds of discounts and benefits through Essex Rewards
• Access to our Health & Wellbeing Platform with Lifeworks
• Two paid days for individual volunteering and two paid days for team volunteering each year

For more information about the wide variety of benefits please visit our Pay and Reward page.

Previous graduate trainee quote -

“The traineeship provided a strong foundation in emergency planning, allowing me to build a diverse skillset through varied projects, professional development, and peer learning. I gained hands-on experience across emergency planning and business continuity, addressing a range of hazards and risks, while also developing skills in financial, information, and project management.

This experience helped me secure a permanent role and continue advancing my career in emergency management.

I highly recommend this role to anyone starting a career in emergency management, especially those eager to learn how local authorities support communities during emergencies within a supportive team environment.”

The Role:

The Emergency Planning and Resilience (EP&R) Team ensures that plans are in place to enable the council to respond effectively to any external or internal incident. This requires detailed planning, delivery, testing and exercising of plans and response structures to ensure they are fit for purpose in the event of a major incident.

Under supervision the Graduate Trainee EP&R Consultant will undertake a range of tasks to deliver elements of both the integrated emergency management and business continuity planning processes. Over the duration of the training period the tasks will become progressively complex until the Trainee is able to independently deliver projects. 

The Graduate Trainee EP&R Consultant, will be a key role within a supportive and collaborative team, working on meaningful projects that make a real difference to our community. We offer professional development opportunities; the Graduate Trainee EP&R Consultant’s training will be tailored to the successful applicant and may include the following qualifications

• PGCert Emergency Preparedness and Management | Coventry University
• CBCI Certificate from the Business Continuity Institute.

They will apply the knowledge gained from studies to the delivery of tasks to support drive for continuous improvement of the service.

Please watch our video to gain insight into some of the previous work delivered by the Team – ECC_Sudan2023.mp4

What will you be doing?

• Deliver projects, under supervision, that contribute to the BC management system and integrated emergency management arrangements for the Council. Supporting the delivery of assessment, prevention, preparation, response and recovery related workstreams.
• Undertake activities to support continuous improvement through the identification, recording and implementation of learning.
• Deliver tasks that support the review of risk assessments for threats and hazards, including impact and capability gap analysis.
• Develop and maintain, under supervision, systems to support emergency planning and business continuity programmes, producing associated guidance and delivering training to enable effective use of the systems.
• Contribute to the plan validation by supporting the planning and delivery of both internal and multi-agency exercises.
• Accurately maintain the confidential information, data and rotas that underpin the organisations’ ability to effectively respond to incidents.
• Support the EP&R Team in the preparation, implementation and operation of command-and-control processes and structures to enable ECC to respond. Including log keeping and note taking.
• Support service delivery by undertaking Team coordination tasks. Including, but not limited to, the delivery of team meetings/events and financial administrative processes.
• Specific individual and shared targets and objectives are defined annually within the performance management framework.

About You:

• Evidence of the ability to continuously develop and demonstrating knowledge-based approach to work.
• Sound analytical skills, able to find solutions to complex problems and explain them clearly.
• Excellent attention to detail and ability to understand and digest complex information and data.
• Excellent report writing skills demonstrating Microsoft Office Suite experience.
• Evidence of excellent communication skills with the ability to effectively negotiate and persuade.
• Ideally have a driver’s license and access to a car or be able to meet the mobility requirements of the role through other means.

Essential Requirements for the role:

• Educated to degree level, minimum 2.2 required.
• Ability to work in the UK
• Ability to attend work at County Hall, Chelmsford and other Essex locations as appropriate (min 1-2 days per week).
• Experience of Office 365 suite
• Ability to, if necessary, support the response to an emergency outside of normal business hours

How to apply:

To be considered for this opportunity, you must include a supporting statement with your application. Your statement should outline your reason for applying and highlight the skills and experience relevant to the role. The statement must not exceed 500 words. Applications submitted without a supporting statement will not be considered.

Please ensure you meet the essential criteria for the role and that your CV or supporting statement includes details of your degree and relevant work experience. We may not be able to consider your application if these details aren’t readily available.

Candidates who meet the essential requirements of the role will be asked to complete a short one-way video interview as their first interview. Further stages of the interview process include a MS Excel and MS Word test and an in-person assessment centre on the 19^th November 2025 within County Hall, Chelmsford. Followed by a final stage interview on the 26^th November 2025.

To read more about our business area, please visit: Corporate Services and Transformation

Why Essex?

As one of the largest and most dynamic UK local authorities, Essex offers a stimulating public service environment. Covering over 1,420 square miles and serving 1.8 million residents, we’re committed to transformational change and delivering better quality at lower cost. Recognised in the top three of the latest IMPOWER index for productivity, we ensure everyone matters in Everyone's Essex. With flexible working options and a focus on innovation, whether you are looking to develop your career or contribute to the local community, Essex is the ideal place for you. 

In February 2025, Greater Essex was accepted onto the Government’s devolution priority programme, which will see local authorities in Essex work towards establishing a Mayoral Combined County Authority by May 2026. You can read more about devolution and local government reorganisation (LGR)) on our careers site

Essex County Council is proud to be a Disability Confident Leader. We’re committed to interview all disabled applicants who choose to apply under our Job Interview Scheme if they meet the minimum requirements of the job. Please speak to our Recruiters if you require any reasonable adjustments during the process. We’re also committed to interview all veterans and care leavers, who meet the minimum requirements of the role for which they are applying.

Once you’ve secured your role within Essex County Council you will receive many great employee benefits, including support for unpaid carers and flexible working arrangements to accommodate their needs.

At Essex County Council, we value integrity and ethical behaviour. We kindly ask that you embrace our code of conduct and the Nolan principles, including throughout the recruitment process. Your commitment to these standards helps us maintain a positive and respectful workplace for everyone.

Please note that the job role requires you to be mobile throughout an operational area. Therefore, the post holder will need to have a driving licence and access to a vehicle, or the ability to meet the mobility requirements of the role through other means.

As part of employment with Essex County Council (ECC) should your role require a DBS check you will be required to register with the DBS update service. The DBS update service ensures all registered DBS certificates are kept up to date and allows authorised parties to view the status of your certificate. This is an annual subscription, and you will be responsible for ensuring this is maintained. For further information on the DBS update service please go to https://www.gov.uk/dbs-update-service

Essex County Council is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and vulnerable adults, and expects all employees and volunteers to share this commitment.

If you would like to be kept up to date on other relevant opportunities, blogs, news, events and industry related news at Essex County Council, please join The Essex Talent Community

If you have queries on this role or require anything further, please email resourcing.team@essex.gov.uk

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