Forensic Biology Interview Preparation Guide

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I am. As we know, in science, things don't happen overnight. Sometimes troubleshooting experiments takes a great deal of patience. Also, large labs tend to have an array of personalities, and patience is often the key to working with others who differ from you.

If you want to get ready for this career starting in high school, you should take as many mathematics and science courses as possible, develop public speaking skills, enhance your writing skills.

The office is like any office - desks and computers.

Crime scenes vary. They can be very dirty, or contaminated with bodily fluids. The smells can be quite bad, but, in my opinion, are part of the scene - decomposing bodies, rotting food, unclean houses. You get used to it.

Heath and Safety is important, body fluids can be health hazards, hepatitus, general biological hazards, such as bacteria as well. Drug addicts may drop used needles, broken glass at a point of entry is sharp, exposed sharp objects such as nails, structural collapse in fire scenes, this list is endless (well, almost).

You may have to deal with unpleasant, or upset (emotional) people, both complainants and offenders.

Working with very young, or very old, victims can be upsetting, but you have to be able to rise above it to do a good job.

Absolutely. I have been a forensic scientist and thought it was the best job in the world. Now I am a CSI I think I have the best job in the world. It is very rewarding (tjhough not financially).

Typical 40hr work week.

Did not have a minor.

I’m not the first at the scene, the state folks are. The challenge on my part as a defense criminalist is to go back and look at the photos, look at the write-ups, the lab notes, and decide if they actually collected all the evidence they needed. A lot of what I do deals with the underbelly of society and it’s not necessarily fun to do that. I encounter bad stuff: mutilated bodies, child abuse, autopsies. Sometimes people say, “I can’t do this anymore, I don’t want to see any more dead bodies.”

I always enjoyed the science field as well as helping others; I believe I would end up as a nurse. possibly working as a sane sart nurse.

They would say that I am very much about quality and that I take my work very seriously but I am also easy to get along with and humble in my tasks. I am not afraid to ask for help or get a second opinion because I always place the patient or result first but I am assertive enough to speak up if I think something has compromised a result. I know there is more than one way to get the same result and I learn from others techniques and try them to see what best fits for me as long as it does not violate policy.

On television shows like CSI they have criminalists interviewing and arresting people. In real life criminalists do not do that. In some states we can only use the evidence that has been collected by police officers, in other states there are teams that process crime scenes. The person who collects the evidence may not be the one who actually analyzes it. Each piece of evidence goes to its own specialty: DNA, firearms, drugs, toxicology or trace evidence.