Along with those who settle minor divorce disputes and manage blogs, the business continuity professional recently made it onto CNNMoney.com's list of "7 trendy new jobs." "Trendy" certainly isn't a word many business continuity professionals would use to  describe  their profession.  Neither  is  new,  as companies have been implementing business continuity programs for decades.

However, Chris Worton, vice president of BC Management, says "you're seeing things like that  written  in a  more  broad-based media, where in the past, it was never there." In the past, not only was business continuity not a fashionable profession; it was not a profession  that  many  actively sought. And  with  most  people working on business continuity coming from the IT department , it  was  rare  for  a  company  to recruit  employees  specifically for business continuity.

" Mostly, it was just someone walking down  the hall, and someone pointed to  them  and  said,  'Here,  this  is  your job,'"  says  Phil  Lambert,  president  of  the  Center for  Continuity Leadership. Business continuity was often looked at as a project that had to be done, and those who did it often were employees who simply were handed  the  job.  However,  with  the  growing importance of business continuity being recognized by all organizations, it has evolved into a profession, which requires training and can command high salaries and prominent positions within a company. Now, more than ever, the business continuity professional is in demand - even "trendy."

A Changing Profession and Professional

It used to be that business continuity was not generally given high priority within a company. "BC was looked at as a kind of 'checking the box' situation, more like 'Oh my god, it's something I have to do,'" says Worton. "It was looked at as a project, maybe a one time thing." But, as it evolved  beyond  IT and  companies  recognized  the importance of having a comprehensive program, "people started to see the vulnerabilities and the risks that are out there," Worton says. "Companies started to look at things more like a program as opposed to a project."

As vulnerabilities and risks rose, the public became more  aware  of  the  business  continuity  industry  and now may even have  some  faint  idea  of what  a business continuity professional  does.  Threats  such as  Y2K,  9/11,  Hurricane Katrina, and fear of pandemics put business continuity  on the media's - and  therefore  the  general public's - map. "The profession is evolving from optional for  an organization  to  something mandatory," says Mike Slingluff, president of the  Mid-Atlantic Disaster Recovery  Association,  Inc. (MADRAS).  "It's about survival."

The change in the business continuity profession has yielded a change in the business continuity professional. While  IT knowledge is  essential  and many business continuity  professionals  still come  from the  IT side (approximately 66 percent of current BC professionals rate their IT expertise as five to eight, on a scale of one to 10*), today's professional has a broader range of expertise. Those most sought after to fill top BCP positions possess a wide array of skills, which may include contingency planning, information security, emergency response, crisis management,  risk management,  as  well as  skill sets specific to the organization. "Companies are looking for a combination of skill sets," Worton says. "These people are becoming more rounded and have backgrounds in related fields." According to Worton, organizations are taking a hard look at experience and certifications, two characteristics that contribute to a qualified professional.

Today's Continuity Professional

Today's  professionals  have  differing  amounts  of experience, come from various backgrounds, and may be educated or certified in a number of areas. The amount of experience necessary varies according to the role, Worton says. While one position might not require any experience or just one to three years, another may require 10 to 15 years. "Employers are not only looking for BC experience, but they're looking for business experience in general," he says. "Most of the time, they're saying you only need three to five years of BC experience, but you may need five to 10 years of business experience." In fact, 45 percent of BC professionals have four to 10 years of field experience, while 35 percent have 21 to 30 years of general working experience. Salary increases with the number of years of field experience. Those with one to three years field experience earned an average salary of $80,515 in 2005, while those with 11 to 15 years earned an average of $102,995, according to a survey conducted by BC Management.

Another determinant of salary in  the BC  profession is certifications and degrees. Professionals with BC certifica- tion from companies  such as  DRI International and the Business  Continuity Institute (BCI) command  a higher salary (an average increase of $6.5K), and these certifications are becoming increasingly necessary in  the BC world. "More and more, corporations are specifying that a certification  in business  continuity  is  either  strongly weighted  or  a  prerequisite,"  says  John  Copenhaver,
president of DRI International, which offers four certifications in business continuity. 

Worton observes a trend toward dual certifications, such as a certification in both business continuity and risk management or project management. Not only are professional certifications available, but colleges and universities also are offering degrees within business continuity and emergency management.

More and more, college students are considering training in business continuity. "Nobody really grows up wanting to be a business continuity person," says Paul Striedl, CEO and chairman of the Association of Continuity Planners (ACP). "I think you would have to see that universities would have to offer more specific degrees in it. Even though there are colleges offering degrees, it focuses more on the crisis management aspect and not the business continuity aspect. I've seen trends where it is moving in that direction, but it is still along way off."

DRI  International  and  Copenhaver,  who  sees  the programs being offered at colleges and universities as broad, are making efforts to bridge the gap between these programs and the niche profession of business continuity. "We are working more closely with higher education to make sure that it is truly a continuum," says Copenhaver. "When people  are interested in learning more about business continuity, we can work with colleges to give them elements from those areas that they can incorporate into their curriculum so their graduates can come out and more smoothly transition into the field that we're in."

New Blood, More Change

The next generation of professionals entering business continuity will have a significant impact on the evolution of the industry. According to Worton, these young, less experienced  professionals  are  the  future of business continuity. "It think that in the future, you're going to see more people coming into BC with less business experience because it's becoming higher profile and you're seeing colleges and universities offering BC," he says. Worton does not believe that the infusion of inexpert youngsters will be detrimental to the industry. In fact, he feels that it will only strengthen the profession by creating more of a career path for everyone. "There are people that go to college now and want to become a CPA. In the past, I don't think there have been people who go to college and say they want to be a business continuity professional," he says. "Down the road, I think that's something people will consider."

People entering  the  BC  industry generally  have  a different mind set from those who have come from other departments. "I think that some of the people that come from the technological background meet BC as a technological problem, and it's really a business problem," Paul Striedl says. "People entering from the outside world have more of a business sense, which is what is needed." Although the young and new generations of professionals may not approach business continuity in the same w a y,  both  viewpoints  are  critically  important to the industry, and the profession is welcoming new people. "It wasn't necessarily a place that people wanted to be, and now, people want to be there and they need talent," Worton says. "There's a lot of new blood and new talent coming into the BC industry."