Blue jacket, Blue pants, and Black boots

The FBI, or the Federal Bureau of investigation is national security organization with both law enforcement and intelligence responsibilities. The bureau has the responsibility to investigate crimes and provide other agencies with cooperative services. Their job is to protect and defend the United States against terrorist and foreign intelligence threats, to enforce the laws, and to provide leadership and criminal justice to the state, international and municipal agencies.

      


Unlike what people may have heard or seen on TV, FBI agents do not wear blue jackets, blue pants and black boots. In fact they wear suits and ties with formal shoes, even the lab workers abide to this type of attire. This is evidence that what goes around or is presented on television is not accurate because it is nothing like reality.Although the bureau has a big name and is supported by the government, great facilities, access to privileged information and outstanding intelligence, it is nothing like shown on television. This is a part of why it is hard for me to decide whether or not I want to enter this field because no one I know has knowledge of this type of a career, so I don't have an idea of what it would be like. Another tough part about this career is that, or actually any career, that you can't get a preview or trial of what the job may be like so you never know how it is in reality. It is also hard to find out more information about such agencies because they deal with classified information, which is not easily available for public to discover or analyze.
Overall, not much is known about the agency itself so it is hard to determine what kind of a life I would have if I did pursue this career. More research may answer my questions, but I'm not sure if I will ever gather enough to make a permanent decision about this.

 As an irresolute career explorer, it is a part of my nature to waver between different job options, one of which happens to be far different from criminal investigation. This career path falls into the category of  and marketing. I'm assuming that I would have to major in some form of business in order to meet the requirements for a job in this field, but business programs are one of the most impacted programs in colleges, so that is definitely something to consider before finalizing anything. Also, there is a lower salary for those who are beginners in advertising, as opposed to those who have more experience in the industry, as they would provide better quality work. However, the positive aspects of product marketing are that this job requires qualities of a person who is tech-savy, has good communication skills, a cooperative, persevering attitude. For me though, the most important plus point about this career, is that it allows for creativity. A person can develop all the other skills overtime with experience and practice, but creativity is something that comes from within. I think I would enjoy this job because I would be able to have fun with it. My only constraints would be creating a message that the consumers can remember, but there aren't any restrictions on how I get that message across. One example of creative advertising is the energizer bunny commercials for batteries. This is one commercial that people haven't forgotten to this day. The success achieved from the creation of this commercial series made someone's career. 

                                       

Out of the Ordinary

During childhood, a child's likes and dislikes continue to change, whether they lose interest in certain things or they are influenced by their surroundings. As the child grows older, his or her interests begin to develop a pattern and become more permanent.

Possibility, curiosity, and uncertainty:
Throughout various stages of my life people have asked me what I want to become
when I grow up and I have given several different answers. One answer to that question is becoming a criminal investigator. When I respond with that answer, their eyebrows raise. They are surprised to hear this because it is not an ordinary career path, not something that you hear very often. Two questions arise in their mind, one of which is simply why. Another is, since when have girls started taking interest in such careers? To be quite honest, I don't have an explanation for either of these questions,   I just know that it's a possibility.

Is television realistic?
Most people have knowledge of criminal investigations acquired from TV shows. Some popular ones are, CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, Law and Order, NCIS, White Collar, Psych, Covert Affairs, Castle, Rizzoli & Isles and many more. These shows are only entertaining because they are nothing like reality, if they were realistic, people wouldn't watch them.

Back to Basics:
Criminal investigation is a process in which the objective is to unravel the information about a committed crime. Investigators are on a mission to discover the answers to questions like who, what, where, when, why, and how. Once they have information on a few of this questions, they can connect the dots and figure out the rest of the puzzle, however, the puzzle does not get solved as quickly as TV shows portray. In reality, solving a case could take several weeks, months, and even years. 
Cases are not solved as simply shown on TV, evidence isn't found with such ease, data is not always conclusive, test results are not positive every single time, clues don't correlate with each other so perfectly, everything is not so logical. Also, outside sources are required to investigate, such as warrants, access to databases, trained canine dogs for locating crime scene/criminal, witness statements, forensics department, weapons and gadgets.                                                                  


Qualifications:
Like any other career, criminal investigation requires degrees and extensive studies. Qualifications vary from agency to agency, but most agencies prefer to have a college degree in law enforcement, criminal justice or other related field, to have performed one year of patrol duty. In order to work in a federal department, it is a necessity to have a bachelor's degree in a field related to law enforcement. In addition, the job of a criminal investigator demands good interviewing and communication skills, patience, trust, honestly, logical thinking and reasoning, ability to be perceptive to certain reactions, problem solving/decision making skills, and good physical and mental health.

Yes, it is definitely not a mainstream job and yes it's not common for women to do such jobs, but what's the harm in doing something different than everybody else. Just another potential career among a wide range of others.

The Beginning of the Beginning

Hi everyone, welcome to my first blog about discovering my career path.
         
              As a child, when someone asked me what I wanted to be when I grew up, I would simply name any career or job that intrigued me at the time, such as a doctor. Now I am a junior in high school and it is time to be serious. Every move I make from this year on wards, affects my future. I have to take many small steps before I can reach my final destination, which unfortunately at this point, is uncertain. There are so many different careers in the world making it very difficult to choose from. In addition, there are many factors to consider; prerequisites, qualifications, cost of qualification and education, how much salary the job pays, the competition for that type of job and many more things. I hope writing this blog helps me get through this challenging process. I also hope this blog provides information about certain careers that you may also be interested in.