Jessica
How do I know which career path is right for me?
I am interested in medicine and going to medical school but I have a deep rooted interest in forensics and criminal justice. How do I know what choice to make? #medicine #forensics #forensic-science
8 answers
Alana Kinard
Alana’s Answer
If possible seek out an internship in both fields to get first hand experience.
If there are no internships available in your area, do as much research as possible on each field. Read articles, watch YouTube videos, and reach out to people who currently work in each field and ask them about the pros and cons of the job. Reaching out to people who the job titles you're interested in could also lead to job shadowing opportunities.
Alana recommends the following next steps:
Julia Giannandrea
Julia’s Answer
With an interest in medicine, forensics and criminal justice it sounds like you will have a rewarding career. Have you thought about being a forensic medical examiner? Check out his link https://www.crimesceneinvestigatoredu.org/medical-examiner/.
Everyone has natural skills and strengths. A fun tool to use is the StrengthsFinder 2.0. They have lots of tools but the least expensive that will give you your top 5 strengths is here https://www.gallupstrengthscenter.com/product/en-us/10108/top-5-cliftonstrengths-access?category=all-products. You can use this information to compare against the natural inclinations needed for success in your career.
Whatever career you choose, I always recommend speaking with at least 3 people who are in the line of work you're considering. Use the tool of informational interviews to have a 20 minute conversation with each of them.
Whatever you choose as a career, remember you don't have to do that forever. Most people change jobs several times and switch careers during a lifetime.
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Anna Traykova
Anna’s Answer
Jessica, There are many tools to help inform your decision. Some may look into your interests (such as Holland Code or Strong Interest Inventory) or into your personality (MBTI, 16Personalities.com). As an academic advisor, my preferred tool to offer students is YouScience.com - it tests your aptitudes as well as your interests and personality, and then suggests good career paths where you will feel capable and fulfilled. If you are already in college, do reach out to your academic and/or career advisors on campus - they may be able to offer you free access to YouScience. If not, it is not that expensive. You may combine several of these tools to get to know yourself better and make an informed decision.
https://www.truity.com/test/holland-code-career-test FREE
https://www.16personalities.com/ FREE
https://www.youscience.com/ $29
It will help to talk to people in the career fields you have chosen, as well as look at some hard data on job growth, salaries, etc, which you can find through YouScience as well as https://www.onetonline.org/ and https://www.mynextmove.org/
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Completely agree with the Holland Test. Not a fan of making any real-life decisions using MBTI. It lacks reliability when people don't have extreme feelings on things.
Excellent resources otherwise.
Curtis Halford
Curtis, I am not a fan of MBTI at all - which 16personalities.com pretty much is. It does lack reliability. Yet doing the test seems to help people introspectively look at themselves.
Anna Traykova
Mike Jones
Mike’s Answer
Jessica, defining your career path comes from within you, your interest, your desire, your experiences. Medicine, Forensics, and Forensic-Science are or can be related and interlaced. Continue looking within yourself to determine what you want to accomplish with your career path. Do you want to work in helping resolve and finding results as to what happened to victims, thus strong developed Forensics skills with a medical background or do you want to work with individuals in determining the "rational," "reasons," or "whys" as to what is happening in the lives of the individuals you are wanting to help, as these disciplines are helping fields. I find when I work with students who have done their "homework" and then arrange a time to engage in dialogue are the ones for whom I'm more willing to advocate and can be better prepared to help them as they make their decision concerning the career goals.
Mike recommends the following next steps:
Rachel Gamblin, EIT
Rachel’s Answer
Rachel recommends the following next steps:
Richard A.
Richard’s Answer
Curtis Halford
Curtis’s Answer
https://study.com/articles/Forensic_Medicine_Careers_Job_Options_and_Requirements.html
The comment to try to interview people and find internships is an excellent idea. Taking the Holland RIASEC personality test is also a good tool to find out where your interests lie. Sometimes the idea of a career is quite appealing, but not being aware of parts of it that are extremely tedious, manual labor that was unexpected, exposure to elements, hazards, or blood can be a nonstarter for some people despite their extreme interest in the field. I would steer clear of the MBTI (Meyer's Briggs Test). It lacks reliability and consistency. It also has almost no actual scientific basis. It was designed based on observation and perceptions and then clustering people into one side or the other. If you are more moderate in your personality traits your MBTI can change week to week or month to month. The RIASEC test is not infallible, but it is application based... it compares how you feel about doing certain things to the likelihood of those matching a certain career aspect. It's not 100% either, but it can give you a good idea of where your strongest interests lay.
http://www.careerchoicer.com/holland-codes-riasec-choose-right-career.html
In the long run, you will need to apply your research, your desires, and your judgment and choose a path. As someone else said, no path has to be permanent, but some paths require more time and dedication than others. It takes years to become a doctor, but if someone decided that was too much school or money or time, etc, they could become a Paramedic in as little as a year and still have the experience of working in Emergency Rooms and caring for patients. It's harder for someone who has been a paramedic for some time to manage to get to medical school and complete the various hurdles for an MD while managing the rest of life that continues around them. Not impossible, just difficult.
Good luck and I hope the RIASEC test helps you identify many of the things you enjoy.
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kinjal desai
kinjal’s Answer
Unless you work and ask professionals, you will never know.
The key is to evaluate every pros and cons of each career path before jumping into it.
Once you jump, the key is then to not look back, but just keep forging ahead.