Volunteer. Salary: Nada

You just graduated with a degree in communications, applied for several emergency management specialist positions, and...nada. So you volunteer with the American Red Cross and hope for the best (which means the worst).

EMT. Salary: $31,000

After a year of fetching coffee and handing out blankets and water bottles at disaster recovery scenes, you decide to go back to school to become an emergency medical technician. You've heard time and again how this is one of the pathways to get that oh-so-valuable experience you're lacking.

Emergency Management Specialist (At Last). Salary: $52,000

What a difference two years makes. Your combination of a degree in communications plus in-the-field EMT experience lands you a job with the state as an emergency management specialist. Tears run down your cheeks as they place the ceremonial hard hat on your head (but no worries, you catch them right away with your emergency handkerchief).

FEMA Gig. Salary: $90,000

Ten years and several disasters later, you finally have the chops to land a job with the federal government beast known as the Federal Emergency Management Agency. There's a nice raise to go with it. Now you're running with the big dogs, coordinating dozens of first-responder agencies when headline-making disasters strike.

Private Industry Top Banana. Salary: $132,000

Working for the government has its perks, but eventually the red tape gets to you, and you want to be the one calling the shots. You get a job as the director of business continuity and emergency response planning (whew), a big long name that comes with a big, long salary—we're talking $130,000 big (source). You've made it.