Your Job, Your Future
When completing your Career Plan Booklet you are given the opportunity to investigate a career that interests you.
You will research your chosen career and present your information as a Google Doc Report
FQ 1: What does my chosen Job entail?
Provide a one paragraph written overview / summary of your job.
they help people and work with the community
Forensic scientists use their knowledge and skills to help solve crime investigations such as murders and robberies. They go to the scene of the crime to help find evidence and take notes.
What are the working conditions like?
Work in laboratories and offices. Often travel around NZ to visit crime scenes.
Can be stressful conditions like when at a crime scene.
What skills and knowledge are required for this career?
Knowledge of poisons and drugs etc.
Knowledge of the chemical makeup of things like blood, body tissue and dna.
Research, analysing, interpreting skills.
Practical skills for performing experiments.
What are the personal qualities that you require to do this job?
Good at problem solving, communicating, maths, able to work well under pressure, eye for detail.
What are the key tasks that you will do in this job?
Find evidence at crime scenes.
Analyse biological evidence.
Identify drugs.
Analyse physical evidence.
How much will you earn? Salary? And what are the work hours like?
Normal business hours, may have to visit crime scenes at night or on public holidays.
$50,000 to $90,000 a year
What training and education is required for this career? How long does the training take and cost?
Bachelor of Science majoring in an element of forensic science such as Chemistry, Biochemistry, Biotechnology, medical laboratory science or molecular technology. It depends which part of forensics you want to specialise in.
3-5 years of training
What pre-requisites are there to get into the training course?
What subjects will you need to study in school to prepare you for this career?
Science, Math, Chemistry, Biology, English
Add any interesting information about your chosen career that you may find
Add in an image / photo / picture that relates to your job
FQ 2: What are the advanages and disadvantages of your job
Identify the positive, negative and interesting aspects about your chosen job by completing a PMI Chart
Positive
|
Minus
|
Interesting
|
|
|
Could get a disease from a corpse
Be hard to forget about the things I’ve seen
Having to tell people’s families about someone being dead
|
Everyday would be quite different
See a side of the world that other people wouldn’t normally see `
Everything would be confidential
Would be dealing with a lot of different people
|
FQ 3: What does someone in this job have to say about it?
Find someone who does this job and conduct an interview and include their responses. You can also add your own questions which are more specific to your career inquiry. (if you have trouble finding someone, come and this discuss with your teacher).
Ask them these interview questions – over the phone, email or in person – and record the questions and answers in your notes.
What is your occupation?
What is your current job title?
How long have you been working in your present job?
How many jobs have you had in your life? What were they like?
Have any of the following factors affected your work life, and if so, how?
Changing technology?
Layoffs or cutbacks?
Changes in the economy?
Working from a home-based office?
Travelling or moving?
Having a family?
Other Factors?
Can you think of any other ways the world of work has changed since you first started working?
Have you ever had to retrain? If so, in what field? Why?
Have you ever had to relocate to find work? Why?
When it comes to finding and keeping a job, do you think education is more or less important than it used to be?
What advice would you give to help young people prepare to enter the workforce?
See if you can draw up a work line for them, starting at when they left school.
It should show the length of training, length and names of jobs, something like this:
Left School at
|
Trained for
Years
|
First job as
For Years
|
Second job
|
Now
|
Reflecting
Once you have completed your interview, think about your persons responses and write a quick summary discussing the following points:
Has technology impacted on their job? If so, how?
Was there anything discussed that surprised you?
How do you think their working experience will differ from your own?
FQ 4: Evaluating your Job – the what and why you are interested in this career
You need to answer these questions and you are expected to write a paragraph for each.
Why you think this job is important, what values does it promote?
It’s important because you can find evidence to put away guilty people
Why have you chosen this career to investigate?
Because it interests me
What qualities and skills do you already have that suit this career?
Able to keep information secret, good at communicating,
What qualities and skills do you need to develop for this career?
The job market is competitive, what can you do now or in the near future to out-compete others for this job.
Do great in all of the subjects you need to take to become a forensic scientist and get some experience
FQ 5: What were your sources of Information – bibliography
Include a bibliography which lists the details in full of the different sources of information used. If you are unsure how to set out your bibliography, check the Library webpage.
FQ 6: Reflecting on the Research Process
What worked / went well for you during the research?
Finding out information about what you do as a forensic scientist
What have you found challenging during the research?
Getting answers for the interview
How did you try to overcome these challenges?
Looked harder for someone to email
If you were to do this again what would you do differently and why?
I would’ve tried to find more people/ companies to email
Scientist - Forensic Biology - ESR
This is a Full Time job
Are you a flexible and team focused person with a proven track record in managing your time effectively to deliver quality scientific outcomes
Forensic Senior Scientist - ESR
This is a Full Time job
A chance to make a difference for New Zealand
Active work/life policies and additional leave
An exciting and diverse environment
Our Wellington Forensic Service Centre is looking for a service focused Senior Scientist to join the team.
