OT - careers?

[FLASH1296]

Getting back to the issue at hand ...

I am a retired forensic psychologist.

These jobs are NOTHING like television/cinema portrayals.

A career that pays poorly, has weird hours, is disgusting, etc. is what you have here.
Basically, nearly all forensic officers are part of your State Police (or County Sherriff's Dept. or big city P.D.) You start as an officer, gain a few years of law enforcement experience, and only then look to study and take exams to qualify for the specialty. You do not simply fill out a job application seeking such a position.
Yes you have a child who has seen too much T.V. and like most has been manipulated into believing that the glamorous exciting romantic televised worlds have more than a very remote relationship to reality.
Tell her "fuggedaboudit" and she will imagine that that indicates that she has made a fine choice and will cling to her fantasy all the more urgently.
With any luck at all, she will mature.  You failed to give her age. I am hoping (for the sake of you and your daughter) that she is but 15 years old.

[Paddy]

Flash, actually Frances noted her daughter's age (13) in her second post.

Frances, here's a very good overview of requirements (at least in the US) for the various specialties and a few comments on what the jobs actually entail:

http://www.criminology.fsu.edu/faculty/nute/FScareers.html

More: http://courses.missouristate.edu/MichaelCa...20forensics.htm

http://www.careerprospects.org/briefs/P-S/...Forensics.shtml

UK-oriented: http://www.forensic.gov.uk/forensic_t/insi...areer/c_faq.htm

[Epaminondas]

If someone is making a career choice based on what they see on television then they are seeing too much television.

But really - a kid does not have exposure to the existence of that many jobs.  

Teachers, what Mom and Dad do, relatives, television, everyday life.

How to widen a child's horizons beyond teacher / doctor / lawyer / policeman / ice skater / rock star / drug dealer?

Hmmm . . .


There are various books that can be helpful in helping to widen a young person's horizons - beyond what they see on television - in regard to possible career choices.  A few examples:

http://www.amazon.com/Occupational-Outlook...TF8&s=books

http://www.amazon.com/College-Majors-Handb...2241202-4363654

http://www.amazon.com/Best-Jobs-21st-Centu...TF8&s=books

http://www.amazon.com/Best-Jobs-Without-Fo...TF8&s=books

http://www.amazon.com/200-Best-Jobs-Colleg...TF8&s=books

I bought a different one of the above (a total of two books) for each of my somewhat aimless nephews as high school graduation presents a few years back.  I got a call at that time from their father thanking me - the young gentlemen would not listen to their parents about such matters, but they were greedily absorbing the books sent by their doting Uncle Epaminondas.

Go figure.

Or - a call to any high school guidance counselor might give you some beginning guidance on how to help broaden your child's choices.


One trap that I have noticed in kids choosing careers that I try to help them to avoid -

A lot of kids choose a career without ever having talked to anyone who actually does that very deed.

It can be kinda pathetic.

If your child seems to be wandering down a career path in cloistered ignorance, try to get them talking to someone who is in the same career for that 'ol sobering reality check.

I see a lot of people – particularly at the two year associate degree level - going into work that they later regret.

But they never checked it out before diving in!

Once they are in - it is too late to change direction.

I try to convince them otherwise, but -

Married, kids, and living paycheck-to-paycheck – still paying off educational loans -

You can see how they might feel a little stuck.


Good luck -

Epaminondas

[Frances144]

Erm, I don't think my daughters watch too much television.

I live on a small island with 22,000 people and that is it (plus some sheep).

She sees as much life as there is about but, believe me, there is not much.

This is a very bright, above average bright, kid.  The reason I asked you guys is because I was going to "try to get them talking to someone who is the same career for that 'ol sobering reality check".  As you can imagine, there are not that many forensic folk here (still lots of sheep).

My daughter is young.  She is 13 (for those that did not read my original posts).  She needs to see life, she needs to try it out.  She is luckier than most by not living in surroundings full of materialism and want.  We do not have high street shops, we do not have any fast-food joints and we all get along fine.

I also think that the career I chose at the age of 17 is certainly not the one I ended up doing.  I don't know many who are.

All I want is for my daughter to have knowledge so that she can make real choices and also to know she is not stuck, never stuck, doing something she does not want to do.

Most of all I want her to be happy and if, by using my contacts in the big bad world, I can guide her towards that, I am doing my job as a mother.

fx

[Paddy]

Frances, if she's interested in forensics and is interested in science and math generally, gently steer her towards the wider world of science (see some of the links I posted) - and she will have lots of choices. And I do agree - 13 is ridiculously young to have to make a choice about a career! Lots of kids still don't know what they want to do when they hit university - hence that catch-all "general arts" degree that really has no direct useful application, though works quite well as a springboard to more specialized graduate studies, presuming that one has (a)done well and (b)now has some idea of what speciality one wishes to pursue. Of course there are those who at the age of 22 still don't know what they want to do too! (and 42 and 62...)

I think it's almost a given, that apart from some very demanding fields like medicine, with the associated long training period, many people will have more than one career, or follow different paths at different times within a chosen field. Things have changed since the WWII vets came home and went to work for the same company that they retired from 35 or 40 years later. My dad, a mechanical engineer (now 86) worked for Honeywell all his life. He was not unusual for his generation. My husband, an electrical engineer, has worked in industry, gone back to school and acquired a PhD, been a professor at Oregon State and is now back working in industry. Friends from OSU have followed similar paths. Another friend was a professor in Canada, worked in industry for about 7 years in the US and is now back at another university in Canada as a professor. That's staying within the same general field - there are many other stories; a friend who is a practicing lawyer is now going to divinity school and hopes to become a Unitarian minister; my sister who obtained a forestry degree and worked for various government departments and industry and then returned to school for a teaching degree and has been teaching school for the past 15 years; another friend who was in banking is almost finished a nursing degree...and on and on.

As our former assistant superintendent of schools was fond of saying "we've got to prepare children to be lifelong learners."

[kelly]

Came across this. I don't watch it myself.

CSI Miami - Endless Caruso One Liners

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_sarYH0z948

[Frances144]

Thanks - appreciated.

Fx

PS.  Just watched it, and I think I will give up the job of being a housewife horse trainer and re-train to put my sunglasses on and then say something meaningful, while I wait for my life soundtrack to scream while I change scenes.

Real life is such a disappointment.  Perhaps I can fix my iPod to be my life's soundtrack.

Fx

[kelly]

[RHPConsult]

Frances:

All of the “sociology of careers” that I can recall assert that the World of Tomorrow, i.e. today, will likely have people pursuing several careers in their “working” lives.

When I was a boy in the 1930s, I heard no discussion(s) about changing careers, yet here I am in my 4th, or maybe 3.75, @ 78!

Our children (approaching or just into their 50s) are working/experienced on/in 2 or more.

So the best advice is that offered by Paddy: Check general inclinations/interests and pursue general education with a breadth of exposure across the body of knowledge . . . science, math engineering . . . arts, music, literature . . . business . . . and let the details arise from experience and exposure.

From this distance, a school giving a 13 year-old an occupational interest inventory is close to nonsensical . . . but then, I’m 150 deg of longitude (mol) distant!