There’s a light

I met with my college advisor yesterday – for those of you who are here for the fiction, this is a personal life update, sorry.

She went over my transcripts and requirements with me, and confirmed that I am on track to graduate in December. We talked about what my senior capstone can be (whatever I want it to be, evidently, which opens a whole realm of possibilities). Class registration doesn’t open until later in the month, but it looks like everything I need will be offered this coming semester. And I may have a bit of wiggle room in my schedule to take, as she put it, something just for fun. Art classes… 

And then I asked her when I should start job hunting. “Now. Now is good.”

Oh. Well, I guess I’d better warm up the resume and restart the spreadsheet I used after the divorce when I was job hunting. This time I’m more focused (back then it was ‘I need a job. Any job.’) so I won’t be applying for everything (right up to shoveling snow. I needed to take care of my babies, and I would have done it. Fortunately the office job came along.) I will, however, be looking over a much broader swatch of the country. We’ve known that we’d likely be moving when I got my degree, and it’s time to start planning for that, too. Tomorrow I’ll be doing paperwork for school to get some things settled out on my transcript, and they have an office that helps with job hunting, I think I’ll see if they can help. As I told my advisor, this is the first time I’ve done it this way. I’ve never graduated from college before. I don’t know how to job hunt with a degree. It’s a bit fearsome and unsettling.

I just have to make it through this semester, and then one more. I think I can do that. I hope I can do that. Because that gets me the piece of paper that certifies I have a Bachelor’s of Science in Forensic Science and Investigation with a thematic sequence in Chemistry and a minor in Molecular Biology. (and isn’t that a mouthful)

After that? I have no idea. But something will happen. The Reader Dragon crop-1


Comments

8 responses to “There’s a light”

  1. Thomas Monaghan Avatar
    Thomas Monaghan

    Well it appears there are job openings. http://www.crime-scene-investigator.net/employment.html

    1. Tom, I’m leaning away from Law Enforcement, as I may be too old for it. I’ve been told 37 is the cut-off age for Civil Service employment.

      But the other options are using my chemistry training to test environmental conditions, or the molecular biology training to do what I’d love to do and chase diseases (like e coli or listeria outbreaks) for big food corporations, or… I’m only going to have a BS so I’ll be a lowly lab minion somewhere 😀

  2. Thomas Monaghan Avatar
    Thomas Monaghan

    I really doubt if there is a nationwide cut-off date. For one thing it’s age discrimination which will get departments in trouble. Now for regular police officers maybe.

    1. Since it wasa cop who told me that (one of my classmates) that’s possible. And I don’t want to become a cop. I’m strictly an Abby type when it comes to that. In the lab with my machines! Or maybe out mucking in the dirt collecting samples.

  3. John in Philly Avatar
    John in Philly

    Thomas and Cedar.

    For Federal Law Officer, and other positions with Law Enforcement Officer status.

    http://www.justice.gov/jmd/hr-order-doj12001-part-1-employment-1

    Drop down into B. Policy, and you will see the criteria for exemptions and exceptions to the maximum hiring age.

    1. Thanks, John, I hadn’t planned to apply for a federal job, but this seals that resolution.

      1. John in Philly Avatar
        John in Philly

        Cedar, it only bars the door for Federal LEO. There are is a huge amount of Federal Agencies that do scientific/technical/lab work that do not have a maximum hiring age.

        During my times of unwanted unemployment, it seemed the conundrum was that it was easier to get a job, if you have a job.

  4. Thomas Monaghan Avatar
    Thomas Monaghan

    Federal!. States and Cities would all have there own regs. Plus they probably don’t all classify Forensic Science and Investigation as Law Enforcement needing only the young.