Granted, not many people might think that this kind of job might be for them, considering that it doesn’t really focus on the positive spectrum of life. It is, nonetheless, a very tight and (albeit very profitable) niche for those among us that would rather preserve an objective mindset and who also have a tough stomach.
Why would I consider becoming a forensic autopsy technician?
Why am I saying this, you might ask? Well, simply put, unlike many economic sectors in our day and age, the demand for forensic autopsy technicians is on the rise and is set to to rise to as much as 31% by 2020. But my bold title statement would be rather shallow if this would be the only basis behind it, wouldn’t it?
Unsurprisingly, many people fail to think of this job as their first option, when in fact, they’re missing out on a good opportunity. Thinking of yourself surrounded by bodies and drawing chalk lines when on duty couldn’t be further from the truth. It is, in fact, a (moderately) well paid job that tops at about 22$ an hour which requires you to not only handle some paperwork for each unfortunate patient that comes your way and to take a few samples., but also, which unfortunately makes you weigh in organs from time to time and analyze the state/age of the post-mortem period.
The good, the bad and the difficult:
You might not have noticed, but we spiced that previous paragraph with both the good and the bad, and we were not shy about mixing the two in one-line sentences either. We did that because, joking aside, we DO need to approach this subject with a serious manner. We need not give in to preconceived ideas about this position nor should we think of it as a “bottom of the barrel” kind of position and that the only people that actually do this for a living are the ones that picked the short end of the stick when making life decisions. Getting to be a forensic autopsy technician requires an immense amount of work and studying, and people that do this are more often than not, extremely qualified and respected individuals.
Different is good!
To put it bluntly, not many people would do what you do, and this would prove to be in your advantage. Think of when you’re going to the dentist: You’re not going to him because you missed that friendly dentist-client banter that you have in between sessions, but you’re going there because he has the skills and the necessary know-how to do something that other people cannot. Because of this, you not only waste a precious amount of your time, but you also waste quite a little pile of your cash in the process.
This sort of “good” different is what actually carries all the weight/influence that comes along with important positions. When a young adult finishes college, he would most probably realize that he’s in a very weird place where there aren’t simply enough jobs that are related his line of studies. As we all know that this is a common phenomenon and pinpointing such unperformant professions simply isn’t possible simply because that their sheer number is extremely large, students don’t have any real tangible guarantees that they will be able to land a job after their studies are done.
Some solid ground to look forward to:
If there’s one thing that I can tell you as a person person that’s active in the blogosphere, is that you can’t get anywhere without a niche market. If you risk swimming in overpopulated waters, you won’t stand out at all. This, in my case, would mean that very few people would find my site, or any part of it on search engines because many people that do the same things that I do flood and inflate the search results in which I would appear.
Before we go back to finding a job after college, try remembering the previous paragraph, as more or less the same principles apply here. Becoming a forensic autopsy technician is, in your case, the niche market that I’ve been speaking of. Not many people do it which makes your particular skillset sought after and rewarded accordingly.
Always evolving!
Never fear that you’ll reach your position’s saturation anytime soon! Forensic technicians, of any sorts, are often sought after and offered higher positions over time as their skills are easily transferable in other domains that are niches themselves. Don’t get too excited though, you will have to work a decent amount of years before you reach this goldilocks zone where work experience starts speaking on your behalf and starts opening new doors for you.
It never becomes routine, but it becomes natural:
We wholeheartedly think this path when building a career would never turn out to be a dull one. The rule of thumb here is this: If you survive the first year of college, you’ll survive them all. If you’re grossed out at first and find the prospect of you doing this full-time in a 9 to 5 job appalling, than this job might not be for you. Examining bodies, taking samples, filling out the paper-work and so on however, does get way easier over time and they completely lose their “shock” factor that’s associated with them.
Hey, we’d go for it!
Unfortunately for me, I’m too old to start college again, and the students over there would look at me funny, but, objectively speaking, I do find see how becoming a forensic technician has a lot of advantages and, more importantly, is a job that can be seen as stable and secure.
